State Feature: Taylor Thoroman 1st girls runner in 20 years to represent Hillsboro at state cross-country race
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — Going from running two-mile races in middle school to three-mile races at the high school level isn’t an easy task, as some runners never adjust, or it can take a season or two to really make their mark in the sport.
Then there is Hillsboro's Taylor Thoroman, who in her freshman year has qualified for the girls OHSAA Division II State Cross-Country Championships, racing her way into the biggest event of the year with a 13th-place finish at regionals a week ago with a time of 19:43.
Thoroman began racing cross-country in seventh grade because her older sister (Gracie Thoroman) tried the sport, and her family wanted her to give running a chance. Taking that chance on cross-country has made her the first girls runner to be a state qualifier in two decades, as the last runner to appear at state for the Lady Indians was Jennifer Reinholz in 2002.
“I started in seventh grade, and then I did it throughout eighth grade too, and then I did it my freshman year. I'd started it because my sister had done it, and my mom wanted me to do it,” Thoroman said. “Everyone always said I was going to be the runner of the family, whenever we were at the cross-country meets for my sister.”
When asked why her family said she would be the runner in the family, the answer was simple for Thoroman.
“Because I liked running, and I was always running,” she said. “I would always do good at soccer whenever we would have to do like really long run days at our practices. I don’t know, I just kind of like running.”
Hillsboro girls cross-country head coach Rob Snavely spoke highly of Thoroman and said he knew she was talented when she was in the seventh grade.
“My first year coaching was three years ago. That was the year after the COVID shutdown and everything, and she was a seventh grader. You could clearly tell that she was a natural runner. You could definitely tell that she's got skills, just to be a natural athlete,” he said.
Even after 15 years of coaching track and cross-country, Snavely said he saw something occur for the first time this season, and it was great to see happen to any athlete, as it shows the kind of person Thoroman is and how her teammates respect her.
“I've been a coaching assistant and coaching track for almost 15 years now, and I've never had a team say ‘can we get a bus to go up to state?’ Never had that. You'll see a few drive up, but almost every single one of her teammates — and these are juniors and seniors — want to go up and support this freshman runner,” Snavely said. “They love each other, and you can't have team success unless they all support each other because things happen over a season that ruins teams’ success.
“Our team has been very accepting of her, and listen, she'll never make an enemy. That girl is so kind and just smiles, and she just fits on the team. She is the best runner in the area for a reason. She's also the best friend in the area. I mean, she just naturally smiles and makes friends.”
Thoroman has been involved in two sports this fall, as she is a member of the Hillsboro girls soccer team along with her sister, while she’s also been making history in cross-country.
“It was kind of hard at first (playing two varsity sports this fall), because we had conditioning for both sports, but you just get used to it,” she said. “I just like going out and being out in the nature and running. All the girls are really nice on the team, and everyone's always just cheering everyone on.”
Looking back at the running career of Thoroman, in middle school she was a successful runner, too. In seventh grade, she finished in ninth place, then as an eighth grader Thoroman was third at the state level in middle school.
But running in middle school is much different than high school, and the freshman Thoroman said she likes the high school level of competition more, though it was a bit of a transition at first.
“Well, of course, there's another mile and a new group of girls. I don't know, I just like it. I feel like the courses are just better, because you have another mile, and they're more challenging,” she said. “It was hard at first since it was another mile added on, but I started liking it more because in that last mile, you can just adjust to learn how to run three miles.
“At the beginning of the season, I didn't know how to run three miles, so in the first two miles, I would go out and treat it like I was running two miles. Then my third mile would be slow. But as you get further on in the season, you like the third mile because it's your last mile that you have to do.”
Being an individual state qualifier began with Thoroman battling some nerves at the start of the season in her first varsity race, but she nearly had a win to start her career at the McClain Invitational.
“I was pretty nervous, and I got second to a girl from Zane Trace (Marie Souther),” Thoroman said. “It was pretty exciting. I was hoping I would do pretty well and at least make like top five for my first race, and I got second.”
Snavely talked about that race at the Washington Court House Invitational that cemented his belief Thoroman was going to be a great runner for the Lady Indians. It also happened to be another meet where she narrowly lost to Souther.
“I knew she had ‘it’ when we ran up at the Washington Court House Invitational, and she ran against Souther from Zane Trace. She lost the sprint. She and Souther sprinted the last 100 meters, and Souther finished in the top five last year in the state meet,” he said. “And here was a freshman girl, and I told her, you stay on her. And she did everything Coach said, and she lost the sprint at the end.
“That's when I knew that not only was she going to be good, but our whole team was going to watch that and realize that we could be great as a team, but also she could be great individually. That's when you knew, when she ran toe to toe with a fantastic runner and didn't back down.”
