In high school, no one could keep up with Laura Hoer. During her junior and senior years at T.C. Robertson High School in Asheville, N.C., she was the 2009 North Carolina 4-A champion, secured state championships in the 3200, 1600 and 1000 meter outdoor events and graduated second in her class with a 5.0 GPA.
Despite this, Hoer had all but decided that the 2010 Outdoor Championships would be her swan song.
“I remember sitting in her house during a visit and she was talking about it seems that a lot of people decide to run at this level and aren’t committed to it,” Laurie Henes, the Pack’s women’s cross country coach, said. “If she was going to decide to do it at this level, she really wanted to commit to it.”
Hoer considered both options and almost called it quits. Even with her family’s history with the sport – her father ran cross country for a year at Bucknell University and her mother has competed in marathons – she questioned whether running at the college level was the right choice for her.
“Essentially my whole high school career, I told myself I wasn’t going to run in college,” Hoer said. “I thought it was going to be taken to a level that was too much. But my dad had always told me not to count it out as an option and I started get successful in the spring of my junior year. I’m really glad I chose [to keep racing.]”
Hoer’s coaches and teammates are thrilled as well.
Hoer trained with her future teammates over the summer in Boulder, CO and settled into N.C. State in the fall.
“I wanted to be on the top squad, but I wasn’t expecting anything more than that,” Hoer said. “I essentially wanted to live out my freshman year as a freshman.”
At her first collegiate race, the State-hosted Wolfpack Invitational at the Wake Med Cross Country Course Sept. 17, Hoer posted a 5k course record time of 17:00.8 and won the women’s race handily, beating her closest competitor by 29.5 seconds.
“I was feeling really good during that race,” Hoer said. “I raced that course in high school a year before and got a minute and a half slower.”
More recently, Hoer recorded the third-fastest winning time in the 25-year history of the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn last weekend. She completed the 6k course in 20:38.4, well ahead of 2010 NCAA 10k runner-up Betsy Saina from Iowa State. She won after outsprinting Minnesota’s Stephanie Price down the stretch and beat her by 2.4 seconds. She was the first freshman to win the race since 1999.
It was her second collegiate race and her first competitive 6k. Along with fellow State runner Ryan Hill, Hoer was named ACC Cross Country Performer of the Week for the second time this season.
But this isn’t the best Hoer has to offer. According to Henes, “the sky’s the limit” for the freshman in biological sciences.
“At this level, some people can get to where they love training and they like racing, but not that much,” Henes said. “[Hoer] just loves to race and loves to win. That will get you so far at this level.
“We’ve increased her training volume more than we usually would for a freshman, but left her with a lot of room to grow.”
Even with the success she’s already attained, the cheerful and level-headed Hoer said she still just wants to be a normal freshman.
“I’m really proud of how I’ve run so far because it was not at all what I thought would happen coming in, needless to say,” Hoer said. “It’s a little overwhelming. I need to keep putting in hard work because I don’t want to have anything happen that would jeopardize our team. I know [Henes] will be careful with all of that.”
Henes said she is focused on keeping Hoer and her other runners in shape but healthy, as one injury can easily derail a promising career. They are focused on training for their next race, at NCAA Pre-nationals, which will take place in three weeks in Terre Haute, Ind. ACC Championships are right afterward on Oct. 30.
After the season is over, they’ll adjust her long-term goals.
“She has really exceeded expectations these first few weeks. It’s early in the season, though, and we want her to be careful,” Henes said. “We want to keep her on an even keel for now because there’s a lot of season left.”
Hoer’s teammate, redshirt senior Kara McKenna, said she’s willing to advise Hoer if she asks for it, though she isn’t sure how she’ll respond.
“I don’t think she really needs much guidance or help or anything,” McKenna said. “She’s doing fantastic on her own. In terms of her coming in and fitting in with the team, she’s perfect.”
