Extra miles over the summer pay off for McClellan

The 650 miles Wynn McClellan ran this past summer was the most logged by any member of the Notre Dame cross country team.

Even when McClellan was on vacation visiting relatives in Alabama, he continued to run each day to ensure his junior season would be a better one than his sophomore year.

It has been so far.

McClellan continued his strong running Saturday on a muddy course at the Central Invitational.

The junior was the top local boys finisher and second overall in the varsity boys 5-kilometer race, finishing in 17 minutes, 31 seconds.

McClellan's effort helped the Notre Dame boys win the team competition with 31 points. The lone runner to beat McClellan was Carbondale's Lucas Cherry (17:08).

McClellan said he ran approximately 100 miles more this summer than he did the previous summer. He ran about 10 miles per day and seven miles per day while on vacation in Alabama.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com Notre Dame's Wynn McClellan, center, leads his teammates at the start of the boys varsity cross country race Saturday at Central High School. McClellan finished second in the race.

"It helped me a lot," he said about increasing his mileage. "I'm still running good. [Today] wasn't the best of races. I'm OK with it."

Cherry also beat McClellan in the Murphysboro Invite earlier this season.

"I wanted to try to get him, but I didn't follow my plan," McClellan said about Saturday's race in which he took an early lead. "I started getting a pretty bad stitch the last mile from not following my plan. I didn't want to lead it the whole way. I just kind of wanted to stay with Cherry or whoever was in the lead ... to the finish and see what we could do. That's where I've been trying to improve is the finish."

McClellan said his motivation to run more during the summer came after failing to qualify for the sectional track meet in his long distance event last spring. He remembers being extremely frustrated and not wanting to speak with his teammates after his season-ending race at the 2007 district meet.

Central's Veronica Schabbing jumps over straw bales on her way to winning the girls varsity race Saturday.

He said he just wanted to be alone.

"It wasn't a good feeling," McClellan said. "That's probably the number one thing that [made me run more]."

The junior also said some motivation derived from finishing 29th at the 2007 Class 3 cross country meet. He missed all-state honors, which are given to the top 25 finishers.

Two of McClellan's teammates, Logan Davis and Dillon Klaffer — two seniors — both earned all-state in cross country as juniors in 2007.

Either Davis or Klaffer finished ahead of McClellan in every regular-season cross country meet last fall. But this year has been a completely different story.

McClellan has run the best times on the Notre Dame team in every race this season.

This has made for a competitive atmosphere at Notre Dame, McClellan said, as Davis and Klaffer want back their top spots.

"That's what keeps us so good — we try to pass each other, beat each other," McClellan said. "It's a nice advantage because most teams don't have enough guys who are fighting for it consistently on a team. ... You want to beat your teammates all the time."

McClellan added that although every runner on his team wants to be No. 1, they all are focused on the team's success and earning a strong finish at the Class 3 meet.

Notre Dame coach Bill Davis estimated that McClellan already has run more than 200 miles in practice this fall season. The Notre Dame coach said McClellan continues to run the most miles of all his runners at a time when the top seven Notre Dame runners each are running more miles than they ever have in one season.

"He looked a little tired today, especially on the second mile," Bill Davis said about McClellan's Saturday performance. "When I saw him come around, his arms were down a little bit. But overall a great attitude."

Logan Davis said McClellan has emerged as a team leader.

"When we see him up there fighting, we know we have to do the same thing," Logan Davis said. "He brings the team together. He's becoming a leader for us. He likes to have fun, but he's a serious person when it comes to running. It came in the family. Both his parents are runners. He works hard."

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Results

Boys

Team scores — 1. Notre Dame 31; 2. Farmington 70; 3. Cape Central 74; 4. Fox 95; 5. Northwest 108; 6. Carbondale 143; 7. Woodland 180; 8. Delta 202

Individual

Top 10 — 1. Lucas Cherry, Carb., 17:08; 2. Wynn McClellan, ND, 17:31; 3. Dillon Klaffer, ND, 17:38; 4. Logan Davis, ND, 17:42; 5. Colton Woolridge, Farm., 17:42; 6. Roy Leighton, CC, 17:43; 7. Eric Schott, CC, 17:59; 8. Cody Kern, Kelly, 18:06; 9. Tyler Holmes, Fox, 18:23; 10. Matt Reinagel, ND, 18:35.

Local teams

Notre Dame — 2. Wynn McClellan, 17:31; 3. Dillon Klaffer, 17:38; 4. Logan Davis, ND, 17:42; 10. Matt Reinagel, 18:35; 14. Ryan Johnson, 18:47.

Central — 6. Roy Leighton, 17:43; 7. Eric Schott, 17:59; 22. Collin Summers, 19:12; 23. Jordan Pope, 19:14; 25. Alex Crawford, 19:20.

Woodland — 35. Corey Chapman, 19:50; 36. Jody Scherer, 19:51; 41. Sylan Drum, 20:12; 49. Kyle Reynolds, 20:58; 57. Ronnie Turner, 21:57.

Delta — 37. Austin Seabaugh, 19:58; 42. Zach Riegert, 20:16; 55. Malachi Brooks, 21:54; 56. Brandon Harman, 21:55; 58. Teddy May, 22:02.

Girls

Team scores — 1. Central 15; 2. Carbondale 64; 3. Dexter 71; 4. Woodland 95.

Individual

Top 10 — 1. Veronica Schabbing, CC, 20:05; 2. Mary Dohogne, CC, 20:44; 3. Brittany Moreland, CC, 20:53; 4. Tori Parry, J, 21:43; 5. Rae Guyse, Fox, 21:58; 6. Tara Johnson, Kelly, 22:07; 7. Victoria Schabbing, CC, 22:21; 8. Tori Pfau, ND, 22:24; 9. Jordyn Richmond, CC, 22:47; 10. Molly Arnzen, Wood., 22:49.

Local teams

Central — 1. Veronica Schabbing, 20:05; 2. Mary Dohogne, 20:44; 3. Brittany Moreland, 20:53; 7. Victoria Schabbing, 22:21; Jordyn Richmond, 22:47.

Woodland — 10. Molly Arnzen, 22:49; 33. Samantha Kinder, 25:13; 46. Juliet Dickey, 26:43; 51. Tierney Vehrs, 29:51; 52. Tess Rainey, 29:52.