Lynch loving her first – and only – high school cross country season

In her first season running cross country, Northview's Josie Lynch has risen up the depth chart and has helped the Lady Knights remain among the top teams in the Wabash Valley this fall.

Adler Ingalsbe photo

When Northview’s girls track and field team got together at the start of the New Year to begin the process of preparing themselves for the upcoming season, there was a new face amongst the group of distance runners.

It was Josie Lynch, who had never run competitively before but was interested in the sport after her siblings had done it before her.

“I just wanted to try something new,” said Lynch. “Both of my siblings did it, so I wanted to try it too.”

Northview girls cross country head coach Jeff Walker, who also works with the jumpers during the track season, could tell Lynch was talented but was curious to see how the then-junior would come out of the different aches and pains that come with being a newer runner.

“She was definitely a beginner back in February,” recalled Walker. “She struggled with the things that every new runner deals with – aches, pains, pacing on different types of runs, and racing strategy – but she listened to coaching from the beginning and always tried to do what was being asked of her. You could see that she was a very determined person.”

That determination carried over into the summer months when Lynch transformed herself from a talented new face to what Walker described as the team’s ‘most consistent runner.’

“Over the summer, she was one of the most consistent runners on the team, which is what it takes to be great at this sport. She put in the miles, which set her up for success this season,” said Walker.

And the results this fall, in her first – and only – high school cross country season, have proven the second-year coach to be correct in his assessments of Lynch.

The senior finished 109th overall with a time of 23:11 at the Valley Kickoff held at LaVern Gibson Championship Course. In the five weeks since then – with plenty of other strong performances, such as finishing eighth with a time of 20:45 at the Eagle Classic, finishing third with a time of 22:30 at the Chad Smith Invitational and finishing eighth with a time of 21:39 at the South Knox Invitational, in between – Lynch managed to cut 1:21 off her time at LaVern Gibson, as she finished second at the inaugural Stuart Bennett Invitational two weeks ago.

The secret to Lynch’s success?

“I really just show up to practice and run,” she said. “That’s it.”

Walker has seen specifics in her work during practice that have translated into her continuous improvement.

“She’s improved so much because of her consistency and her mindset,” said Walker. “She pushes herself to hit her paces on workout days, but she also uses the easier days to recover. She is very coachable in this way.”

And her success has been much needed for a team that lost two of the program’s all-time best runners in Ellia Hayes and Gnister Grant and was without junior standout Aubrey Miller for most of the year with an injury.

“It’s been huge,” said Walker of adding Lynch to the top seven this fall. “We didn’t realize what we had with Josie even during track season last spring. We figured she’d make improvements, but she has blown my expectations out of the water.”

Lynch’s mind-blowing season has caught the attention of college coaches near and far, which is something the senior acknowledged she would be interested in pursuing. Walker said the untapped potential she has, along with her strong work ethic, should be among the many reasons why colleges should be interested in bringing Lynch into their program.

“I definitely see her running and being successful at the collegiate level. She’s already put herself in the top 20 girls to run for Northview. To run that well in less than a year is amazing,” he said of Lynch. “There is still without a doubt some untapped potential. Her best days of running are ahead of her after stacking up more months and years of consistent, solid training.”

But for now, Lynch is focused on doing her part to put the Lady Knights in a position to bring more hardware back home in the upcoming weeks as they compete in the Western Indiana Conference championship and sectional races. And if the senior standout continues to put up times like she has throughout the year, Northview should have as good of a chance as anyone else to do just that.

“I just hope to keep getting better and help [the team win],” said Lynch. “If I could get some new PRs, that would be [good] too.”