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Rylie Brown's historic inaugural season leads to state championships
ARCADIA, Mo. - As Malden senior Rylie Brown toed the line at the Class 2 District 1 Cross Country championships, she said all she felt was adrenaline.
After 21 minutes and 32 seconds passed, Rylie finished the 5k course in 13th place and became the first ever Malden cross country runner to qualify for the state meet.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Rylie said about her performance. “I don’t think it has set in that I am going to state yet. I expected myself to be super emotional, but I wasn’t. I just don’t think it’s kicked in yet.”
Rylie Brown, heading into her senior season, pushed for Malden to implement a cross country program.
As a track athlete, participating in mostly distance events such as the mile (1600m) and two mile (3200m), Rylie figured having a cross country team would help her in the off season. She also figured this fall sport can help her get recognized by more recruits and give her a chance to run collegiately.
During her senior campaign, and her inaugural cross country season with the Green Wave, Rylie has made a name for herself. She earned a medal at 10 out of the 11 races Malden competed in.
Her high school cross country career began at the Memphis Twilight meet, where Rylie ran her first 5k ever in 23:24.
“I was nervous,” Rylie said. “I performed better than I thought I was going to, but I think that was mostly adrenaline because it was my very first time running a 5k. I’ve run two miles as hard as I can, but the transition from two miles to three miles and learning how to pace myself differently, we were just seeing what I can do. That was more of a ‘learning meet’ for me.”
Her very next race at Winona, Mo, Rylie took first. Her time of 23:46 beat everyone by 17 seconds, earning her first individual win of her cross country career in only her second meet.
She said this race mentally set the tone for each race afterwards.
“That was just a real confidence boost for the rest of the season,” Rylie said. “That race had a lot of competition and I would see those girls regularly throughout the season.”
At the Dexter Invite, she would throw down a one minute and one second personal best while securing a sixth place medal. The next meet at Clearwater, she placed third.
Her season would continue with a sixth place finish at Ellington and a seventh place finish at East Carter.
At the Farmington Cross Country Invitational, Rylie ran another personal best in 22:09 en route to a 14th place finish. This race shaved 14 seconds off of her previous best to cap off the regular season.
Her final race before Districts was one of her best performances, at the Ozark Conference Meet. She recorded a one minute and three second personal best, running a 21:06 5k and breaking the 22 minute barrier, while placing 4th and earning First Team All-Conference.
Despite her steady progression and growing confidence each race, Rylie said she still faced a lot of self-doubt.
“Throughout the season, I was nervous every time I stepped on the line,” Rylie said. “I was just as nervous at districts as I was at my first meet. I gained a lot of confidence, but I still felt like an outsider all season just because I had never done this before.”
As she crossed the finish line at the district meet, Rylie made history for Malden. However, reality for her disguised this achievement as just another medal.
“I think once I get to state and see the environment, it will kind of kick in,” Rylie said. “But I still am nervous because I have no idea what I am walking into at the State meet.”
Rylie enters the state meet ranked 27th, where the top 30 earn All-State honors.
She said this is the obvious goal, but more than anything she hopes to set a new personal record at the state meet.
“I just need to stay out of my own head and know and believe that I earned my spot to be here,” Rylie said. “I can’t crack under the pressure of it being the state meet.”
For her coaches, her success was of no surprise. One of this year’s coaches Ben Brown doubles over as Rylie’s father. She labeled him as a huge inspiration to start running in the first place.
“From a coaching perspective, I knew she could run,” Ben said. “Because I’ve seen her run for years. Watching all of them mature and start believing in themselves has been really rewarding on different levels, as a father and as a coach.”
This inaugural season hasn’t just been about Rylie and her run to state, but about how she has shaped the future of Malden’s cross country program.
Head coach Dalton Freshour said he is now able to use Rylie’s success and the success of the other three athletes on his team to promote more athletes to join in coming years.
“We get to broadcast this success,” Freshour said. “Let other students see their classmates succeeding, persevering through adversity and still finding success. They will think ‘maybe I can do that too.’ We’ve already had some individuals tell me if we are doing this next year they would like to join.”
Rylie’s story is especially vital, not only for her appearance at the State championships, but as an inspiration to other future female runners. Currently, Rylie is the only female cross country athlete at Malden. In fact, she is one of eight female runners in all of Dunklin County. This includes athletes from Senath-Hornersville, Campbell and Kennett. Senath-Hornersvillea and Campbell each only have three girls on their cross country team while Kennett also only has one.
“There’s no telling how many girls in junior high or even in high school who are watching Rylie and saying ‘Hey, she can go to state. Maybe I can work hard and do the same thing,’” Freshour said. “That’s something Rylie has become, a role model for those younger athletes and I think that is something really cool.”
As Rylie embarks on her journey to state, she enters her final week of training for the big show at Columbia.
She said she would not have accomplished any of this without the support of her three coaches and her three teammates.
“I couldn’t have achieved the dream of running in college, going to state without these coaches or my teammates,” Rylie said. “I leaned on them more than they will ever know. I couldn’t have gotten up and completed those early workouts or pushed my mind and body past those barriers without them and obviously Jesus Christ. I couldn’t have done this without Him giving me the ability to run and put me where I am at now. I am so thankful for all of them, but especially God.”
The Class 2 State Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Gans Creek Cross Country Course. Gates for the course will open at 8 a.m. with the Class 2 girls race staring at 9 a.m.