Franklin sophomore Lauren Klem is the Daily Journal’s Runner of the Year in girls cross country.
SCOTT ROBERSON | DAILY JOURNAL
The final weeks of the girls cross country season didn’t play out the way Lauren Klem had envisioned.
Once the Franklin sophomore experienced soreness in her left knee midway during a sectional race that she still eventually won, the days ahead were about helping her team any way she could.
Up to that point, it was hard to question her dominance.
Over the course of 14 days, Klem placed first in the Mid-State, Johnson County and sectional meets by a combined margin of just under 58 seconds. She was far from 100% at regional and semistate, but accomplished enough to earn the Daily Journal’s Runner of the Year honor for a second consecutive season.
Franklin has now produced the top girls runner for five straight years.
“(Soreness) started during the sectional meet. I got my footing wrong somewhere in the race, and it started to hurt, and then it kind of nagged me the rest of the way,” Klem said. “I had been running similar to the year before. I was running pretty decent, but there was definitely room for improvement.”
Klem started the regional race strong on her home course, but she fell back as knee soreness persisted and finished an uncharacteristic seventh. A week later, Klem gutted out an impressive first kilometer at the Shelbyville Semistate, but she wasn’t able to lead the Grizzly Cubs back to the state meet, placing 56th.
All of that after a freshman campaign punctuated by a 27th-place performance at state — the majority of it run after Klem lost her right shoe shortly after the starter’s pistol sounded.
A difficult act to follow, but Klem appeared well on her way until her injury.
“Especially as the season went on, the team started to do some special things. Some of the things we were seeing in practice, Lauren was ready to take off,” said Grizzly Cubs coach Ray Lane, whose squad also won titles at the conference, county and sectional meets.
“Even as she was battling things, she knew she wasn’t 100%, but she just ran fearlessly. Lauren put the team over herself and her health. She doesn’t know how not to be aggressive. It’s why she’s as successful as she is.”
Looking back on her 2021 season, Klem finds plenty to relish.
“It’s definitely disappointing not to have the outcome I wanted, but I felt that to help my team I needed to push through those last two (races),” she said. “I just wanted to get (my teammates) as far as I could. I just have a good connection with all the girls on the team, and I want to see them achieve as much as they can.
“I feel like, for me personally, the season was okay. But for the team, we achieved so much. And it was just so much fun.”
