Rock Island Today

Alleman High School’s Addie Pulley set a goal to break the school record in the girl's 3-mile race. 

She must be faster than even she imagined, as it took her only three weeks into the season to do it.

“I really wasn’t going for the record but was just planning on going out to see what I could do," Pulley told the Rock Island Today. It was still really early in the season, but I felt good that morning and had some people there to pull me along and pace me.”

After her first mile, Pulley realized that breaking the record was a real possibility.

“I knew I was on pace,” Pulley said. “I’ve kind of had that record in the back of my mind all summer. I wasn’t really planning to go out and try and break it at that meet, but when I hit the 2-mile mark, the thought crossed my mind. It helped me push harder, especially at the end.”

Pulley broke the record by three seconds with a time of 18:06, topping the previous school mark of 18:09 set in 2007 by Kathleen Hogan. Pulley hopes that future Alleman athletes will use breaking her record as motivation to work harder.

“The feeling that I am able to leave that mark at school is great,” she said. “I’ll always have this feeling with me. Hopefully, I can inspire others to break records as well in the future.”

Alleman finished in 38th place out of 56 schools overall. Pulley was the school’s highest finisher, claiming 10th place in the 3-mile race. 

Pulley continued her strong performance at the following meet, winning the 3-mile race at the Rock Island Invitational.

The regular season will end in mid-October and be followed by sectionals and the state championship. Pulley said she is looking forward to the postseason.

“Hopefully I’ll be even stronger in the postseason,” Pulley said. “As the regular season finishes up, I'm not looking for anything huge there. I want to do well at sectionals and at the state meet and really finish strong.”

After breaking the school record, Pulley said she doesn’t have a specific goal in mind for the end of the season but is going to use the last few races of the year to help prepare for sectionals and the state championship.

“I want to try and always run a better race than I have before,” she said. “I’ve put in a lot of work and might have some tired legs for the next few races, but I plan on being rested and ready to go for the postseason meets.”

Pulley is a senior and has been a consistent contributor to the Alleman cross-country team all four years, earning eight top-10 finishes in her high school career.

The Western Big 6 conference meet will be held in Galesburg beginning on Oct. 12.