Niles runner battles injuries | News, Sports, Jobs – Warren Tribune Chronicle

Tribune Chronicle file photo / John Vargo
Niles senior Hailey Zelinsky, about to cross the finish line at the Division II district cross country meet at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds, has committed to attend and run track and cross country at Youngstown State University.

Hailey Zelinsky knows she isn’t there just yet, but that’s OK. The Niles McKinley High School senior is still running, but trying to get her pace back to where she wants it to be.

Zelinsky is doing what is called cadence training. Normal runners go 160 to 170 steps per minute, while elite runner are 180 steps or faster. The latter is what the Red Dragons distance runner wants to achieve.

Her road to the Division I state meet begins now. She has run a 5:45 in the 1,600-meter run during the indoor season. Not exactly where Zelinsky wants to be, but it’s good start considering.

Since last summer she’s been fighting shin splints, which are small tears in lower leg muscles. It’s an injury which runners experience and is caused by overuse of those muscles.

She doesn’t like her running form and has been icing her shins a lot, along with doing some home exercises to ease the pain. So far, it’s working as she tries to get from 160-65 steps up to 180.

“I have to be quicker on my feet, center of gravity closer to me so I’m not putting so much stress on my shins as much as I’m doing right now,” Zelinsky said. “It helps cut down on the stress, helps push me forward rather than push me back when I’m running.”

The indoor season took place in familiar territory, the WATTS indoor facility on the campus of Youngstown State University where Zelinsky has committed to attend and run cross country and track and field next season.

Zelinsky visited only Bowling Green State University besides YSU. She stays close to home and gets to support her Red Dragons, a program in which she has developed into one of the best female distance runners in the Mahoning Valley.

“I’m running for a great Division I program down the street, basically is why I wanted to go there (YSU),” Zelinsky said.

She is the first runner from Niles to go directly to an NCAA Division I institution since Chris Acs almost 20 years ago, when he went to the Air Force Academy. Kyle Lough now runs for YSU, but the former Red Dragons sprinter transferred from Kenyon College.

Zelinsky is undecided on her major, but is leaning toward health and human services.

“It’s definitely an ‘oh, wow’ moment that I’m able to do that and they haven’t done it for years,” Zelinsky said. “It’s kind of a good feeling I’m able to do that.”

Zelinsky’s health is getting better. Shin splints aren’t easy to overcome, but she’s doing it. The Niles senior has not been able to run as many practice miles as she did during her junior cross country season when she qualified for the state meet.

There’s been training, but she’s not getting the mileage base. Having shin splints doesn’t allow it, which is why her season ended at last fall’s cross country regional, instead of at the state meet for a second consecutive year.

“We had a couple of long talks of what we were going to have to do to get her back to state, how we were going to get more from less,” Niles distance coach Jim Fedor said. “She adjusted to that and was within 30 seconds of her best when she did make it to state.

“We weren’t totally satisfied with the result, but we were pleased to see her level of talent even though we’re limited on the work we can do. I think we started to turn the corner on that. She had a pretty good indoor season and the workouts we’ve been able to do now.”

She’s looking to working out on the all-weather tracks and the field turf at Bo Rein Stadium to get her ready this month and into April, using those meets to prepare for the heart of the outdoor track season, starting at the Trumbull County Meet on April 30 and May 2.

“I do try to keep my base so I don’t fall back or peak too quickly,” Zelinsky said. “I kind of stay where I’m at or get better with the base, just to have pretty decent workouts and save myself for May.”

She’s looking forward to running for the Penguins. Zelinsky wants to improve her times and thinks she can continue to get better in Youngstown.

“I’ll see what other strengths I have besides the 5K because it goes up in college,” she said. “I’m excited to see how I improve there. Most of the girls on the team, I ran against them in high school. It’ll be nice since I ran against them in high school to run with them in college.”

Succeeding at YSU, not a problem. She had a good relationship with YSU coach Brian Gorby. Zelinsky also has a good GPA and stays involved in athletics, club and out-of-school activities.

“Based on her grades and ACT scores, I think she should be all right,” Fedor said. “She can multi-task well. If these kids want to compete on that Division I level, they have to do everything at one time.”

If Zelinsky wants a spot at this year’s high school Division I regional and state meets, she has to improve. She’s running the 800 and is part of the 4×400 relay as well, but her mainstay is the 1,600.

“I think that helps a lot, just to know I’m competing with the best of the best high school girls in the area,” she said. “It’s definitely going to push me to go further and further to Columbus, hopefully.”