Mt. Spokane senior Charlotte Pedersen finds success in first cross country season
Generations of Charlotte Pedersen’s family have had a long-lasting love for running.
Her grandfather competed in triathlons throughout his life. Her mom was an avid runner during high school and college days and her older sister competed on the Mt. Spokane High School cross country team.
Just about everyone in the Pedersen family was a runner. Charlotte, on the other hand, was not.
It was not until the winter of 2020, during the pandemic, when Pedersen first began to run. Like many people, tired of sitting around during quarantine, Pedersen decided to pick up a hobby.
“My older sister and my mom were into running and so I decided to just run a mile on the treadmill every day,” she said.
As days went along, Pedersen’s interests in running began to grow . Her mom noticed it, too, and brought up the idea of turning out for track her sophomore year at Mt. Spokane during spring 2021.
The idea didn’t appeal to Pedersen at first.
“I didn’t do it my sophomore year even though my mom tried to convince me,” Pedersen said. “I decided it would be too much to do if I was taking AP Euro (history), which is a super rigorous class that I spent hours every night working on.”
Pedersen felt it would be a big step out of her comfort zone since she never been involved in a team setting before. The idea came around again this year, and Pedersen had a change of heart.
When she stepped onto the track in the spring, she sought out the sprinters instead of the distance runners. She figured she would have more success being a 200- and 400-meter runner despite all those miles during quarantine.
Her coaches threw her into the 600-meter leg of a distance medley relay race in late March at the Ram Relays in Yakima to assess her training.
Pedersen’s split came in at 1 minute, 45 seconds. Her coaches, including distance coach Andy Sonneland, knew right away she should move up to a new distance.
“Her 600 time was excellent,” Sonneland said. “You add on another 200 to that, she could run a good 800.”
In the first Greater Spokane League meet at Ridgeline, Pedersen entered the 800 and 1,600 races. With no expectations, she finished second in both races, running 2 minutes, 31.43 seconds and 5:30.83.
“We realized when the distance got longer, the percentile I was in got higher,” Pedersen said. “My first JV meet, they threw me into the mile for the very first time. I hadn’t run a timed mile since seventh grade, and that was for PE.”
Pedersen remained with Sonneland and the distance team for the remainder of the season and continued to improve . By the end of the year, she had knocked down her 1,600 time by 15 seconds, earned a GSL 3A championship and came within .04 seconds of qualifying in the event for the state meet.
“She had been training on her own that winter, so that was pretty unusual running about 30-plus miles a week with no one asking her to do it,” Sonneland said. “She’s got talent, commitment and mental toughness.”
Pedersen continued to run throughout the summer and built up on her mileage. Her mom saw the commitment and brought up the idea of turning out for cross country for her senior year.
Pedersen, again, was reluctant at first.
“I kind of didn’t want to even do cross country,” Pedersen said. “Because in my mind, again, I was like, ‘Yes, I can run a mile. But run three consecutive miles fast? I don’t think I can do that.’ ”
Even Sonneland thought Pedersen was set to run in the fall.
“I thought it was kind of a done deal,” Sonneland said. “She was training toward 40 miles a week for the last half of the summer, so she was definitely fit.”
Pedersen gave it some thought and finally went with her gut and turned out.
Like track, Pedersen didn’t set any expectations, but she has accomplished plenty this fall.
Pedersen went undefeated in league meets, beating her competition by an average of 53.5 seconds in four races. Her season-best performance came at the Nike Portland XC meet in Fairview, Oregon, in September, where she ran a 5,000-meter time of 18:17.2 – the second-fastest time in school history, behind Megan O’Reilly (17:01) in 2005.
“What a pleasant surprise, huh?” Sonneland said . “So much of it has been talent, but there’s been a lot of talented kids out there who don’t have the commitment to train and the mental toughness. With Charlotte, she puts it all together, and it’s fun to see it blossom. I keep alternately go back to asking, ‘Where have you been the last three years?’ “
Pedersen will try to qualify for her first state meet on Saturday at the District 8 meet in Walla Walla. With the top seed time coming in, she should compete for the title.
“It’s something I’d never even consider,” Pedersen said. “I thought I wouldn’t be top in the school, let alone top in the GSL, let alone one of the top in the state. To be significantly good at something, you’ve always dream of it, but you never think that you’d actually be one of the few people who actually is.”
Competition kicks off at 1 p.m. at Fairview Golf Course with the 3A girls race, followed by 4A girls, 3A boys and 4A boys.
Who to watch for
4A boys: Evan Bruce, Lewis and Clark: Even with the No. 1 time of 15:56.1 in GSL 4A, Bruce is on the verge of breakout in the coming meets. The senior took third last year at the district meet and went onto place eighth at the state.
Charles Ledwith, Lewis and Clark: Another runner on the brink of a breakout after coming within 2 seconds of his personal-best time of 16:12.5 from a year ago. Ledwith ranks second in GSL 4A with a time of 16:14.7.
4A girls: Nicole Bissell, Central Valley: Bissell has been nothing but great this season for the Bears. She heads into district as the landslide favorite with a time of 18:15.4 and ranks sixth in the state.
Bridget Burns, Lewis and Clark: The Tigers’ top runner is second in GSL 4A at 19:04.5 and hopes to return to her third state meet in four years.
3A boys: Noah Holden, Mead: Since qualifying for state track last spring, Holden has been tearing up the course . With a time of 15:38.5, the senior leads all GSL 3A runners and is among the top 10 in the state.
Calvin Hilton, Cheney: Hilton’s a talented sophomore just getting his career started. He ranks second in GSL 3A at 15:55.7 and hopes to lead the Blackhawks back to the state meet for the first time in three years.
3A girls: Charlotte Cullen, Mead: Cullen’s been one of the most-improved runners in the GSL this season . The top returner from last year’s state championship team ranks second in GSL 3A and 10th in the state at 18:27.1.
Raegan Borg, Mead: The Panthers have a solid duo with Borg, who ranks third at 18:50.8. She was Mead’s third runner on the state championship team last fall and is among the mix for top runners in the state.