Southeast Missourian Runner of the Year: Veronica Schabbing

Central senior Veronica Schabbing finished seventh at this year's Class 4 meet, failing to reach the goal that she and her family had set of placing in the top five.

But the Schabbing family has no regrets when reflecting on Veronica's final race. She covered the Jefferson City course in a school state record time of 19 minutes, 18 seconds.

Even more, the family has no regrets when looking back on Veronica's entire Central running career because it gave her a reason to get excited about attending high school each day despite some academic struggles, including difficulties taking tests.

"I think it's helped her because she struggles with schoolwork and she has to work hard at it," Veronica's mother, Annette Schabbing, said. "And it has made her still want to go to school. I think that is what's really helped her throughout the years."

Veronica is this year's Southeast Missourian Runner of the Year.

Veronica dominated not only this fall but throughout her high school career.

She never had considered running cross country when she started at Central. But two seniors back then told Veronica at freshman orientation that she looked like a runner, so she decided to try the sport.

She is glad she did.

She was the top local finisher in all nine races she ran this fall. She placed first in six of the nine races.

More importantly, cross country gave Veronica something to enjoy while schoolwork became more difficult in high school. And Veronica's parents recognized the positive effect cross country was having on their daughter's life, and began to learn more about the sport and help Veronica become a better runner.

Her father, David Schabbing, even mowed a 5-kilometer course on the family's farm for Veronica to practice on whenever she was not training with the team.

"It just gave her a different avenue of life to explore," David said about Veronica running cross country. "She got to meet new friends. ... It made school worth going to."

Veronica's sister, Victoria Schabbing, a Central junior and member of this year's varsity cross country team, said that even before Veronica joined the cross country team, she would go outside to run laps around the house whenever she felt bored.

"Every day she's excited about it [running]," Victoria said. "I guess that it's just something that she feels comfortable with and knows that she can always find joy in it."

School and running

Veronica said she struggles with schoolwork, especially test taking.

"Worksheets I can do, but testing is not my thing because you get stressed over it, and when you do study, you don't remember it that day or you get overstressed," she said.

Annette said Veronica is a visual learner. She said her daughter began to comment more about the difficulty she was having with school when she started high school.

"The cross country made her more comfortable and relaxed about going so she could enjoy it much more despite the tests and all that she has to do," Annette said.

Annette said she thinks that even if Veronica had not been a talented runner, cross country still would have given her a home and friends in high school.

"It took her a while for her to be competitive," Annette said. "She liked it more just to be out there running with [her teammates] and to be with the team."

Veronica said she especially enjoyed cheering on her teammates and watching them smile while they received awards after meets.

"I call them my family because we're like family," Veronica said.

Most times, however, Veronica was receiving the first-place medal and her teammates were chanting her nickname, Ronnie, at award presentations.

"She really pushes for people to do their best, but I think her passion and everything that she gives helps people to see that maybe they should step it up," Victoria said.

Central cross country coach Mark Hahn said sports help students remain enthusiastic about school.

"It keeps them interested in school and we'd certainly like to think that about [Veronica]," Hahn said. "But not just her. It's a lot of kids.

"The thing that will be most memorable about [Veronica] for years to come is her positive attitude and how she's just a happy kid. She makes everybody around her smile."

A family's passion

David's favorite moment watching Veronica run cross country was when his daughter competed at the state meet her sophomore year.

David still smiles when he thinks back to how Veronica passed about four runners on the final hill to place 25th overall and become the final all-state qualifier in Class 4.

Annette said one of her favorite moments was Veronica's first junior varsity race as a freshman. Annette couldn't believe when she saw Veronica leading all the runners.

David and Annette noticed early on the positive influence cross country was having on Veronica's life.

They increased their interest in the sport, which they both said they knew little about before Veronica joined the Central team.

"We just love going to watch her, and when she wins, it's just exciting," Annette said. "You want to see every kid have some sort of glory moment. And she found hers in cross country. ... God has taken care of her so well."

To learn more, David would hustle around the course at meets to watch different points in the race, listen to coaches and see at which parts the girls struggled the most.

David constructed a course at the family's farm, which has similar steep hills to the ones at the Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City, where the state meet is held.

When David watched Veronica place 117th (22:06.08) at the state meet her freshman year, he noticed the course, like the sectional course at Jefferson Barracks Park in St. Louis County, had steep hills near the finish line. That got him thinking. He had steep hills on the farm, so he constructed a course for Veronica.

"I said to her, 'If we're going to get ready for state and sectionals, then let's train on conditions similar to that, and we've got them at home,'" David said. "It's a rough course. It's tough. The terrain is tough. A lot of kids don't like to run on it because it's too rough."

David was excited to see Veronica run the hills so well at state as a sophomore because it showed the course he had made had helped.

Annette has scrapbooks filled with pictures and results from most of Veronica's meets. She enjoys watching how the other runners respond to Veronica's talent.

"I know they're all like, 'Man, Ronnie is a beast,'" Annette said. "I hear that a lot."

Continuing to run

Veronica showed improvement every year in high school. She reduced her state meet time 2 minutes, 48 seconds from freshman year to senior year. She cut 38 seconds off her state meet time from junior year to senior year.

Veronica credits her improvement to multiple factors, including her course at home, which she said strengthened her ankles and made her love to run hills.

The big question that remains is what is next for Veronica?

She has had various colleges express interest in her, and she will visit a community college in Illinois in January. But Veronica still does not know whether she wants to attend college.

"I might, but I don't know," Veronica said. "School is not my thing. It's just stressful."

Annette said Veronica has no interest in college because she has struggled with schoolwork in high school.

Veronica said if she does not attend college, she would work on her family's farm and pursue a job in day care.

Veronica has a block at school that allows her to work at a day care, which she said along with running also gets her excited to attend school each day.

She said she loves animals and loves to spend time with children.

"The kids, when I see them, they just make me want to smile," she said.

As for her running career, Veronica said she might train for amateur races and help the Central cross country team by pacing some of the faster runners next year.

"She's so positive she could be nothing but an asset to the team," Hahn said. "Certainly with Mary Dohogne having a shot to challenge some of those records that Veronica set this year, it would be great for her to have someone to train with that was that fast. ... That would be a good thing for Mary."

David said Veronica ended her high school cross country career the right way, using all the energy she could on the Jefferson City course. He'd never seen Veronica absolutely exhausted after a meet until her final one.

"Most of these cross country kids, they're just out of gas," David said. "They can't talk. They can't breathe. She gets done with the race and she can still talk. It's like, 'Veronica, you didn't even run hard enough. You've got more left in that tank to push yourself.' And this year at state, she let it all hang out. She was out of gas."