Running with the Best

A 40-minute team run Wednesday morning around Griswold made Rebekah Topham feel hot. Temperatures were already in the 70s around 7 a.m. and high dew points led to humid conditions.

Topham had spent much of her summer running at 3:30 in the afternoon, during the hottest point of days, when temperatures were reaching highs in the 90s.

“We ran at 3:30 and it was like 200 degrees out,” Topham said exaggerating, talking about the day before. “I've been drinking lots of water, I poured it all over to cool me off and yeah, it's hard getting use to the heat.”

The weather will likely not be the only heat the Griswold cross country star will face this season.

Topham is coming off one of the best seasons ever for a Griswold runner. As a freshman, Topham won the 1A Girls State Cross Country title and followed up with three gold medals at the Iowa State Track Meet this past spring, en route to the school’s second straight Class 1A State Track title.

Topham has ran competitively since she was nine years old.

“Six years of running is a big advantage over people, who go out their first year in high school,” said Rebekah’s father, Jeff Topham.

Topham's father is an assistant coach for the Griswold cross country and track teams. He was a competitive runner in high school and he, along with his wife Lori, has passed his love of running onto Rebekah.

The family has lived in Southwest Iowa since 2001, moving to Griswold from Wichita, Kan. Jeff Topham is originally from Kansas, while Lori is a 1987 Red Oak graduate. Rebekah is the second of four children in the family.

“My Dad takes me running everyday,” Rebekah said. “My older brother used to run with me and my Mom helps out a lot too.”

Griswold Head Cross Country Coach Jane Challie recalls Rebekah coming up through the ranks of the program’s middle school.

“Being a coach in the system, it was always kind of my dream that she would run for Griswold,” Challie said. “Having her run for us has been really exciting.”

Chaillie has known Rebekah for years, first seeing her at road races, as well as a junior Olympics race at Griswold.

“Rebekah has so much race experience that it is just amazing,” Chaillie said. “She's willing to share that with the other girls on the team and the boys on the team.”

For Jeff and Lori, both former teachers, they opted to home school all four of their children, including Rebekah.

“When you only have four kids and you're a former teacher, you get much more individualized attention for one,” Jeff said.

Rebekah competed for Griswold in part for the social aspects that come with running, according to her father.

“When it comes to running, if you have other people to run with, it's a big advantage,” Jeff said. “She really enjoys being around the other girls.”

Allison Young, one of the senior cross country runners for Griswold, has also known Topham since she was a child. Young has always
been impressed with Topham’s talent.

“I uses to do road races in the summer time with her and she would out-sprint the 18-year-old high school boys and they'd be looking at her, this little tiny girl like 'what in the world, who is that?’” Young said. “That just always amazed me.”

Topham's Summer

The running season for Topham never ends. The soon-to-be sophomore spent much of her summer running races for the Cornhusker Flyers Track Club out of Omaha. Her summer season wrapped up in late July when she competed at the 2012 USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Topham won the 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:37.53.

Topham also finished fifth in the 3,000-meter race, running a time of 11:01.17. Both races were in the Intermediate division, which is for athletes born in 1996 or ‘97.

In late June, Topham competed at the University of Texas-Arlington for the USA Youth Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She won both the 1,500 and 3,000-meter races, by at least three seconds over the rest of the field.

In the 1,500, Topham ran a time of 4:38.37, while in the 3,000, she ran a 10:19.94.

Additionally, in the 800-meter race, Topham finished fourth with a time of 2:16.86.

Topham kicked off her summer by competing at the USA Junior Outdoor Championships at the University of Indiana, June 15-17. Her lone race was the 1,500, which she finished 10th with a time of 4:34.68.

Topham, one of the youngest runners in the field, reached the finals of the 1,500 by running 4:28.92 in the prelims, which was her personal best.

To put Topham's preliminary time into perspective at the junior outdoor championships, the all-time best in Iowa for the 1,500 is 4:26.39, which was set by Shelby Houlihan of Sioux City East in 2011. Topham’s time is third best.

