A good-sized crowd gathered in the Nixa High School gym Monday to watch one of Nixa’s own, Courtney Frerichs race in the Olympics. Jennifer Steinmeier was among those in attendance. The Nixa resident said she and her family came to celebrate the Olympics and the last day of summer vacation. She’s proud of Frerichs for making it this far.
"I think it's tremendous. I've known a lot of people in track who haven't done near what she has done, and it's quite exciting to see what she's accomplished, Steinmeier said.
Also in the crowd Monday was retired Nixa High School custodian Rick Davis. He said his last year at Nixa was Frerich’s senior year. He, too, was proud of the Nixa grad.
"I think it's fantastic. I'm really proud of her," Davis said.
The crowd went wild as Frerichs appeared on the screen with her competitors. After a rare false start, the race began.
In the end, the gold went to Ruth Jebet of Bahrain, the silver to Hyvin Jepkemoi of Kenya and the bronze to Emma Coburn of the United States, the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic Steeplechase medal. Courtney Frerichs came in 11th place.
Her former coach at Nixa, Lance Brumley, couldn’t have been prouder. He said she ran a good race.
"It was an awful fast race. She ran really well. I mean, she probably hoped to run 7-9:20, you know, still ran a good race. I don't know what the conditions were like there. It looked pretty hot, and it makes it tough to run a good race if it gets really hot," he said.
Brumley coached Frerichs her senior year in high school and says you could tell right away she was a “very driven athlete.”
"She would approach each day with, 'what can I learn? How can I get better?' and you could see her progress her senior year and just get better and better," he said.
Despite the fact that Frerichs didn’t medal, the crowd gathered to watch the race was proud of her performance.
Crowd: “We love you Courtney”
Sarah Garrison, a math teacher at Nixa High School, teaches alongside Frerichs' mom. She said Frerichs ran well Monday.
"She had a lot more races this year than anyone else because of doing the NCAA and not being pro yet and so we were just looking for PR, and I think she did great," Garrison said.
Jennifer Robinett said she didn’t mind at all that Frerichs didn’t medal in the Olympics. She teaches with Frerichs' mom and has known the athlete since she was a little girl.
"The race was fabulous. Courtney did a great job for her first Olympics, and we're just so proud of her," Robinett said.
Brumley said it’s likely we’ll see Frerichs in the Olympics four years from now.
