Thirst For Victory Cheney High’s Jeannette Zimmer Has Developed A Reputation For Determination To Run Her Best

Watch Cheney High’s Jeannette Zimmer take on her Frontier League competition, and it’s easy to understand why her coach describes her as a cross country athlete with the mentality of a hard-hitting linebacker.

Just before the two-mile mark last Thursday, the 16-year-old was already 1:20 ahead of the nearest runners from Riverside and Pullman. When Zimmer finished the three-mile course, her margin of victory was well over two minutes.

“She’s just unforgiving,” Coach Jay Martin said. “If she were a football player, I think she’d want to hit ya.”

Zimmer has her own way of describing her racing style.

“When I’m running, I get into a zone,” she said. “I’m not thinking about anything else.”

Zimmer, whose quick smile and sense of humor make her seem not dangerous at all when she isn’t competing, was a surprise state AA champion two years ago as a freshman. Last season, however, she didn’t even qualify for state after a pack finish in the district meet at Hangman Valley Golf Course.

This weekend Zimmer and her teammates will be in the Tri-Cities for the Richland Invitational. Martin says the big meet gives him the opportunity every year to assess his team’s midseason progress.

But for Zimmer, with something to prove following the district results a year ago, the race against some of the state’s best will be even more of a litmus test. She’s won the race two years in a row, and Martin is confident she’ll run well again.

“She is so tenacious,” he said. “There is no doubt she’s going to give it everything she’s got.”

The fact is, the poor performances last season may be a result of an as-yet undiagnosed respiratory or pulmonary system ailment.

In a race at Farragut State Park in Idaho last year, Zimmer let an apparently comfortable lead evaporate in the final stages of the three-mile course.

“My body just wasn’t working anymore,” said Zimmer, describing the sickening feeling of having no energy left - and still 200 meters to go along the shore of Lake Pend Orielle. “The only thing I could do to keep moving was to pump my arms.”

Zimmer eventually placed fifth, but to Cheney assistant coach Maria Barnes, it didn’t look as if she had enough energy to even finish.

“She was as white as a ghost,” Barnes said.

A week later, Zimmer ran a season-best time at Plantes Ferry Park. But her poor showing at district, a meet she was expected to win, convinced her to try a variety of inhalers used to treat exercise-induced asthma.

Three weeks ago she visited a pulmonary specialist in Portland, whose tests indicated that while she is taking in enough air, her blood may not be properly distributing the oxygen to her body.

So far this season, last year’s problems haven’t resurfaced to affect Zimmer. Her coaches say Zimmer is actually stronger than ever, both physically and aerobically.

“I think if she stays healthy and continues to run well (during the next two seasons), she probably has a very good chance of some offers to run in college,” Martin said.

Zimmer, who plays alto saxophone in Cheney’s wind ensemble and would love to study birds when she goes to college, said at this point she’s not sure if she even wants to run competitively beyond high school.

Former college runners she met this year told her that, for them, racing at the college level turned inevitably into a “job.”

“I’m weighing it in my mind,” she said, “but I’m not sure I would want to take the fun away.”