Albert Lea freshman Chrissy Monson enters this fall with a list of superlatives that seems nearly as long as the distances she runs.

Her coach Lonnie Nelson describes her as one of the best runners he’s coached and she’s had more success at an early age than he’s seen before.

The cross country runner has quickly become one of the best runners in the conference and the section in just two short years. So how did she spend her offseason after a 28th place finish at the state cross country meet and a seventh and 12th place showing at the state track and field meet?

Monson spent part of her summer hanging out with the past two cross country state champions and placing second in two events at the regional meet of the track and field Junior Olympics in Omaha, Neb.

After winning the 1,500 and 3,000 meter events at the state competition she placed seventh in her age group in the 800, second in the 1,500 and second in the 3,000 at the regional meet. Her two second place finishes qualified her for the national Junior Olympics in Greensboro, N.C., but she declined to attend. She wanted to focus on cross country.

Monson hadn’t had a break from training for more than a year and the summer provided her an opportunity to relax with friends and also learn about running from two of the state’s best.

She took to normal teenage activities like camping with friends and tubing down a river, except she spent that time with Cassy Opitz and Laura Hughes. Hughes, a senior from Mankato West, won the state cross country meet two years ago and Opitz, from Eden Prairie won the meet last season. Opitz signed with the University of Minnesota and will run this fall as a member of the cross country team.

“We really don’t talk a lot, like, running,” Monson said. “With Cassy I did a lot more, but with Laura it’s just more like we’re really good friends. We really don’t talk about running especially. We’ll talk about how we felt during races, but we don’t talk about training.”

Together the trio camped in Lanesboro for a weekend, tubing down the river, playing mini golf and squeezing in some running. They ran together as Opitz had to continue her training for the Gophers, but the majority of the time wasn’t focused on running talk.

“It was just like with my friends here,” Monson said.

Monson and Hughes became fast friends through competing against each other in the Big Nine meets during both the cross country and track season. Monson became acquainted with Opitz through Hughes and began chatting on Facebook together and hanging out. It’s certainly not a bad crowd for the young runner to be around.

“It’s fun to know that I’m learning from the best of the best,” Monson said. “Yet at the same time you know that they’re real people, like they are not just psycho runners.”

Monson begins this season as a more visible runner after last season where she finished second at the section meet and second at the Big Nine meet. Both times she finished behind Winona’s Claire Guidinger — another friend of Monson’s.

Monson, the effervescent speedster, seems to make friends easily around the racing circuits, which can be beneficial for a young runner like her.

Monson’s determination is one of her greatest assets as a runner, but her zeal can act as a hinderance. Striking a balance has become an important piece to her development, something Nelson will work to do this season as Monson attempts to improve upon her showing at last year’s meet.

“She probably thinks she should start where she left off last year, but that’s not how it works,” Nelson said. “The main thing early in the season is we just have to make sure she doesn’t get injured. We could get too overzealous and she’d come up with a stress fracture and that would be the end of her season. We want to be really cautious with that.”

Monson’s first cross country state meet was bittersweet. Early in the race she was with the lead pack, but an elbow from another runner made her trip and as she fell she hit her head on a tree. If not for the fall, Nelson believes she would have finished in the top 10.

It’s not an event Monson replays in her mind very often, instead she looks toward the future and this season.

“There’s nothing I can do to change the matter, so why grieve about it and (get) so upset or anything because it’s done,” she said. “All I can focus on is my future, not the past.”

She’s keeping her goals at the same level as what she attained last year in the conference and section meet, but she’d like to see herself up on the podium this year, which is the top eight, at the state meet instead.

As she enters her freshman year and continues to grow she’s been told to enjoy her success by others, but Monson’s simply not content to believe things will change as she grows.

“I keep getting told by people, ‘Oh, well enjoy it while it lasts because you’re going to grow out of it and all this stuff. You’re going to peak and then you’re not going to be there anymore so enjoy it,’” Monson said “I’m just hoping with training I do I can be able to be successful this year. Not only this year, but many years ahead. They say that, but I don’t really quite believe that, because I know Cassy Opitz, the girl that won state this year, she never really slowed down.”