Runner of the Year Awards
We felt that there was not enough recognition of the top high school runners in our state and we decided to do something about it. We modeled our program after some of the awards in other sports, like a Mr. Basketball or Ms. Basketball with elements of the Heisman Trophy and Hobey Baker awards. The second annual Minnesota Runner of the Year awards, sponsored by GEAR Running Store were held this year on June 23rd.
A committee of some of the top high school cross country and track and field coaches from around the state made up this year's selection committee. The coaches select 25 boys and 25 girls as semi-finalists for Runner of the Year. The semi-finalist runners are invited to the awards dinner, which was held this year at America's Original Sports Bar in the Mall of America. At the dinner, 5 finalists were announced leading up to the announcement of the overall winners. This year, Vanessa Clarida of Bloomington-Kennedy and Tom Schmidt of Faribault won the award. Scroll down for bios on them. Click here to see the full list of the semi-finalists.
This year's dinner featured guest speaker Steve Rushin, the award winning senior writer from Sports Illustrated. Rushin, a Bloomington Kennedy graduate, is an avid runner with two marathons under his belt. Rushin has run a P.R. of 3:01 and won the celebrity portion of the Chicago Marathon.
Click here to read about the 2001 Runner of the Year Awards.
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| High School: Faribault
Resume: Tom pulled off a clean sweep this year with dominant performances garnering him the State AA Championship titles in Cross Country, the 800 and the 1600. Tom's PR of 1:51:82 ranks 6th all time in the state. Schmidt is the only person to have won an Minnesota State title in 3 different sports, with swimming being his winter sport. The son of long time cross country coaches, Schmidt will stay close to mom and dad and run for the U. of M Gophers.
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| Vanessa Clarida of Bloomington-Kennedy and Tom Schmidt of Faribault | ||||||
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| High School: Bloomington-Kennedy
Resume: A 7-time State AA champion. Going into her Junior year, Vanessa is on pace to go down as the most decorated track athletes in state history. She has swept the 100, 200 and 400 for the last 2 years and holds state meet records in all 3 events. She holds the all-time state record in the 200 and the 400. The sophomore Clarida pairs with last year's Runner of the Year winner, Hopkin's Shannon Bergstedt, to form the most talented sophomore duo in state history. |
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