Schroeder family cherishes its day in the sun at Burlington cross country meet

As Burlington High School senior Ella Schroeder stood talking to her grandparents Thursday at the Burlington Regional RecPlex, her body glistening with sweat in the late afternoon sun, she couldn't help but smile as she watched her brother, seventh grader Cohen Schroeder, interact with his friends.

Ella Schroeder had just finished 21st in her final appearance in the Tony Proctor Cross Country Invitational, and she was soaking it all in.

Sure, she was sad that it was her final home race, but she couldn't help but be proud of her teammates, who finished second in the team race with 76 points, 56 behind Davenport Central.

But it was her little brother who brought Ella Schroeder the most joy after watching him win the junior high boys race in 12 minutes, 19 seconds.

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"It feels nice running here with my brother and having a team finally. It feels awesome," Ella Schroeder said. "It's really surreal watching him compete. I love seeing him compete. You can already tell he has the competitive spirit my brothers have."

"It's good. Her and I run together on the weekends. It's good to push ourselves to the limit," Cohen Schroeder said as his sister smiled from ear to ear. "Some of these races I get nervous, so she comes up to me and cools me down and gets me ready for the race. I appreciate her for doing that. She tells me to keep my cool. She knows I'm a good runner and I end up doing good about every race."

Cohen Schroeder is looking forward to joining the BHS varsity boys team in two years. He is following in the footsteps of his older brothers, Cameron and Cole Schroeder.

"I was young when my brothers ran, so I didn't understand most of it, but now that I do understand it I know it's a good achievement to go after," Cohen Schroeder said. "I'm excited about that. There will be some good high schoolers in a couple years, so just try to find the best people I can to run against and see if I can beat them."

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Ella Schroeder got as much pleasure watching her teammates finish their race as she did crossing the finish line herself for the final time at her home meet.

"It kind of hasn't hit me until now that this is my last time running here ever. It's bittersweet. It's been a lot of fun, but I know my time has passed and I'm excited to see all the girls coming up and I'm excited to see my brother run here," Ella Schroeder said. "It's an amazing feeling. I've been trying to recruit girls for the last three or four years. I was finally able to talk to some girls into coming out this year. It's amazing to watch the growth they've had."

BHS freshman Mylee Stiefel finished eighth in 22:20. Under the watchful eye of her mother, BHS girls coach Amanda LaVeine, and her grandfather, BHS junior high coach Pete Stiefel, Mylee Stiefel has all the makings of a great runner and leader.

"They're both coaches I love them both. They help me so much with my cross country," Mylee Stiefel said. "It's been really great. It's just nice to be able to come out here as a freshman. I really like the team and the cross country atmosphere."

Hannah Fruehling has been dealing with a mysterious traveling pain which has hampered her this season. She was able to put that aside long enough to finish fourth in 21:30, the top area finisher in the girls race.

"It felt really good, but there are definitely some things I could improve on. I'm coming back from injury over the summer, so we're just trying to knock some time off slowly but gradually. We're trying to take the right steps forward. Twenty or 30 seconds counts in this sport," Fruehling said. "I'm not exactly sure what it is. I ran a lot over the summer, trying to get in shape for the season so I could start off on the right foot. I was having a pain and it progressively got worse. It's an unsolved mystery. It's been a hip pain and then IT bands and then knee swelling. I'm doing a lot of stuff to fix it. It's still a work in progress."

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Fruehling is enjoying having a full team this year. The Nikes finished fourth with 88 points.

And the future looks bright for the Nikes. All five runners on the varsity team are underclassmen, and eighth grader Kaitlyn Kipp strutted her stuff, winning the junior high girls race in 13:08.

Kipp, whose father, Chris Kipp, is a runner, is looking forward to joining the varsity squad next year, which should give the Nikes a chance to contend for team titles.

"I think it's going to be really fun," Kipp said. "I felt pretty good. I was hurting on the back stretch. I started to pick it up later over by the street."

"We're really excited about her," Fruehling said of Kipp. "We weren't expecting her to be as fast as she is this year, but she's going to be a killer high schooler next year. It's going to be some tough competition with her, but we're all excited about it."

TEAM SCORES

1. Davenport Central, 20; 2. Burlington, 76; 3. Keokuk, 76; 4. Notre Dame-West Burlington, 88; 5. Mediapolis, 105.

TOP 10 MEDALISTS

1. Dylan Moeller (DC), 20;14; 2. Merin Crowder (DC), 20:52; 3. Hannah Ford (DC), 21:28; 4. Hannah Fruehling (ND-WB) 21:30; 5. Evelyn Barfels (DC), 21:31; 6. Violet Shead (K), 21:54; 7. Rylee Olsen (K), 22:09; 8. Mylee Stiefel (BHS), 22:20; 9. Cameron Shumpert (DC), 22:42; 10. Gaby Marceleno (22:46).

AREA TEAMS

BURLINGTON -- 8. Stiefel, 22:20; 15. Kateln Koblisa, 23:36; 16. Myah Rehman, 23:48; 18. Hunter Pender, 23:54; 19. Ella Schroeder, 24:01; 22. Klairissa Hamilton, 24:37; 23. Eva Downey, 24:38.

KEOKUK -- 6. Shead, 21:54; 7. Olsen, 22:09; 12. Alli Ames, 23:25; 25. Jacie Olsen, 25:37; 26. Darby Tackes, 25:44; 32. Gracie Wessel, 29:04.

NOTRE DAME-WEST BURLINGTON -- 4. Fruehling, 21:30; 11. Hadley Augustine, 23:21; 14. Kennedy Ritter, 23:35; 28. Olivia Ritter, 26:02; 31. Grace Nichols, 27:45.

MEDIAPOLIS -- 13. Shelby Schulz, 23:28; 20. Aubrey Kuntz, 24:06; 21. Vivian Pfeiff, 24:11; 24. Chloe Tekell, 25:21; 27.Ellie Vincent, 25:55; 29. Katelyn Campbell, 26:22; 30. Grace Schmidgall, 27:09.

VAN BUREN COUNTY -- 11. Rylee Phillips, 22:58; 12. Ashley Fennel, 23:17.

WEST HANCOCK -- 33. Bailie Montgomery, 26:40; 34. Destiny Huffman, 26:46.

JUNIOR HIGH

BURLINGTON -- 3. Elizabeth Speers, 14:10; 3. Dresden Fishback, 14:11; 13. Maisy Yeoman, 15:41.

NOTRE DAME-WEST BURLINGTON -- 1. Kaitlyn Kipp, 13:08.

Matt Levins is a sports reporter for the USA Today Network in Burlington, Iowa, who has covered local sports for 32 years at The Hawk Eye. Reach him at mlevins@thehawkeye.com.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Ella Schroeder takes 21st, little brother Cohen wins middle school