Stuttgart freshman Anna Konon runs towards the finish chute ahead of the field at the DODEA Europe Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. Konon covered the 3.1-mile course at the Rolling Hills Golf Course in Baumholder, Germany, in 20:15.15. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Coming Monday: Athletes of the Year in volleyball.

Anna Konon almost psyched herself out before she stepped onto a cross country course this fall.

The Stuttgart freshman had watched the high school girls cross country team run when she was in middle school, and she was in awe. Too much awe, in fact.

She anticipated being well behind her new teammates, especially after the few 5Ks she had run prior to this season were “not great,” according to Konon.

“I never imagined that I would be toward the top of the team,” she said. “Funny story, I actually thought I was going to be the worst person on the cross country team over the summer.”

She couldn’t have been more wrong.

Konon not only was at the top of the Panther team, but the freshman also found herself at the top of DODEA-Europe. Stars and Stripes’ European girls cross country Athlete of the Year won the girls individual race at the DODEA European cross country championships on Oct. 26 at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Baumholder, Germany.

Konon crossed the line in a time of 20 minutes, 15.40 seconds, nearly 12 seconds ahead of runner-up Rose Thompson of Ramstein.

Konon didn’t need the final meet to prove she belonged, though. In the team’s time trial ahead of the regular season, she placed second amongst the girls.

“The first time I was like, ‘Oh, I actually have a place here and I’m doing well,’ is during the time trials,” Konon said. “I still knew that these girls were faster than me and my teammates were just awesome and could run better.”

The freshman sensation was right to praise her team, which clinched its third consecutive European team title last month.

The Panthers had four runners win races during the season in Konon (twice, including the championship meet), senior Regan Stewart (twice), junior Pacha Miletich and freshman Kendall Cancel.

Stuttgart had a revolving door of runners in its Top 5, which scored points at every meet. Some names like Konon were consistently there, but the order changed every weekend, with seniors Sophie Templeton, Mackenzie Welsh and Lydia Pound also making appearances.

That could have created an intersquad rivalry, but instead, Konon said the Panthers were supportive and kept their eyes on the grand prize of winning the team competition.

“It’s such an awesome cross country team because no other team can do what we did and put four girls in first place,” Konon said. “And then we had some girls, they weren’t getting third, second or first but were getting fifth and sixth, and that was also revolving as well. It’s just the whole team is great.

“I wouldn’t say we had a competition. We just all wanted each other to do better and win meets, beat the other schools.”

Konon seemed to get better as the season progressed, as her times dropped from 21:53.90 she posted in her first meet on Sept. 7 at home to a 20:40.65 in Stuttgart’s last regular-season race at Vilseck on Oct. 19 – the first race she had won.

The freshman was expected to be in the wide-open race for the individual title at Euros because of that, but she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task.

Konon decided to let others do the pace-making early, hoping to take advantage of when the leader slowed up. That moment came during the first hill of the second lap at Rolling Hills Golf Course, as she kept up her speed when the leaders decelerated.

That allowed Konon to build a lead. She admitted she was nervous Thompson could claw her back, but the Stuttgart runner held her off until she crossed the line with a personal-best time.

“Because I could always hear people cheering for the girl behind me, saying, ‘Go Ramstein,’ it was like, ‘Oh no. I can’t hear her, but I know she’s close,’” Konon said. “I was feeling pretty tired and worn out as all the girls were probably feeling. So, I didn’t know if I could hold it.”

Konon’s success has created lofty goals for her future. She expressed her desire to blow past the 20-minute barrier and run sub-19 minutes.

But similar to her preseason doubts, Konon won’t allow her expectations to run wild.

“As you get faster, it’s harder to keep that momentum of improving a lot, so I’m not quite sure,” Konon said.