Oh, how cruel it must be to have to race Stephen Kielhofner. His strategy is a tease. A glimmer of hope given to rivals that, as sure as the sun sets, goes dark in the fading shine off the bright blonde hair pulling away in the distance.
The lanky kid from Springfield Catholic likes to settle in with the pace, not set it. Hanging near the front of the pack like a thoroughbred gauging its rivals, he holds back until the final turn towards the home stretch, and in a flash, is gone.
Oh, how cruel it must be.
Yes, Kielhofner praises his rivals. They make him better, he says. He wouldn't be who he is without them, he continues. But that praise doesn't mean he doesn't know exactly how to beat them.
"It's really just knowing how they race," he said. "Daylan Quinn is a very, very strong [finisher]. You have to know you want to run faster throughout the race to wear him down."
Savage.
MV-BT/Liberty's Quinn was one of 162 runners who finished behind Kielhofner at this year's Class 2 boys state cross country meet. Second to Kielhofner was Strafford's Shane Burns, who finished 23.36 seconds behind.
"I've coached two individual state champions," Catholic head boys cross country coach Tom Gray said. "One was David Shanholtzer in 1991. Stephen [Kielhofner] probably ranks as the best runner I've coached."
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Gray has known Kielhofner since the runner was a 5th grader at St. Agnes Elementary. It was the start of a time together that, this year, lead to Catholic's second all-time team cross country championship.
"He got into the right set of kids and found out that running was in his heart," Gray said. "His track coaches and myself encouraged him and tried to help motivate him to understand how good he was. Once he owned that he's a runner and bought into himself, he became the runner that he is. That's what makes a runner."
But what really made Kielhofner a runner goes beyond coaches and friends, instead finding its origins in family.
"My dad used to run marathons," he said. "He would take me to 5Ks. I remember doing the Turkey Trot one winter when I was really young."
From there, he was off. Kielhofner began running cross country at St. Agnes in 7th grade, and within a year, began seeing results.
"I realized, if I'm good at this, maybe I can do this in high school," he said.
And a good thing, too.
"In general, I'm just not too great in other sports," Kielhofner said. "Running seemed like the thing to do."
Kielhofner qualified for states as a freshman, finishing 15th with a time of 17:16.07, a time he cut approximately 63 seconds off of one year later.
"I was real proud of him because, when he'd talk to the press, he'd talk about how what made him a better runner was his competition," Gray said.
"When you run against other guys, they push you to be better. So now, it's taking the opportunities that exist and maturing and asking, 'how fast can I go? How long can I sustain the type of speed I want to be at?' He's going to work that out over the next couple of years."
If he hasn't figured that out already, it's a potentially scary thought for the rest of the state. Kielhofner's 16:13.52 would have been good enough for 2nd at the Class 3 state meet and 10th at Class 4. Only one other underclassman—Victor Mugeche of Class 4 Blue Springs—topped his time.
"You're going to see a lot of good things out of him," Gray said.
"Any really good runner tells you each level from this point on gets harder. I think you'll see him on a Junior Olympic kind of level and a pretty strong collegiate runner when he gets to that point. He's poised to do very well."
The Irish are losing five seniors from this year's state championship team, including state qualifiers Austin Rieth and Lachlan Moore, putting Kielhofner square in the limelight after a historic season for Catholic cross country.
"It's nice to have the great guys I ran with," Kielhofner said. "Not just on the team, but the competition. Because without them, I wouldn't be running as fast as I did."
