Cole Allison found Southern Illinois University before it found him. Way before.
Allison grew up in Farmington as a gear head, actually as a gear kid. Long before the Festus High cross country and track standout attracted the interest of any college track programs, he was a kid who was thrilled by cars and motorcycles, by engines and speed. He and his buddy, Justin Gray, stumbled upon the news that SIU had an automotive technology department. Really? Really?
What could be better for a couple kids crazy about cars than an automotive technology department? Unless there’s a college out there with an every-day-is-Christmas department, SIU looks like a big winner in the what-do-kids-love department.
Though they had barely mastered long division, Allison and Gray made plans. They were going to SIU, and they were going to enroll in the automotive technology – unless, who knows, mortuary science, another SIU major, wins them over.
The 18-year-old Allison took a step toward making one of those majors happen Friday when he signed a NCAA letter of intent to join the cross country and track program at SIU. The Festus runner will join a men’s program that was second in the Missouri Valley Conference in the recent men’s indoor track championships and second in last fall’s MVC cross country championships.
“I kind of liked the fact that it’s a Division I school,” says the 5-foot-10½, 137-pound Festus senior.
For a guy who is attracted to speed, Allison has moved through his running career at his own pace – and that pace wasn’t always front-of-the-pack fast.
A runner who ran his first competitive events with the Jefferson County Jets Track Club because his older sister, Alyssa, was a Jets runner – “He was just kind of dragged along,” says his father, Jeff – Allison wasn’t sold on racing. Even by the time he had moved to Festus and reached junior high he wasn’t certain how much – or if – he wanted to race. “He didn’t want to run cross country the first year (in junior high). He refused,” says his mother, Tracy.
While he was slow to warm to racing, Allison’s talent was obvious. In his first varsity cross country race as a sophomore, he finished second at the First Capitol Invitational at St. Charles. Since that first varsity outing, Allison’s progress has been steady. He is a two-time cross country champ at the Jefferson County Conference Meet and a two-time all-state medalist. Last fall, he was second at the state championship meet.
Cross country may never move ahead of cars and motorcycles as far as Allison’s favorites, but for now it’s running a couple steps ahead of track. “I guess I like the scenery,” he says.
Cross country is looking better and better now because with track season here, track is becoming more and more of a chore. For Allison, distance – that’s distance as in time, not miles – softens the hard edges of his sporting pursuits.
“It seems like I like cross country more when I’m in track and I like track more when I’m in cross country,” he says.
There was a point where Allison’s success was based primarily on talent. This year, that changed a bit. For the first time, Allison charged into the summer with a commitment to train. Coach Bryant Wright told the Tigers they had a chance to challenge at the state cross country meet, but that it was going to be an uphill run. Allison signed on for the challenge. He ran early, late and in between. He put in more miles than he ever had run in the past.
The extra work paid off. Allison was one of the area’s elite runners, and Festus was one of the top teams. Allison paced a team of four seniors and three sophomores at a Class 3 championship in the state meet. With Allison finishing second individually – his time of 16 minutes, 38 seconds was the eighth fastest time of the day in the four boys races on the 3.1-mile course – Festus won its first cross country title.
This spring, the move to track represents a different sort of challenge. After a fall season of 5,000-meter races that tested endurance, Allison has his sights set on different types of races this spring. His wish list for track is to test his speed.
“I like the shorter stuff,” he says. “I can do all right in the 800, and I can do OK in the mile, too. My favorite is the 4×800 (relay).”
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