L-S harriers inspired by teammate’s fight back to running

Lynnville-Sully sophomore Keegan Schnell dealt with more adversity last year than most people will face in their entire lives.

But not even a near-death experience has kept Schnell from doing what he loves.

And the state-ranked Hawks may not have reached the state cross country meet without him.

“Keegan racing today after being in the hospital this time last year is incredible,” Lynnville-Sully head cross country coach Darin Arkema said at the state meet on Saturday. “It’s a reminder about what cross country means in the grand scheme of life. When you almost get your life taken away from you, this running stuff takes a back seat.

“Winning and losing a race, medals and PRs are important, but to see him make the journey back shows the toughness of that kid. He’s dealt with a lot the past year.”

L-S senior Olivia Norrish remembers Schnell running in the North Polk meet last year. And then not seeing him for about six months.

Schnell battled a serious health issue that saw his intestines basically die inside of him. He was taken to a hospital in Pella before being life lighted to Iowa City.

Schnell said he almost lost his life in flight due to excessive blood loss.

“We were all so scared that he wasn’t going to make it,” L-S sophomore Blake Wilmesmeier said. “But as soon as he made it back, he’s been the same old Keegan.”

Many of the Hawk harriers said at the state meet that Schnell definitely has been an inspiration to two programs that hadn’t qualified for the state meet together in 29 years.

It had been that long since the boys’ program advanced to the state meet.

While Schnell isn’t setting any records on 5K courses around the state, he is running faster times now than he was when he went down with the injury.

“We just thought he would never run again to be honest,” said Norrish, who is a three-time state qualifier. “But he practiced a lot this summer and worked a lot. It really is an inspiration on how you can get back and get here.”

Ethan Dunsbergen remembers what Schnell did on the track in the spring. And not much of it was that great. But he’s been a constant scoring runner for the state-ranked Hawks this season.

“He is an inspiration. Everyone loves him and everyone was worried when that happened,” Dunsbergen said. “He worked really hard this summer.

“He ran a 3 minute 800 during track season, which isn’t great. But since then, he’s worked really hard and is running in the 19s in cross country. That’s insane.”

Arkema would have been happy to have Schnell simply back running with his teammates. No one could have imagined or predicted he would finish his sophomore season with a time of 18 minutes, 55.39 seconds at the state qualifying meet. He also went under 20 minutes at least seven times this fall.

“He’s absolutely been an inspiration to this team,” L-S senior Hendrick Lowry said. “Keegan’s great. He’s a good kid, and I’m really glad to see him back and healthy. And it’s crazy to think his times are better now than before.”

Wilmesmeier feels like Schnell’s inspiration dates back to last season. Sophomore Colton Alberts dropped around 5 minutes off his time last season and Wilmesmeier feels like Schnell’s unfortunate situation played a factor in that time drop.

“He’s meant so much to this team,” Alberts said. “He started back from zero but has worked all the way back up. It was very scary. But to see him running as well as he is now is awesome.”

Even the runners on the girls’ team felt Schnell’s inspiration. Schnell has been on every one of sophomore Peyton Sharp’s cross country teams. And Sharp has witnessed the hard work first hand.

“He’s come so far. He worked really hard this summer and the last few months from basically zero to get back to where he is,” Sharp said.

Freshman Mandeesa Vos is the top runner on the girls’ team this season. She didn’t know him super well before this year, but can’t help to be inspired by what he’s been through and is now doing on the courses.

“He’s really nice and encouraging,” Vos said. “And if he can come back from that and have the guts to keep racing, that’s awesome.”

Schnell always thought he would be able to run again. He definitely had his doubts at this time last year though.

“I just have to thank God for all of this being possible,” Schnell said. “I always thought I could run again, but not run faster than I was before it happened.

“It’s been a journey up to this point. It’s surreal and weird to be in this position after all that happened last year.”

Contact Troy Hyde at thyde@shawmedia.com