Nate Schneider
Sports Scene
Ithaca junior runner Ransom Allen will never claim to be a four-year star of the cross country team.
That is because Allen opted not to run as a freshman, only taking up the sport of cross country for the Yellowjackets as his sophomore year in 2016.
Last season, the lack of experience showed as his best time of 17:05 did not come until the Division 3 state finals at Michigan International Speedway, which placed him 42nd overall and helped pave the way for what would come.
One year later, you have a version of Allen that is rounding into one of the better D3 runners in the entire state of Michigan.
“He had a decent season last year but this is definitely his breakthrough year,” Ithaca head coach Tim Lambrecht said. “Part of that is experience and part of it is training. It takes a while to figure out how to race. You just don’t know how hard to push yourself and your body is telling you to slow down. It takes some people years and years before they figure it out. But he’s definitely getting it nailed down this year.”
Allen showed immediately that he was poised for a big season at the Laingsburg Early Burg Invitational on August 24, unofficially breaking the school record in the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:56.1. It is unofficial because Lambrecht sees all the fast times run at this course throughout the years and is convinced it is shorter than a true 5,000 race.
But it mattered little as the next time out for Allen, on the home course at the Yellowjacket Invite on August 31, Allen truly did break the school record and his time of 16:09.6 was counted as official.
He broke the record previously held by Stephen Merchant, who set the previous standard in 2012 and has helped guide Allen toward success this year.
“Stephen graduated in 2012 and ran for Lansing Community College and then Siena Heights on scholarship for both schools,” Lambrecht said. “Him helping out this year is one of the things that has really helped Ransom. He was a national qualifier in track in the 5K, so he’s actually been able to pace Ransom through a lot of the key workouts. Not to take anything away from Ransom, but that has really helped him and our team. So hats off to Stephen Merchant.”
Allen, whose older sister Courtney was a star cross country and track athlete for Ithaca and now runs at Western Michigan University, has shown all season the running gene runs in the family. He proceeded to win all three Tri-Valley Conference West jamborees before finishing second to defending state champion Yami Albrecht from Caro at the TVC Championships on October 17.
“I guess if you are going to lose to anyone, lose to a state champion,” Lambrecht quipped.
Ithaca has never won a regional title and it seemed to have a great shot this season, but an injury to another talented Yellowjackets runner in Landon Strong damages those chances significantly.
But Allen has a great shot at All-State honors and possibly a top 10 finish if everything goes as planned.
“The top 30 get All-State,” Lambrecht added. “His goal last year when I sat down with all the kids was to be All-State this year. I told him that it was a very realistic goal with seniors who will graduate and the fact he will be faster. And as the summer progressed, we realized he’s going to be even better than that. We started raising those goals and now the goal for Ransom is really a top 10 finish at states, which would really be something.”