Edmee Rodriguez/Sun Photo
NO. 1 ... Shawnee Mission South senior Kristen Gillespie relaxes on the track at the SM South District Stadium. The Raiders senior medaled in 11 of the 16 events she ran at the state track meet during her career. She is the All-Sun Girls Track Athlete of the Year. The recent SM South graduate will be running track and cross country at Oklahoma State this coming school year.
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Sensational senior season
Shawnee Mission South's Gillespie runs away with 2008 All-Sun Girls Track Athlete of Year
BY: Charles Redfield, Associate Sports Editor
credfield@sunpublications.com
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Kristen Gillespie enjoyed a pretty good senior year for Shawnee Mission South High School.
She is a three-sport All-Sun first-team selection, earning the honor in cross country, basketball and track. There are not many athletes who can claim that distinction.
In cross country she placed seventh at the Class 6A state meet. She served as the leader for Coach Ron Millard’s girls basketball team. She capped her senior year with an outstanding track season.
At the state track meet, she won the 800 meters and placed second in the 400.
Her best time of 2:13.62 ranks No. 14 on the Kansas all-time list. She led The Sun’s honor roll in both events.
In her career, she made the All-Sun Girls Cross Country first team twice and All-Sun Girls Track team three times.
During her track career with the the Raiders, she ran in 16 events at state and medaled in 11 of them.
Now she adds another honor – the All-Sun Girls Track Athlete of the Year. The Sun sports staff made the selection.
Her senior year proved one of the best in recent Sun Country history.
“I had another year of experience,” she said. “I pushed it harder in my sports. I wanted to get better each year.”
The result spelled a track season to remember.
“I lifted weights more and ran practices with the boys,” she said. “I broke my races down by 200 splits (a goal time at each 200 increment of her 400 and 800-meter races).”
She registered an outstanding state meet, winning the 800, finishing second in the 400, second in the 3,200-meter relay and fifth in the 1,600-meter relay.
“I had trained through multiple meets during the season,” she said. “I was rested at state. I dealt with the pressure, relaxed and did my thing.”
She got her start running track in the Blue Valley area.
“I ran summer track before my seventh-grade year at Overland Trail Middle School,” she said.
She ran interscholastic track for Overland Trail as a seventh and eighth- grader. Did running in middle school help her?
“It’s a big advantage,” she said. “Shawnee Mission needs to go in that direction.”
The family moved to the SM South District in time for her freshman year.
The 19-year-old ran summer track between her freshman and sophomore years at SM South. After that she participated in summer basketball.
She has impressed retiring track coach Mike Naster.
“When she came to South, it turned our entire girls program around,” he said. “Her leadership, her work habits and her attitude were outstanding. It sort of made the other girls follow what she did.”
Her hard work really caught the attention of Naster.
“I have never seen anyone, boy or girl, work any harder,” he said. “She would be running in the boys workouts. I asked her what she was doing. ‘I will do whatever it takes to be better.’”
In the autumn Gillespie will head for Oklahoma State to run cross country and track.
“It is a good fit academically and athletically for me,” she said. “It’s a good distance from home. I think I will be successful there.”
She is going into the business school and considering majoring in international business.
She completed her career at SM South with a 3.9 grade-point average.
When she heads for Oklahoma State in mid-August, she will be away from twin brother, Scott, for the first time. Kristen is older by seven minutes.
“It will be weird,” she said. “We have helped each other with homework, have the same friends and hang out with the same people. He has been my workout partner.”
Kristen said the two get along well.
“We have similar personalities and we both take school seriously,” she said.
She noted they could see each other at NCAA Division I track meets.
She is a three-sport All-Sun first-team selection, earning the honor in cross country, basketball and track. There are not many athletes who can claim that distinction.
In cross country she placed seventh at the Class 6A state meet. She served as the leader for Coach Ron Millard’s girls basketball team. She capped her senior year with an outstanding track season.
At the state track meet, she won the 800 meters and placed second in the 400.
Her best time of 2:13.62 ranks No. 14 on the Kansas all-time list. She led The Sun’s honor roll in both events.
In her career, she made the All-Sun Girls Cross Country first team twice and All-Sun Girls Track team three times.
During her track career with the the Raiders, she ran in 16 events at state and medaled in 11 of them.
Now she adds another honor – the All-Sun Girls Track Athlete of the Year. The Sun sports staff made the selection.
Her senior year proved one of the best in recent Sun Country history.
“I had another year of experience,” she said. “I pushed it harder in my sports. I wanted to get better each year.”
The result spelled a track season to remember.
“I lifted weights more and ran practices with the boys,” she said. “I broke my races down by 200 splits (a goal time at each 200 increment of her 400 and 800-meter races).”
She registered an outstanding state meet, winning the 800, finishing second in the 400, second in the 3,200-meter relay and fifth in the 1,600-meter relay.
“I had trained through multiple meets during the season,” she said. “I was rested at state. I dealt with the pressure, relaxed and did my thing.”
She got her start running track in the Blue Valley area.
“I ran summer track before my seventh-grade year at Overland Trail Middle School,” she said.
She ran interscholastic track for Overland Trail as a seventh and eighth- grader. Did running in middle school help her?
“It’s a big advantage,” she said. “Shawnee Mission needs to go in that direction.”
The family moved to the SM South District in time for her freshman year.
The 19-year-old ran summer track between her freshman and sophomore years at SM South. After that she participated in summer basketball.
She has impressed retiring track coach Mike Naster.
“When she came to South, it turned our entire girls program around,” he said. “Her leadership, her work habits and her attitude were outstanding. It sort of made the other girls follow what she did.”
Her hard work really caught the attention of Naster.
“I have never seen anyone, boy or girl, work any harder,” he said. “She would be running in the boys workouts. I asked her what she was doing. ‘I will do whatever it takes to be better.’”
In the autumn Gillespie will head for Oklahoma State to run cross country and track.
“It is a good fit academically and athletically for me,” she said. “It’s a good distance from home. I think I will be successful there.”
She is going into the business school and considering majoring in international business.
She completed her career at SM South with a 3.9 grade-point average.
When she heads for Oklahoma State in mid-August, she will be away from twin brother, Scott, for the first time. Kristen is older by seven minutes.
“It will be weird,” she said. “We have helped each other with homework, have the same friends and hang out with the same people. He has been my workout partner.”
Kristen said the two get along well.
“We have similar personalities and we both take school seriously,” she said.
She noted they could see each other at NCAA Division I track meets.