Jennifer Hughes to run cross country at St. Mary's

White River Valley senior Jennifer Hughes (front row, middle) is all smiles while signing a letter of intent to run cross country at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute. Hughes is flanked by her parents Greg and Judy Hughes. Also pictured (back row, from left) are St. Mary's recruiting coordinator Aaron Ballenger, WRV cross country coach John Wells and St. Mary's women's cross country coach Danelle Readinger. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

"We are very excited to have Jennifer as our very first girl to sign with the program," said St. Mary's coach Danelle Readinger. "In fact, Jennifer was at the top of our list from the beginning."

Hughes, who qualified for the semistate as a freshman in 2005 but struggled with injuries the next two seasons, said she didn't think something like this was possible.

"I had never really thought about running in college until coach (John Wells) handed me a questionnaire from St. Mary's back in the fall," said Hughes, who was two-time Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference champion (2005, 2008). "I am really excited to have this opportunity."

Wells said he was very pleased for Hughes, who advanced to the semistate in October.

"Jennifer is a great kid and has worked very hard to put herself into this position," said Wells. "St. Mary's had called me earlier and said they had done a little research and had noticed Jennifer.

"This was at the beginning of the season, even before her great senior year. I am very happy for her. She will receive about a half scholarship. Hopefully this will be an example to other kids that something like this is possible, with a lot of hard work and dedication."

Readinger has ties to the area. As a freshman at Eastern Greene High School in 1991, then Danelle Leaf won the first girls SWIAC championship, defeating White River Valley standout Kelley Strickler.

"I ran at Eastern Greene for coach (Mike) Caldwell," said Readinger. "I ran in and won the very first SWIAC race for girls. My dad was in the military and I just went to school at Eastern in the eighth and ninth grade before we moved again.

"I find it very ironic that I was in the first girls SWIAC and now I am here in Greene County signing the first girl to run at St. Mary's."

Readinger said she has three commitments already and hopes to sign as many as 10 girls to run next season.

"There is something to be said about being the first at anything," said Readinger, who is new to the college coaching scene, but has been involved with USA Track and Field as well as coaching a Junior Olympics Team (Terre Haute Tigers). "That what makes this special for Jennifer, for myself and for St. Mary's."

Hughes made a name for herself as a freshman as she won the conference and advanced out of the sectional and regional.

But then bad luck reared its ugly head as injuries and illnesses limited Hughes' effectiveness in 2006 and 2007.

"During my sophomore year, I sprained my ankle, but did not tell anybody until it got really bad," said Hughes, who still advanced to the regional that season. "Last year, I just had some issues mentally getting my confidence back."

Hughes said she tried to eat healthier this year and she attributes that to her success as a senior, which saw her win at Clay City for the first time.

"I had a waffle with peanut butter before every race," she said. "And it worked.

"I just tried to take better care of myself."

Besides winning the SWIAC this year in a 5K record time of 20 minutes and one second, she was the Shakamak Invitational and Clay City Invitational champion. She set the course record at Clay City.

"I finally won at Clay City," she said. "It just seemed like I never ran really well over there until this year."

Hughes, who in 48 career starts had 16 firsts, three seconds, five third-place finishes, four fourths and one fifth-place, ran 10th at the Brown County Sectional and followed that up with a fourth-place finish at the Brown County Regional five days later.

"Finishing fourth at the regional was probably the highlight of my career here at WRV," said Hughes, who said she plans to study to be a dental technician, but is not 100 percent committed to a major yet.

She said she plans to continue running track in the spring to stay in shape and then cross country training will begin in June at St. Mary's.

"I know we will be running farther in college," said of the increase from 5,000 meters in high school to 6,000 in college. "I know it will be more competitive so I am going to have to work even harder.

"I am hoping to make the most of this chance."