Chester's Juli Koenegstein had great year running at SEMO
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The fall cross country season was likely the best for Koenegstein since arriving at SEMO three years ago. Overall she had a good season, winning the Eastern Illinois University Panther Invitational with a time of 17:51 which was a personal best record (PR) for her.
At the Ohio Valley Conference Meet she placed 7th overall which qualified her for the 1st Team All-Conference OVC honors. Last year she finished 8th and earned 2nd Team honors. Koenegstein further qualified for and competed in the NCAA Regionals where she ran well but failed to make the finals.
Juli stated, "My best race this season was at EIU. I felt amazing and improved my time by more that a minute from that same race my sophomore season. I would have liked to have performed better at the NCAA Regionals, but overall I was happy with my junior season. Koenegstein noted further that she still lets her nerves get the best of her at times, but she is working to overcome that issue.
The Indoor Track season was good for Koenegstein. She won the mile at the Saluki Booster Invitational at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and also was the winner of the 3K at the Saluki McDonald's Invitational. Her time of 10:00 was a personal best (PR) record for her. At the Ohio Valley Confer-ence (OVC) Meet Koenegstein placed 4th in the mile and 6th in the 3K.
"The PR in the 3K at SIU had to be the highlight of my indoor season," noted Koenegstein. "I would have liked to have dipped under the 10-minute mark, but even that time was a huge step compared to my times last year during the indoor season. Koenegstein commented that she wished she could have done better in the OVC Conference Meet too, but she just didn't have it that weekend.
After doing so well during the fall cross country and winter indoor track seasons Koenegstein had a great disappointment when the spring outdoor season really got under way. She experienced a stress fracture in her femur in April which caused her to redshirt or sit out the entire outdoor track season. Redshirting will allow her to have another season to make up for the one she lost this spring. The stress fracture sidelined her for 7-8 weeks before she could begin running again.
Regarding her stress fracture and having to sit out the spring track season Koenegstein stated, "My coach and I had high expectations for this season in the steeplechase, but the stress fracture sidelined me for a good amount of time. I ended up Redshirting so I'll have a fifth year of outdoor left. That means I'll also have another full year of training, so I hope I can remain injury free."
Since spring Koenegstein has begun training again. She notes that training has been progressing slowly because she is recovering from her stress fracture. "I'm looking forward to this fall of 2008 cross country season. I intend to keep my mileage lower than usual and utilize more cross training to reduce the risk of reinjury."
"I am not sure what the future holds for our Women's Cross Country Team," notes Koenegstein. "but I hope we have a progressive season." Koenegstein is of the opinion that the team has potential, but says team members are in kind of a whirlwind due to the fact that SEMO currently does not have a distance coach for the 2008 fall season.
Most of the team members are currently training on their own at home during the summer, but Koenegstein notes that there will be a decision made in the next week or so regarding who will be the new Southeast Missouri State Redhawk Cross Country Coach this fall.
Juli will be a senor at SEMO this fall and is pursuing a degree in education. She wants to teach high school consumer science upon graduation. She is the daughter of Bob and Pat Koenegstein of Chester. Bob is a volunteer track and cross country coach at Chester High School. Brother Chad Koenegstein is a CHS cross country runner and he also runs track during the spring.