Breakout season: Bellingham’s Reiss makes impact as a freshman

Bellingham freshman Annika Reiss didn’t know her talent would yield a state championship opportunity when the cross country season started last fall, but the indicators were abundant.

“Probably the all-comers track meets and just (running) the 100s and stuff,” said Reiss of when she started noticing her potential. “I’d race and get the blue ribbons.”

Reiss recalled being 3 years old when she first starting running races. She’d frequently enter local youth events and eventually some 5Ks.

Reiss cruised to wins in middle school, easily winning the 800 meters, 1,600 meters, long jump and 4x100 relay during track and field’s All-City Championships last spring.

And it wasn’t more than a few weeks into her first varsity cross country season when Reiss cemented herself as one of Whatcom County’s top girls’ runners.

Reiss won the first varsity race she ran that included all grade levels, placing first during a meet against Meridian, Lynden Christian and Burlington-Edison, and her success sprouted from there.

“Just training with the team, and they really pushed me in the workouts and were very supportive,” said Reiss of what powered her strong times and placings. “Racing with the top girls, I got pushed by them.”

Reiss established herself as the Northwest Conference’s top runner by winning the NWC Championships with a personal record 5,000-meter run of 18 minutes, 12 seconds and later went on win a Class 2A District Meet title with a time of 19:54.40.

At the state championships in Pasco, she nearly put herself in the same breath of heralded former Sehome runner Emily Pittis, who won won a 2A state title as a freshman. But Reiss settled for a second-place finish with a Whatcom County-best time of 18:31.7.

“It was a really good experience,” Reiss said. “Being a freshman, I have three years to improve.”

Reiss, for her breakout season, has been selected The Bellingham Herald’s All-Whatcom County Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year. Lynden Christian coach Darren Postma, who led the Lyncs to a fifth-place state finish, has been selected Coach of the Year.

Reiss finished only 2.8 seconds behind Spokane East Valley’s Brittany Aquino, who won the 2A title.

Reiss and Aquino were alone in front, but with only a few hundred meters to go, Aquino pulled away.

“I just saw her and stayed behind her the whole way, and it was just us two in the front,” Reiss explained. “At the end she kicked and there was a little hill and she got in front of me, and I couldn’t close the gap.”

In spite of being so close to a state championship, she was thrilled with her finish and season.

Reiss’ athletic future is undoubtedly bright. Besides playing soccer for the Whatcom FC Rangers, she plans to compete in track and field, where she anticipates running the 3,200 meters.

Given her cross country results, coupled with the small sample-size of varsity training she’s received, her ceiling seems far reaching.

“I’ve learned a lot of new techniques about running and form and stuff, but I’ve learned more about the team aspect, too, because I’ve never had a running team,” Reiss said. “It was really fun to run with them and work with them.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Breakout season: Bellingham’s Reiss makes impact as a freshman."