Anna Rohrer to miss 2017 cross country season

Irish junior Anna Rohrer will be out for the season, associate head coach Matt Sparks told The Observer on Tuesday.

“[Anna Rohrer] had a medical procedure to stimulate the repair of her hamstring and it requires her to sit out for a couple of weeks of training,” Sparks said. “That decision has been made that she won’t be competing this year.”

The Mishawaka native has not raced yet this season, but Sparks said that the coaching staff wants to make sure that Rohrer gets back to full health, as opposed to risking the star’s future.

“Rather than have her at less than 100 percent, we’re going to let her heal up fully,” Sparks said. “She’ll be ready to run track in January.”

The uncertainty of whether Rohrer was going to compete or not led to a drop in rankings for the women’s cross country team, who dropped to No. 12 nationally, after being No. 8 to start the season. Sparks remarked that losing someone of Rohrer’s caliber is going to weaken the team’s overall strength.

“The drop in rankings is more of a reflection of the uncertainty of our All-American Anna Rohrer who hasn’t raced yet this year. She’s going to redshirt cross country this fall,” Sparks said. “[The ranking position] will take a hit, as far as the team goes, whenever you lose your star frontrunner.”

Rohrer was named the ACC Cross Country Freshman of the Year and finished second at the ACC cross country championships. She also finished in sixth place in the 6K at the NCAA championships in 2015. She was named an All-American after her freshman campaign, as well as making the All-ACC team.

Rohrer followed up a freshman season that turned many heads with a successful sophomore year, finishing third at the NCAA championships behind teammate Molly Seidel. She was named the 2016 ACC Performer of the Year and made the All-ACC Academic team. Rohrer also competes for the Irish in both the indoor and outdoor track seasons.