Daviess County junior Ainsley Taylor has been named The Owensboro Times Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year.
Taylor proved to be one of the top runners for the Lady Panthers this year, and she exceeded head coach Mark Fortney’s expectations.
“Ainsley had a very strong track season, and she came from track into summer cross country training with great focus,” he said. “She was very committed with her summer training. She put in a lot of long miles and hard workouts which paid great dividends for this year.”
Taylor finished first in the city-county meet and second at region, leading DC to first-place finishes as a team in each event. She also had five other top-10 finishes in a handful of high-profile races.
“I think my season went very well,” Taylor said. “I had a few setbacks but overall I think the year went well. The encouragement from my teammates and coaches all season helped a lot. They all believed in me and trained me to the best of my ability.”
Fortney said a big improvement Taylor made was learning how to end her runs more strongly, both physically and mentally.
“She learned how to run up in the front pack with the leaders, which in turn produced faster times,” he said. “She also improved her speed throughout the year and was able to finish races without getting passed in the closing points of a race. Mainly she improved her mental toughness, a great trait to have. It showed as she had an outstanding year for DC.”
With one season still left at DC, Taylor is hoping for an even better senior year in which she can help the team to a top finish at state.
“I want to keep cutting down more time on my personal best, and I want to leave high school with a team state championship,” she said. “The accomplishments from this year really mean a lot, and it increases my confidence for the following year. It’s hard to think that I’m a senior next year, but I’m excited to go into next season with this same confidence to accomplish even more as a team.”
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