After the first race of the 2022 season, Vivienne Siefker said she felt good and kept her fingers crossed that it would remain for the rest of the season.

Nagging injuries have been an issue for Siefker in the past, but once she won the Seymour Invitational on Aug. 18 to kick off her campaign, the Seymour High School junior was able to stay healthy for the rest of the year.

For the second straight season, Siefker has been named The Tribune’s Girls Cross-Country Runner of the Year.

“I felt pretty good,” she said about her season. “I had little injury, so it was a good, chill year.”

Part of dealing with injuries in the past is Siefker knew how to be more on top of things if she ever felt something flare up.

“From past injuries, I knew what to do in case they started,” she said.

Siefker won three races as an individual this season, including the aforementioned Seymour Invitational to start the year with a time of 20:28.35.

She also won the girls varsity AA race at the Eagle Classic in Brown County on Sept. 10 in 19:35.5. Lastly, she won the Ray Gerkin Invitational at Jennings County on Sept. 17 in 19:30.04.

“That was crazy,” Siefker said on winning those races. “I’m not normally the best at bigger races because I get boxed in. A lot of races, I started in a really good spot and just took it from there.”

Siefker had aspirations of breaking the 19-minute mark this season, and she also wanted to get out out of semistate, but she came up just short in both areas.

However, Siefker was still all-Hoosier Hills Conference, and she was a podium finisher in both sectional and regional. She ran her personal-best time of 19:21.0 at sectional this season.

Siefker said her approach over the past two seasons has allowed her to have so much success.

“To not be as worried, not to overthink things and to take care of myself above anything else,” she said. “Have to be there as much mentally as physically.”

She hopes to break 19 minutes next fall in her senior season, but before that, Siefker has her sights set on track season in the spring.

Last season, Siefker was part of the 4×800-meter relay team that qualified for the state meet, and she also qualified for regional in the two mile.

“This year, I’m going to look more toward the two mile individually,” Siefker said.

Remaining members on the all-county team:

Kinsley Folsom (Sr.), Seymour: Season PR of 20:54.5, semistate qualifier.

Trinity Cody (Fr.), Brownstown Central: PR of 21:50.39, Mid-Southern Conference honorable mention, team most valuable runner, regional qualifier.

Gracie Adams (So.), Seymour: PR of 21:01.1, semistate qualifier.

Cambell Shasteen (Fr.), Brownstown Central: PR of 22:20.9, regional qualifier.

AnnMarie Shuler (Fr.), Seymour: PR of 21:16.1, semistate qualifier.

Kelsey Schneider (Jr.), Brownstown Central: PR of 21:59.4, team most improved runner, regional qualifier.

Kelly Beavers (Fr.), Seymour: PR of 21:41.2, semistate qualifier.

Lyndsey Greenawalt (Fr.), Seymour: PR of 21:55.2, semistate qualifier.

Grace Lewis (Sr.), Seymour: PR of 22:24.7, semistate qualifier.