2021 NewsTribune Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year: Fieldcrest’s Mason Stoeger

As a freshman at Fieldcrest, Mason Stoeger played football and basketball and ran track and field.

After seeing his potential as a runner, Fieldcrest track and cross country coach Carol Bauer convinced Stoeger to run cross country along with playing football as a sophomore.

With COVID-19 pushing the 2020 football season to the spring of 2021, Stoeger got to focus fully on cross country for the first time.

That fall, he realized he had the potential for high level success, and the more he ran the more he enjoyed it.

After placing 87th at the ShaZam Championships – the unofficial state meet in 2020 – Stoeger set a goal of placing top 10 at the IHSA Class 1A State Meet in 2021.

So he quit football and basketball in favor of logging hundreds of solo miles through the streets of Minonk and its surrounding country roads in all types of weather – going inside to run on a treadmill only when the wind chill was below zero – in a quest to become an elite distance runner.

With, as what Bauer calls, “a perfect blend of being a genetically gifted athlete with some sprinter ability and the willingness to work hard that’s typical of a distance runner” along with “beautiful” form and a “very efficient” running style, he did just that.

Stoeger won eight races, including the Amboy, Bureau Valley, Morris and Elmwood invitationals and the Heart of Illinois Conference Meet, and ran only four races before state that he didn’t win – finishing second twice each to Drew Rodgers and Miles Sheppard, who finished second and third, respectively, at state.

Stoeger won the Class 1A Eureka Regional in 15:04.8, placed second in the Elmwood Sectional in 15:39.8 and placed seventh at the state meet in a personal best 14:58.6.

For all he accomplished this season, Stoeger is the 2021 NewsTribune Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.

“Obviously, we were very pleased with the season,” Bauer said. “To see the growth he has made in basically two years of work is simply amazing.”

The seeds of Stoeger’s successful senior season were planted when he was a junior.

That fall, putting all of his focus on cross country helped him to decide “to see how good I could be at the sport.”

A mile time trial in which he ran a 4:40 cemented to Stoeger that he could be a successful distance runner, and it helped lead him to quitting basketball so he would have an offseason to build up his base miles.

He started running about 35 miles a week before ramping up to 50-55 miles a week from January to March.

After a successful track season in which he placed sixth in the 1,600 meters at state, Stoeger put in 60-70 miles a week over the summer.

He’d run twice a day on weekdays – a 6-10 miler followed by 2-4 miles later – run 15 miles on Saturdays then “do a quick, easy run” of 2-4 miles on Sunday mornings before working a shift at Monical’s.

“Oh yeah, 100 percent,” Stoeger said about if quitting football and basketball helped his running. “Those sports take up a lot of time. It really takes away the offseason for cross country. One thing I learned this past year is training helps so much. Champions are made in the offseason. It was definitely worth it.”

With all the training, Stoeger recorded the second-best state finish in school history.

“When I finished, I had no idea what place I was in or what my time was,” Stoeger said. “My brain kind of shut off the last 20 meters. Once I got situated, I finally felt relief to accomplish all my goals, get one of those big medals and be in the front row of the pictures. That was fun.”

Stoeger plans to continue his career in college, and Bauer thinks he has the potential to get even better.

“I think he’s going to be amazing,” Bauer said. “He’s very efficient. His form is beautiful. Because of that, he got through the whole season with just minor muscle pain and aches from quality work. He did not have to take a day off because something hurt so badly. College coaches love to hear that. When he starts to bump up miles, I think he’ll be able to handle it because he’s extremely efficient.”