Tigers' Kerr is heading to Wake Forest for x-country
mike haines/times news Lindsay Kerr (front row, center) will attend Wake Forest University on a cross country scholarship. Seated next to her for the signing ceremony are her dad David Kerr and her mom Cathleen Kerr. In the back row are, from left, assistant cross country coach Tim Churetta, principal Dennis Nemes, and cross country coach Chris Stitzel.
After reaching the highest level of high school cross country running, Lindsay Kerr is moving on to the next level.
The Northwestern senior and 2009 Class AA state champion, signed a letter of intent Wednesday to run at Wake Forrest University.
At a ceremony in the high school gym, with over a dozen friends and teammates forming a small audience for the event, Kerr reflected on her career and her finest season.
"It's real exciting," said the Northwestern senior and 2009 Class AA state champ. "It's also kind of sad. I really like the girls that I've spent the past four years with. The seniors this year, we were really close. The coaches, you form a relationship with them."
"The season we had this year was the best season," said Kerr. It was a perfect season, 26-0 regular season champs, won leagues, won districts.To be third in the state is amazing and for me to win it myself, it was kind of icing on the cake."
The chance to run for the Demon Deacons is the cherry on top.
Kerr's high school accomplishments got her on the radar of several top college programs including Virginia, Virgnia Tech, North Carolina and Syracuse.
She liked Deacons coach Annie Bennett, who she observed at Lehigh's Paul Short Invitational.
"She had a premeet meeting and I got to see her talk them through race strategy," Kerr said. "After the meet they had a sit down circle and they talked about what they could improve on and what happened in the race. I liked how she handled everything."
Kerr took a visit to the Winston-Salem, NC, campus and got along well with the team then made her decision in late December.
She hopes to make the top 7 or top 10 on the squad next fall and over her first few years become one of the team's top runners.
"I don't want to go in being the best," Kerr said. "I definitely want to go in somewhere in the middle. I like having people to have to work towards."
Kerr's high school career went something like that. She was the team's No. 2 runner as a freshman and the top runner from there on.
It took her just three years of high school running to become the best in her league and district. Her individual league record includes an 11th-place finish as a freshman, a second-place the next year and league titles in her last two years. Her district record is similar - 14th her first year, then second, first, first in her next three. At states, she took 99th in her first trip and 34th in her next. As a junior she vaulted to fourth place before winning the state title as a senior.
Her team's success has nearly mirrored hers. It was a league runner up her first two years and a district runner up in two of her first three seasons. By Kerr's junior year she led the Lady Tigers to a seventh place finish at states, the team's best ever. Last season, behind Kerr's first-place finish, the team made history again, finishing third overall after capturing league and district titles.
She heads to the next level hoping for similar success and with the work ethic to achieve it.
"She could probably jump into varsity her freshman year," said Northwestern head coach Chris Stitzel. "With her dedication and a good head on her shoulders. The kind of leader she was this year, I wouldn't doubt she could be a champion by her sophomore or junior year at Wake Forrest."
