Southeast Missourian girls track athlete of the year: Jackson's Chelsea Drum

Never mind the fact that it was a fourth-place finish. Chelsea Drum had just made school history.

The Jackson junior accomplished what she set out to do in the 1,600-meter run at the Class 5 Sectional 1 meet May 23 by finishing the race in less than five minutes.

But Drum's finish of 4:56.21 was good enough for more than a trip to the Class 5 state meet. It also broke the Indians' school record, and Drum was hardly aware of her feat.

"I was so tired," Drum said. "I was in fourth place, which is the last place that makes it through to state. I saw the time, and I was like, 'Oh, I broke five.' But it didn't set in until later."

Drum followed her performance with a third-place finish at the state meet a week later, running only a second slower with a time of 4:57.96.

It's become a routine for Drum, whose dominance across the region has earned her Southeast Missourian Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year honors.

"It'd be hard to argue that she's not the best high school girl that's come through Jackson as far as distance runners," said Jackson track coach Jimmy Stoverink, who's been with the program for 11 years, including two years as head coach. "She broke the school record in the 1,600, and she didn't just barely break it. She broke it by six seconds, and in the 1,600, six seconds is a lot. That's just crushing it."

College continues to be a motivating factor for Drum, who said she knows she needs to continue to reduce times in order to garner more attention.

"I think I've known I wanted to run in college since freshman year, but mainly this year, I was big on needing to drop my times," Drum said. "Senior year is when you decide, so I needed to have good times."

Drum is also one of the area's top cross country runners.

She finished first at the Class 4 District 1 meet last fall and earned all-state honors with a ninth-place run at the Class 4 state meet.

Drum believes running cross country has helped her on the track, and vice versa.

"They go hand in hand. Some people say track is for cross country or cross country is for track. I don't know," said Drum, who was also named the Southeast Missourian Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year last fall. "Some people say you have one favorite or the other, and obviously I don't really know. They're like the same to me."

Stoverink believes focus and dedication has driven Drum to continue to improve as a runner.

"She's always kind of made training at track and cross country a priority for her because she was all-state in cross country again," Stoverink said. "She's just very focused."

Drum was also a member of the Indians' 3,200 relay, which placed third at the sectional meet in 9:24.28, breaking a 20-year school record by more than 30 seconds. She again was unaware of the feat when it happened until teammate Carli Knott yelled the news from across the track. The relay team, which included Drum, Knott, Megan Barnum and Tayler Winick, went on to take ninth at the state meet with a time of 9:36.69.

Stoverink, who is an assistant coach on the cross country team, credits running coach Andrea Talley as the main person responsible for Drum's training routine.

Talley is the head coach of the cross country team and coached Drum throughout the track season on a day-to-day basis.

"Chelsea herself is just extremely coachable. Whatever we ask her to do, she's going to do it," Stoverink said. "She never complains and never whines. She always goes out and does it.

"If anything, you maybe have to sometimes put a little bit of a leash on her and tell her, 'Chelsea, you're done for today. Go home.'"

The process of improving times is an arduous one that involves beating your own times while simultaneously trying to overtake the person in front of you, according to Drum.

"It's mainly about trying to beat your own times, but when it comes down to districts and sectionals, it's about beating the people in front of you," Drum said. "As you beat people, you're also beating your own times, so it kind of goes hand in hand."

Increasing mileage and preparing for each race individually has been a key to Drum's progression as a junior.

She has her sights set on a big senior campaign.

"I really want to break 18 [minutes] in the 5K and be all-state again, obviously," Drum said. "I just want to improve."

Stoverink said he expects to see more of the same from Drum next season, a committed runner who's helped elevate her craft's standard of excellence at Jackson.

"She's really already taken on a team leadership role. There's really not a whole lot more that she can do. ... I think she's going to continue to fulfill that load, and I think she's really going to continue to train like a beast like she has the last couple of years," Stoverink said. "She's going to get a lot of attention from some college coaches, too."