After a promising freshman cross-country season in 2018, Katherine Rumsey hit a wall.
The same thing happened to Brianna Newell just prior to her freshman cross-country season last year.
While both Columbus North girls were used to racing a little above a 6-minute-per-mile pace, they were having trouble running one 7-minute mile.
Both Rumsey and Newell were tested for iron deficiency, and their numbers came out extremely low. Eventually, they got back on the right track, and on Saturday, they’ll help lead the Bull Dogs into the Girls Cross Country State Finals.
“Both girls had it at slightly different times, but they went through the same symptoms,” North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “Their performance went way down. Energy was low. No matter what we tried in practice, we just couldn’t seem to get a good day out of them, and that was our biggest worry — for awhile, we didn’t know what it was. Then, then both went to the doctor, and they both got diagnosed.”
Rumsey’s performances started tapering off the winter of her freshman year. She got to the point where she could only run two miles at a time at 9-minute pace.
“I think for me, it was just the shift from middle school to high school cross-country and it being a lot more demanding and physical exercise,” Rumsey said. “I don’t think I was fueling my body enough, so the combination of the two just led to it.”
That spring, she finally was tested for her iron levels.
“So basically, the rest of the spring and summer was working to get back to where I was and building up my confidence level that, ‘I am still a runner, and I can still do this,” Rumsey said.
After running in only a couple of varsity meets last season, Rumsey, who has been taking iron supplements, has been a fixture in North’s top seven as a junior this fall. She ran a personal-best 19 minutes, 22 seconds in this year’s Rick Weinheimer Classic at Ceraland.
“This year, I’ve just seen it pay off a ton, and I feel like I’ve gotten a whole lot better,” Rumsey said. “Almost every race has been a minute faster than my PR last year. I feel like it’s just that confidence level that I can do this, and it’s just an obstacle that I had to overcome and that if I put my mind to it, there’s nothing that’s going to stop me.”
A club soccer player and a standout runner at Northside Middle School, Newell gave up soccer to become a full-time runner at North.
“I think it all started for me in middle school,” Newell said. “I would be doing travel soccer and running, so it was a lot on my body, and after awhile, it just finally caught up to me, and I started feeling the effects. Even at practices during the workouts, I would drop off to a 9-flat mile, and it was really frustrating to be at that level and not knowing what caused it.”
So Sluder talked to Newell’s mother Christina, a longtime youth running coach in Columbus, about getting Brianna’s iron levels checked because he noticed that she was running slower than she did in middle school.
“At first, I didn’t want to get my levels checked,” Newell said. “I don’t know why, but I finally did, and they were really low, and I was anemic. So then I just started taking the iron every day with some Vitamin C because it makes it better. After I started taking that, I kind of noticed a huge change. After a month, my level went up to normal already, which is really fast.”
Newell ended up having a stellar freshman year. She was the Bull Dogs’ No. 1 or No. 2 runner the entire season, winning the regional race and finishing 36th at state, and was The Republic Girls Cross-Country Runner of the Year.
While she hasn’t been quite as fast this season as she was last year, Newell isn’t too far off.
“I’m really happy with how our season is going, both individually and for our whole team, and I think it’s just going to get better,” Newell said. “It’s crazy. Last year, we got fifth, and this year, we have a chance at winning. I think a lot of other teams don’t realize how good we are.”
North is ranked No. 3 in the state heading into Saturday’s state meet at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. The Bull Dogs hope to challenge Carmel and Fort Wayne Carroll for the team title.
“I think one advantage we have over other teams is, this whole season and even in the spring with COVID and everything, we were always working our butts off to try to get to where we are now,” Rumsey said. “Our dedication is just there.”
