Grotelueschen named Mahomet-Seymour girls’ cross country coach

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Both of her parents were teachers.

Her father was a coach.

And, Jama Ryan was an athlete.

Some would say it was a given she’d follow in their footsteps and seek a career in education, either as a teacher or coach.

Jama Ryan wasn’t one of those people.

“I’d have said no way,” she said. “I didn’t want to do what my parents did.”

Those were her sentiments when she graduated from Mahomet-Seymour High School in 1994.

Fast forward a quarter of a century and M-S recently introduced its new girls’ cross-country head coach.

It’s Jama Ryan Grotelueschen.

“Dad is excited, and mom thinks I’m crazy,” Grotelueschen said. “It’s such a departure from what I’ve done in the past.”

She went to college as a student only, and didn’t participate in sports.

She works part-time as a financial planner, but never really felt a desire to be a coach.

“A couple years ago, the junior high needed to find coaches (at M-S) and I’d had such a positive experience (in sports) that I decided to apply,” Grotelueschen said.

For the past two springs, she has worked with distance runners at the junior high school.

That opportunity enabled her to meet Kristin Allen, the high school girls’ cross-country coach. Last summer, Allen had a question for Grotelueschen.

“She asked if I might be interested (in high school coaching) in the future,” Grotelueschen said.

With son Hayden – who participates in cross-country — entering high school a year ago, Grotelueschen knew she would attend most of the meets anyway.

She answered in the affirmative, but created an ideal scenario in her mind.

“My preference was to learn as an assistant first,” she said.

That didn’t happen as Grotelueschen was officially hired as Allen’s successor on June 22, approximately two and a half months before the Bulldogs’ scheduled opener on Sept. 12 in the First to Finish Invitational at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

She is anxious to get going.

“This is an awesome group to work with,” Grotelueschen said. “The freshmen and sophomores I worked with in junior high, and the juniors ran with Hayden in junior high.”

Grotelueschen takes over a program which had no seniors last fall on a team which placed 18th at state in Class 2A.

The high school will gain the services of incoming freshman Ava Boyd, who was a member of last year’s eighth-place IESA state squad.

“My husband said I’m like Phil Jackson (former Chicago Bulls head coach), inheriting a talented group,” Jama Grotelueschen said.

The Bulldogs’ top four runners last year at state are all upcoming juniors: Klein Powell, Elizabeth Sims, Grace Lietz and Chloe Allen.

Upcoming sophomores Ella Scott and Callie Jansen and senior-to-be Olivia Bunting rounded out the state lineup in 2019.

Grotelueschen’s own running career is an illustration of patience and determination.

“I started cross-country in sixth-grade,” she said. “I went out because my friends were out and I enjoyed the camaraderie.

“I was absolutely terrible. I walked. I quit races.”

Her dad, Del Ryan, put her on a plan that would lead to a path of success.

“Being a competitive person, he made me run every day,” she said. “After running every day, I saw huge improvement. I appreciated that hard work could pay off so quickly.”

By the time Grotelueschen was in eighth-grade, she was a state-placer in cross-country.

She credits the coaches who worked with her.

“Coach (Tom) Appenzeller and (Marcia) Carlier were wonderful people,” Grotelueschen said. “They were patient and inclusive. They kept me going.”

Throughout high school, she continued her distance running. As a junior, she was on a state-placing 3,200-meter relay in track.

By the time Grotelueschen reached college, she said, “I was done being competitive.”

She learned that she couldn’t abandon running.

“It’s how I deal with stress,” she said.

She hasn’t let up.

“I’ve run every day since the quarantine (in mid-March),” Grotelueschen said.

She also works out with her high school team when group runs are scheduled. The third one since she was hired, took place this week on Tuesday.

The off-season focus for the Bulldogs, Grotelueschen said, is “to build up endurance and increase mileage.”

She expects a final roster of about two dozen girls by the time preseason practice starts on Aug. 10.

Many of her runners are well on their way to getting in competitive shape, thanks in part to the coronavirus forcing a cancellation of the spring sports season.

“That gave them an early push to start (training for cross-country),” Grotelueschen said, “because there was nothing else.”

During his tenure at M-S, Grotelueschen’s father Del Ryan was involved in coaching football, basketball and track and field. He worked primarily with jumpers and vaulters in track.

He doesn’t plan to give any coaching advice to his daughter.

“I’m proud of her and I will be on the sidelines cheering, but she can make her own decisions,” Del Ryan said.

Grotelueschen said she learned one valuable tip by watching her father during his coaching career.

“Everyone (on the team) has value, and treat everyone fairly,” she said.

Another role model was Jim Risley, a long-time M-S educator and coach.

“He was always talking about the bigger picture, things you don’t understand as a youth,” Grotelueschen said. “It’s not necessarily about performance, but trying to develop good human beings.

“It’s important to show up for people.”

Del Ryan admits he was surprised when he learned about his daughter entering the coaching realm.

“I pushed her pretty hard, probably too hard,” Ryan said. “I thought the last thing she would become is a coach.”

He has watched as she helped with the M-S junior high track athletes – a position she will still keep – and is impressed.

“She has a passion for it,” Ryan said. “She will do a good job (with the high school team).

“I am proud of her and excited for her opportunity. I just hope we have a season.”

Another person who is pleased by Grotelueschen’s new coaching gig is her seventh-grade daughter, Hadley, who is also a cross-country runner but has a different reason for her feelings.

“I won’t see many of her Saturday meets, but she doesn’t care,” Grotelueschen said. “I think she’d rather not have me there yelling at her.”

She believes her daughter has a future in the sport.

“She has natural ability, but doesn’t love it yet,” Grotelueschen said.

In that regard, she may take after her grandfather.

“I’m adverse to distance running,” Del Ryan said. “I ran a marathon one time, and when I finished, I vowed I would never run again.”

That was in 2011 and his new streak is still intact.

Another streak is just beginning. It’s Jama Grotelueschen’s involvement with M-S girls’ cross-country.

Maybe it was meant to be, she said.

“Coaching may be in my blood,” Grotelueschen said.