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"Pretty good" might be classified as the understatement of the year. In her first XC campaign, Molly won the New York State Federation title as a senior, then went on to place second in the Foot Locker regionals and fourth in the national championships in Florida. And she did it all solo, since her school was too small to field a girls team. "I tried to organize a team, but wound up having to run in dual meets against the boys," she says.
"I found I really loved cross country—it’s totally different than track, a lot more tactical, with less focus on time." After a successful debut season, Molly put her newly increased fitness to the test on the indoor oval, quitting basketball midway through the season. Again competing by herself, she ran a few all-comers meets, then went to the Nike Indoor Classic, where she won the mile in 4:46.42. "Winning was one of my goals," she says. "I thought it might have been a little far-fetched, but I stuck to my race plan and it worked."
With the resultant added confidence from that win, and her increased endurance from cross country, Molly looks to the outdoor season to improve her times in the mile and two mile, pointing toward some of the big invitational meets like the Penn Relays. One coach in her conference, who was shocked by her ability in her first race as a sophomore, thinks with the right race and competition she can challenge Kim Gallagher’s national high school 1,500 meter record of 4:16.6.
Molly hopes to defend her New York Federation titles in the mile and two mile, and improve on her third place finishes in both those events at the outdoor Foot Locker meet. Then she’ll prepare to join a real team and face stiffer competition in college. Molly will attend Notre Dame, not so much because she won’t have to change her letter jacket, but because "they have an excellent program, and I like the school. Plus, my dad ran there."
Her father has served as her advisor and coach, especially during cross country. "He’s given me a lot of good advice," she says. "I’ve also learned from some other older runners, and from reading books about running and physiology." She’s also learned to be self-disciplined. "In my situation, being a one-person team, I have to move things around sometimes to get workouts done."
Molly feels her strength is her speed—"I’ve got a pretty good stride for the mile and two mile." While most of her workouts used to center on repetitions on the track, "I’m kind of getting sick of that—I’d much rather go to the golf course in the morning and do long runs or pickups." If there was any doubt before, that sounds like she’s become a true harrier now.
