Ankeny Centennial junior Rondi Quass is one of the state’s best distance runners. She is eighth in the girls’ Class 4A individual cross country preseason rankings by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches.
Quass placed 14th in last year’s Class 4A state meet with a time of 18 minutes 54 seconds. She led the Jaguars to a third-place finish, the best performance in school history.
Here is some inside info on Quass:
How are the practices going thus far?
Practices have been going great so far! It’s been super fun to meet all of our freshmen/newcomers! Everyone has been doing really well, and Cog (head coach Eric Cogdill) has already started to push us in workouts, which I find really exciting.
We’ve had some pretty hot days this month, and the season-opening Centennial Invitational on Tuesday has been cancelled due to the heat. Has it been difficult to deal with the 90-degree temperatures?
The hardest thing about the heat is making sure everyone stays hydrated. Sometimes the heat will get to you and makes running a lot harder! Some days I can definitely feel it when I didn’t hydrate enough.
What do you consider to be perfect running conditions?
For me it would be 40 degrees with no wind. It would be even better if the race was in the morning and the course was flat!
Coach Cogdill told me that you requested an individual training plan for the summer months. Do you feel like you’re in really good shape going into the season?
I have been feeling the most fit I have in my running career, and I am excited to show off the hard work I did this summer! Cog wrote and helped me with some really challenging workouts that helped me get to where I am now. I’m hopeful to set some really big PRs this season!
Do you know how many miles you’ve ran this summer?
I ran somewhere around 550 not including my cross training miles. It got hard sometimes because I’d never run that much, but Cog helped me approach it in a way that was smart and positive.
I know there are a lot of younger girls pushing for varsity spots. Now that you’re an upperclassman, are you trying to be more of a leader for the squad?
I feel like this year has been a good opportunity to take on a leadership role! I try to help ease any worries about workouts and give advice about things I know I was concerned about as a freshman.
Do you feel like this team has the potential to earn another podium finish at the state meet?
I like to think that anything is possible in terms of our performance at state! If we could make it on the podium again that would be amazing! That said, we do have a younger team, so I think that it will take us a bit longer to get into a solid rhythm. Overall, I’m just excited to see individual accomplishments amongst our group this year and see where that leads us!
What are your individual goals? Do you think you can contend for a state title?
One of my biggest goals this year is to break the 18-minute mark. I really think I could do this on the right day, and that’s super exciting for me! In terms of the state title, I want to lay out my best performance, and I think I’ve put myself in a good position to be in the front pack this year. Whether or not I end up taking that front spot will depend on everyone’s performance on the day. It is exciting to know that it is a very real possibility though!
Last year you often ran against Ankeny’s Lauren McMahon, and the two of you pushed each other to some outstanding performances. But Lauren has graduated and is now competing for Iowa. Will you miss the challenge of running against her this season?
I loved running with Lauren last year–between our workouts together and the races where we pushed each other, we got really close! I’ll always miss having her as a supporter/competitor in every race because we always made sure we were pushing ourselves to be our best. I can’t wait to see everything she does at Iowa, but I will miss seeing her and competing with her at my races.
Where are you at in the recruiting process? Have you started looking at schools yet?
So far in the recruiting process, I have just started looking at colleges! I’m hoping to start reaching out and seeing what schools might be a possibility to push me as a runner and a student in the future.
Did you watch much of the track competition at the Olympics? What did you think of Iowan Karissa Schweizer’s performances?
I watched the Olympics with my family, and it was super fun! My favorite athlete to see was Athing Mu in the 800! We did watch Karissa, and it was amazing to see that someone from Iowa, like me or my friends, can make it so far as a runner! I thought her performance was amazing. Even making it to the Olympics is insane in my opinion!