Every runner prepares for a season differently, but Thoroman spoke about getting ready for her first varsity season, as that preparation obviously worked as she raced her way to much success in 2022.
“We usually come out, and we run 40 minutes per day,” she said. “That should be like at a good pace, and you should run at least like three to four miles per day. Then we do striders, and then we did cool-down laps, and we stretch. It gets you prepared for the season if you do it right.”
Since that second-place finish in her high school varsity debut, Thoroman spoke about how she’s improved since those days in August.
“I feel like I've gotten better. I started out for our first-time three miles at practice, I ran at 21:59 or close to that,” she said. “Then from my last race, I got all the way down to a 19:43. So yeah, I think I've improved, but I think that's because I learned how to run three miles rather than just two.
“You have to run with your heart in the last mile, because the first mile’s in your legs and then the second mile’s in your mind, and then the third mile’s with your heart.”
Snavely also spoke about Thoroman's progression throughout the season, as she continues to defy the odds in each race.
“ As competition has gone up, she has gone up,” Snavely said. “She had the 23rd-fastest time going into districts, and she finished 13th. She had the 28th-fastest time going into regionals, and she finished 13th, or whatever it was. I mean, she keeps going in based on times at a certain ranking, and then she keeps advancing that. So we're just trying to figure out, well, what can she do?”
What about her favorite race of the season? Thoroman described the course at the Xenia Legacy Christian Invitational as being the “most fun” to run.
“My favorite race had to have been Xenia because there was this one part of the race where you had to like jump into like dried creek, but it was a big drop. Then you had to like go up, and then you had to like jump over these logs that were laying down in the back of this woods area. I thought that that one was the most fun,” she said.
When Thoroman realized she became a state qualifier, and the first state qualifier since 2002 at Hillsboro for the girls program, what was she feeling?
“I was really excited. It was a goal that I had. My goal was to first get past districts and for our team to win league as a whole, and then to win league,” she said. “My parents and I wanted me to be able to make it to state, but we were just kind of seeing how districts and regionals went first.”
So with the race Saturday, Nov. 5 at Fortress Obetz inching closer, what is the freshman looking forward to the most as she gets ready for the state championship race?
“I'm looking forward to doing good, but I'm also really excited for my team to be able to come along with me, because I'm happy that the school allowed us to be able to take a bus so that they could come with me and cheer me on,” Thoroman said. “I want to try to stay up with a group to be able to run a 19 flat, or I want to try to be able to make it into at least top 30 or top 25.”
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Then there is Hillsboro's Taylor Thoroman, who in her freshman year has qualified for the girls OHSAA Division II State Cross-Country Championships, racing her way into the biggest event of the year with a 13th-place finish at regionals a week ago with a time of 19:43.
Thoroman began racing cross-country in seventh grade because her older sister (Gracie Thoroman) tried the sport, and her family wanted her to give running a chance. Taking that chance on cross-country has made her the first girls runner to be a state qualifier in two decades, as the last runner to appear at state for the Lady Indians was Jennifer Reinholz in 2002.
“I started in seventh grade, and then I did it throughout eighth grade too, and then I did it my freshman year. I'd started it because my sister had done it, and my mom wanted me to do it,” Thoroman said. “Everyone always said I was going to be the runner of the family, whenever we were at the cross-country meets for my sister.”
When asked why her family said she would be the runner in the family, the answer was simple for Thoroman.
“Because I liked running, and I was always running,” she said. “I would always do good at soccer whenever we would have to do like really long run days at our practices. I don’t know, I just kind of like running.”
Hillsboro girls cross-country head coach Rob Snavely spoke highly of Thoroman and said he knew she was talented when she was in the seventh grade.
“My first year coaching was three years ago. That was the year after the COVID shutdown and everything, and she was a seventh grader. You could clearly tell that she was a natural runner. You could definitely tell that she's got skills, just to be a natural athlete,” he said.
Even after 15 years of coaching track and cross-country, Snavely said he saw something occur for the first time this season, and it was great to see happen to any athlete, as it shows the kind of person Thoroman is and how her teammates respect her.
“I've been a coaching assistant and coaching track for almost 15 years now, and I've never had a team say ‘can we get a bus to go up to state?’ Never had that. You'll see a few drive up, but almost every single one of her teammates — and these are juniors and seniors — want to go up and support this freshman runner,” Snavely said. “They love each other, and you can't have team success unless they all support each other because things happen over a season that ruins teams’ success.
“Our team has been very accepting of her, and listen, she'll never make an enemy. That girl is so kind and just smiles, and she just fits on the team. She is the best runner in the area for a reason. She's also the best friend in the area. I mean, she just naturally smiles and makes friends.”
