Cross country has been one of the most successful sports in the Holland area this century.
Teams have become state powers from top to bottom in the area, with four programs claiming state titles in recent years.
Individually, there have been some sensational female runners from the area, led by individual state champions Rachele Schulist (Zeeland West), Erika Freyhof (Hamilton), Kayla Windemuller (Holland Christian) and Helen Sachs (West Ottawa).
That doesn’t include near title winners that have gone on to do elite things at the collegiate level and even professionally like the Oren sisters (Hamilton), Brooke Eilers (Holland Christian), Allison Kuzma (Zeeland East), Emma Drnek (Zeeland East), Heather Price (Saugatuck), Lauren Jenkins (Saugatuck), Nicole Zeinstra (Black River), Abby Olson (West Ottawa), Ava Porras (West Ottawa), Megan Postma (West Ottawa) and Arianne Olson (West Ottawa).
Those are all contending finishers at past state meets who went on to run at the NCAA Division I level, or win Division II national championships.
That is a lot of talent in the past two decades.
This year is no different with dozens of local runners looking to earn all-state honors.
But Zeeland East’s Adalyn Raab is that next runner to be aiming for a title. The junior finished ninth last year and has been all-state the past two years.
As a freshman, she watched Drnek as freshman, and has taken that spot for the Chix, by breaking the school record set by Drnek and Kuzma to reach 17:04, the fourth-fastest runner in the state this year.
Raab has been the fastest runner the past two years and a state title is not out of the question.
“It feels good to be able to keep hitting my goals and seeing how low I can get it. I just try to see how much faster I can finish, Raab said. “My goal is to get top three at state and go to nationals and try to get All-American.”
Raab is not only talented, but puts in the work to be the best in the area, winning the OK Black title twice.
“It means a lot to win twice in a row. I know our conference is really competitive. There are really good girls who push me. It is important. When it is time to push against the best runners in the state, I have had that practice all season,” Raab said. “The feeling of being able to reach my goals is what drives me. It definitely hurts in the moment.”
When Raab’s moment is done at Zeeland East, and she is a name in that incredible list, she is hoping to inspire the next wave just like Kuzma and Drnek did for year.
“I definitely want to set a challenge for the next person who comes in,” Raab said.
The challenge has been extended – now we will see who accepts it.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Zeeland East’s Adalyn Raab is area’s next state cross country title contender