Topham will start her sophomore year with a chance to defend her state individual cross country title. She held off Leah Seivert of Sidbley-Ocheyedan to win by at least 30 seconds with a time of 13:59 last season.

Topham doesn't have an extended break, as she goes from one season to another. After the cross country season, she'll get ready for the indoor track season during the winter, which leads to the outdoor track season in spring, which leads to summer when she competes at all the junior national events.

“It just keeps going and going and going,” Topham said.

Topham runs everyday, mixing up her routines and rotating them. With cross country starting, Topham has been running during the morning and evening.

“When you run, you feel good afterwards, unless you run hard,” she said. “I just love it.”

Topham enters this season with some familiarity of all the courses. Topham admits she isn't the biggest fan of the tough Red Oak Country Club course, because of the steep hills.

“I guess it's something I have to get use to. It is cross country,” she said. “It's okay, but it's the hardest course in my opinion.”

With Topham's win at state cross country last season, Griswold finished third in the team standings, their best finish at state for girls cross country.

Running with teammates

Griswold teammates Jordyn Sindt and Alyx Flippin are two runners Topham said she enjoys running with. The three have a good time and talk often. Flippin in particular ran alongside Topham for the 1,500 and 3,000-meter races many times last season. Flippin often finished second behind Topham.

“She pushes me to run as hard as I can, even when most days I don't really want to,” Flippin said. “It's a challenge for me to run with her and I know it's going to make me better.”

Flippin, also a sophomore, first met Topham in seventh grade. She described Topham as someone who kept to herself.

“When you first meet her, she's kind of shy. Once you get to know her, she has a sense of humor and she's encouraging to her teammates,” Flippin said about Topham. “She's just the nicest girl you'll ever meet.”

The trio became close during the last cross country season.

“I started running and I was placing well and Coach Topham saw my potential and he wanted me to start running more,” Flippin said. “I started running with Rebekah.”

Sindt has known Topham since Sindt was a freshman. Topham always gets on Sindt's case about going out running, even texting to go out.

"She has a big influence on how much I've gotten in shape in the past year," Sindt said.

Both Sindt and Flippin have enjoyed their runs and workouts with Topham.

"When we run on this dirt road out here, we always record what we find,” Sindt said, describing one of the games they play while they run. “Cell phones and keys, we keep [the record] and that's kind of funny."

Sindt, Flippin and Young agree Topham has been a positive influence on the team. All three have said Topham has offered encouragement and set an example for a freshman even the seniors can’t deny.

"Without her, we couldn't have done a lot of things we have done,” Sindt said. “She pushes us, she motivates us and she's a great asset to the team."

Young describes Topham as the definition of hard work, for all the hours she puts in training.

“She's always got a positive attitude, always encourages me,” Young said. “She's made me a better runner.”

Flippin said the team motivates each other.

“To see her do so well motivates me, that maybe I can do well like she does, in the future,” she said.

Chaillie echoes the sentiment from his three runners, noting how down to earth Topham is despite her success.

Chaillie also said Topham is a jokester and likes to play tricks on the team. One instance involved showing off a rubber snake to the team, making them think it was real.

“They're always getting somebody riled up in some way,” Chaillie said. "These are still high school kids. They are great performers, they go out and get after it. But seeing them have fun, seeing their interaction is what is so rewarding."

Olympics

Topham has been watching the Olympics and would definitely love to be part of them some day. She said she would love to run the 1,500.

“It’s not too long and not too short and I love the 1,500,” she said.

Her biggest Olympic inspiration, however, isn’t a long-distance runner. It’s U.S. hurdler and Des Moines native, Lolo Jones.

“I've learned some stuff. Most of the athletes, when they get interviewed, they always say ‘I hope I can be an inspiration for others,’” Topham said.

Griswold's cross country season starts Sept. 4 when they compete at Clarinda.