Taylor Short medals for
Railsplitters at State; Preston Short leads the boys team
[November 09, 2026]
On Saturday, November 7, 2026 Short ran at Detweiller Park in
Peoria in the Class 2A Girls Cross Country State Meet and she
finished in 15th place, earning a medal for herself as a member of
the LCHS Railsplitters Cross Country team. Short was one of six
sophomores across the state in Class 2A to finish in the top 15.
Short ran the three-mile course in 17:50.0 which was yet another new
PR. Short competed among 234 runners in the race.
Last year Short finished in 65th place as a freshman at the state
meet.
This year she obviously had bigger goals and she certainly put in
the work this season to achieve those goals.
Taylor Short placed 15th at the Class 2A State
Cross Country Meet. Photo courtesy of Chrissy Short
“I ended up exceeding my goal to place 15th and earn a state medal,
which was very rewarding considering I placed 65th just last year,”
said Short. “I have come so far from the beginning of the season. It
feels like yesterday when we had to run in 90 degree weather so
getting a break from that was very refreshing. After an amazing
track season I was very excited going into the state meet because I
wanted to see how I would race up against the amazing athletes at
the state meet in a much longer distance. I was very proud of myself
and my other teammates for having an incredible season. We have all
worked so hard this year and it has been very rewarding. We are all
very excited about running on the track in the spring.”
First-year coach Kim King was extremely proud of Short and the work
she put in to achieve this success.
“If you look at the points that Taylor scored all season, it’s just
54 total points,” said King. “She scored less points all season than
some kids score in a single race. It’s amazing to look at what all
she’s accomplished this year. She’s worked so hard. And she is such
a smart racer. She learned to be very strategic and very patient
this season. Taylor learned to settle into positions and just wait
for the right moment to make a move. She learned not to get too
eager. She really started to figure out how to conserve her energy
this season. She began to race smart and that was a big reason for
her success. She is obviously just so talented but she also improved
her strength a lot this season. Taylor has a huge competitive drive
and she’s very humble. I could go on and on talking about her, she’s
just so amazing.”
King emphasized that as a team the Railsplitters worked on something
she called, “Fast, Faster, Fastest” in practice and that attributed
to a great deal of success for Short and the others.
“You can’t burn all that energy early,” said King. “You have to be
smart and hold your position and know when it’s time to really turn
it on. We worked on that in practice and I kept telling the kids:
fast, faster, fastest. We had to learn things like where do we start
accelerating? Taylor really started figuring that out at the end of
the season. It worked out well for Taylor. Her finish on Saturday
was amazing!”
Short was not in the top 15 when she crossed the two-mile mark. In
fact, if anything she was about ten more runners behind. But, boy,
did she accelerate. King also added that the three-mile course at
Detweiller Park is fast and with adrenaline carrying the runners,
each and every runner was aiming for a PR.
“When the runners came out of the two-mile and had a lap to go
around, Taylor was in the bottom 20s I would say,” said King. “She
had set a goal to be in the top 15 and she was determined to make
it. Her finish was so good. She just charged through at 150 meters
and really picked it up and flew past people.”
King also said that Taylor is part of a talented class of sophomores
across the state so she will have some really good competition the
next two years.
Short also had some great competition in her fellow runners at
Lincoln this season.
“Having the group of Preston Short, Pierce King, Henry Stoltzenburg,
Owen Cyrulik and Colin Crombie really helped Taylor,” said King.
“She was chasing them down in practice. It only made her better. I
kept telling her to make sure you can see Colin up ahead.”
Training with these guys certainly attributed to Short making such a
huge jump from last year to this year. It will be fun to see what
she does the next two years.
As for Short's most recent success, “This is a true testament to her
dedication to her training and learning how to use her speed at the
right moments in the race,” said her coach.
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The members of the Railsplitters Cross Country team who went to
State. Photo courtesy of Kim King
The boys team had also set a goal and that was to make it to State
as a team and they did just that on Saturday, led by senior Preston
Short.
Short finished in 34th place with a PR of 15:04.7.
Junior Pierce King finished 77th with a PR of 15:23.6.
Junior Henry Stoltzenburg was 122nd with a time of 15:44.7, also a
PR for him.
Owen Cyrulik was 182nd with a time of 16:21.5.
Colin Crombie was 213th with a time of 16:53.7.
Two freshmen, Kayden Bone and Jackson Ahart, finished at the end of
the pack in the 231 and 232 places.
Bone hit a PR with 19:54.8 and Ahart’s time was 21:04.3.
King was equally as proud of the guys and their hard work.
“They were all at State Track in May,” said King. “They took off
maybe a few weeks in the summer and then they were back at it,
adding mileage and getting back in the groove. These guys have been
training everyday consistently since July 1st.”
“Preston Short, Pierce King and Henry Stoltzenburg all PR’d on
Saturday,” continued King. “I was happy to see that. The group of
boys went out so fast on Saturday and that first mile was like a
4:40 and so for Preston to finish 34th was amazing. That was awesome
to be in the top 50. Preston PR’d and almost broke 15 in a true
three-mile course. And Pierce finished in the top 100 with a PR. And
Henry has never ran cross country before. So they all did great by
hitting PR’s.”
“Kayden Bone is our sixth guy and he finally broke 20 minutes,” said
King. “He’s a freshman so that was a big deal. He was in tears. I
was in tears. He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him.
He finally hit his PR in the last race of season. All the guys were
so proud of him, too.”
Jackson Ahart and Max Miller had also never ran cross country before
this season and even though Miller didn’t get to run at State
because only seven guys can run, King was excited. Ahart is a
freshman and Miller is a junior.
“We definitely had very successful moments throughout the season,”
said King. “The whole focus this week was we want to end our season
the best we can.”
King was especially proud of how the kids raced for each other and
really developed a bond that is truly special among runners.
“They are great kids,” added King. “They have such great families. I
am so grateful to the people from Lincoln that showed up on
Saturday. High school kids and even families with kids showed up.
People who were not family members showed up and that really meant a
lot to the kids. I am just so very appreciative and thankful for the
fans of Lincoln who came to support the kids.”
King is in her first year coaching LCHS cross country and she, too,
put in a great deal of work recruiting kids to come out for the
cross country team, planning practices and spending countless hours
and endless energy trying to help the athletes get better.
“I walked into a very talented group of kids,” said King. “I put in
place a plan but they worked very hard to carry it out. I just
orchestrated it a little bit.”
Finally, King wanted to emphasize how much the seniors meant to the
rest of the team.
“We will miss our seniors a lot for their leadership and
dedication,” said King.
[Teena Lowery]
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