Thoroman has been involved in two sports this fall, as she is a member of the Hillsboro girls soccer team along with her sister, while she’s also been making history in cross-country.
“It was kind of hard at first (playing two varsity sports this fall), because we had conditioning for both sports, but you just get used to it,” she said. “I just like going out and being out in the nature and running. All the girls are really nice on the team, and everyone's always just cheering everyone on.”
Looking back at the running career of Thoroman, in middle school she was a successful runner, too. In seventh grade, she finished in ninth place, then as an eighth grader Thoroman was third at the state level in middle school.
But running in middle school is much different than high school, and the freshman Thoroman said she likes the high school level of competition more, though it was a bit of a transition at first.
“Well, of course, there's another mile and a new group of girls. I don't know, I just like it. I feel like the courses are just better, because you have another mile, and they're more challenging,” she said. “It was hard at first since it was another mile added on, but I started liking it more because in that last mile, you can just adjust to learn how to run three miles.
“At the beginning of the season, I didn't know how to run three miles, so in the first two miles, I would go out and treat it like I was running two miles. Then my third mile would be slow. But as you get further on in the season, you like the third mile because it's your last mile that you have to do.”
Being an individual state qualifier began with Thoroman battling some nerves at the start of the season in her first varsity race, but she nearly had a win to start her career at the McClain Invitational.
“I was pretty nervous, and I got second to a girl from Zane Trace (Marie Souther),” Thoroman said. “It was pretty exciting. I was hoping I would do pretty well and at least make like top five for my first race, and I got second.”
Snavely talked about that race at the Washington Court House Invitational that cemented his belief Thoroman was going to be a great runner for the Lady Indians. It also happened to be another meet where she narrowly lost to Souther.
“I knew she had ‘it’ when we ran up at the Washington Court House Invitational, and she ran against Souther from Zane Trace. She lost the sprint. She and Souther sprinted the last 100 meters, and Souther finished in the top five last year in the state meet,” he said. “And here was a freshman girl, and I told her, you stay on her. And she did everything Coach said, and she lost the sprint at the end.
“That's when I knew that not only was she going to be good, but our whole team was going to watch that and realize that we could be great as a team, but also she could be great individually. That's when you knew, when she ran toe to toe with a fantastic runner and didn't back down.”
Every runner prepares for a season differently, but Thoroman spoke about getting ready for her first varsity season, as that preparation obviously worked as she raced her way to much success in 2022.
“We usually come out, and we run 40 minutes per day,” she said. “That should be like at a good pace, and you should run at least like three to four miles per day. Then we do striders, and then we did cool-down laps, and we stretch. It gets you prepared for the season if you do it right.”
Since that second-place finish in her high school varsity debut, Thoroman spoke about how she’s improved since those days in August.
“I feel like I've gotten better. I started out for our first-time three miles at practice, I ran at 21:59 or close to that,” she said. “Then from my last race, I got all the way down to a 19:43. So yeah, I think I've improved, but I think that's because I learned how to run three miles rather than just two.
“You have to run with your heart in the last mile, because the first mile’s in your legs and then the second mile’s in your mind, and then the third mile’s with your heart.”
Snavely also spoke about Thoroman's progression throughout the season, as she continues to defy the odds in each race.
“ As competition has gone up, she has gone up,” Snavely said. “She had the 23rd-fastest time going into districts, and she finished 13th. She had the 28th-fastest time going into regionals, and she finished 13th, or whatever it was. I mean, she keeps going in based on times at a certain ranking, and then she keeps advancing that. So we're just trying to figure out, well, what can she do?”
What about her favorite race of the season? Thoroman described the course at the Xenia Legacy Christian Invitational as being the “most fun” to run.
“My favorite race had to have been Xenia because there was this one part of the race where you had to like jump into like dried creek, but it was a big drop. Then you had to like go up, and then you had to like jump over these logs that were laying down in the back of this woods area. I thought that that one was the most fun,” she said.
When Thoroman realized she became a state qualifier, and the first state qualifier since 2002 at Hillsboro for the girls program, what was she feeling?
“I was really excited. It was a goal that I had. My goal was to first get past districts and for our team to win league as a whole, and then to win league,” she said. “My parents and I wanted me to be able to make it to state, but we were just kind of seeing how districts and regionals went first.”
So with the race Saturday, Nov. 5 at Fortress Obetz inching closer, what is the freshman looking forward to the most as she gets ready for the state championship race?
“I'm looking forward to doing good, but I'm also really excited for my team to be able to come along with me, because I'm happy that the school allowed us to be able to take a bus so that they could come with me and cheer me on,” Thoroman said. “I want to try to stay up with a group to be able to run a 19 flat, or I want to try to be able to make it into at least top 30 or top 25.”
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