Franklin Central’s Ella DesJean (267) stops to helps New Palestine’s Emma Mann (378) who had collapsed while leading the race and was just yards from winning the Mt. Vernon IHSAA Girls Cross Country Sectional at Mt. Vernon High School on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021.
Rob Baker | For The Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — The support she’s given to those in need is being returned.
New Palestine’s Emma Mann, the 2021 Daily Reporter Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year, had her brilliant senior season come to a terrible end.
Winner of the Hancock County meet and runner-up in the Hoosier Heritage Conference race, Mann was well on her way to adding sectional champion to the list of her great accomplishments.
Leading by close to 30 seconds at the Mt. Vernon Sectional, she collapsed on the course.
Somehow, she was able to recover to get fourth place, but there was something wrong.
“Going into the sectional, it was definitely nerve-racking with it being my senior year. There was a lot of pressure and a lot of excitement,” Mann said. “At the start I was fine. I had a good mindset. Around the 2K mark (of the 5K race) I started feeling strange. It wasn’t normal fatiguing that I have felt before around the 3.5K or 4K mark. It was at 2K and I got very, very hot. This was different I knew I had hydrated all the days before and done what I was supposed to do.
“It continued to get worse as I went on. It was only a 5K, so there wasn’t that much to go. I was going to finish it out and take care of it after, which is not exactly how that went.”
With about 400 meters remaining, just leaving the woods on the Mt. Vernon course, Mann couldn’t feel her legs hitting the ground. About 20-40 meters from the finish she fell. She said she fell a couple more times, but doesn’t remember it.
“I remember the ambulance ride a little bit,” she said. “When something like that happens to you and you’re not in control of your own body, it’s confusing and very scary.”
Mann said she’s seen runners fall before in distance races, and the majority of the time it is related to dehydration. That wasn’t her case.
Doctors later found that the culprit to her fall was Myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle.
“It was a pretty scary moment with she’s laying there at the sectional and was pretty well out of it,” New Palestine coach Chuck Myers said. “At first I just thought it might be dehydration. When they got to the hospital and they wanted to transport her downtown to Riley I suspected it was something a little more serious than that.”
Due to the condition of her heart, Mann, though she had qualified, was unable to get cleared to compete the following week in the Rushville Regional. A promising senior season with hopes of running in the IHSAA girls cross country state finals had come to an abrupt end.
“When they initially told me, it was kind of shocking,” Mann said. “I was not going to be able to finish out the season. I worked four years for this. It was definitely disappointing, but there was a lot of gratitude in that.
“Faith has kept me going through this entire thing, knowing God has a plan for everything that is happening in my life right now whether I can see it or not.”
Mann had been running her best at the right time of the season. She ran a 19 minutes, 27 seconds in her runner-up finish at the HHC meet, hosted by Delta, the previous week. She ran an identical time a week prior to that in winning the Golden Bear Invitational in Shelbyville.
“The week leading up to the sectional I was having great workouts with my team and I was hitting my paces. It felt very automatic,” Mann said. “I was working hard, but I felt nothing was holding me back. I felt like I was continuing to get in shape and had my eyes set on state.”
“She was running very well,” Myers said. “Even that day she was winning by 25-30 seconds when she went down. She still was able to come in fourth. I feel she definitely could have moved on (to state). It was very heartbreaking not allowing her to run, but she was there every day at practice supporting her teammates.”
Mann has had great support throughout all of this, too. Much of it has come from her toughest competitors.
Franklin Central’s Ella DesJean and some of her teammates helped Mann on the Mt. Vernon course. DesJean was the eventual winner of the race.
“The girl that helped me, (Ella) is just a fantastic representative of what this sport is all about,” Mann said. “Her character shines through everything she does. We are very good friends now and go out and do things together on the weekends.
“We kind of bonded over what happened to us. Although I went through that physically. They were there and understand the mental side of what happened to us. I don’t think what happened to me just happened to me. I think it happened to a lot of people that were watching. It’s very scary, especially watching it. I can’t imagine watching something like that happen.”
At the regional, Mann was in attendance to cheer on her team and other competitors. When she got there she received notes of encouragement from team members from Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central, New Palestine’s biggest county and conference rivals.
“I had so many teams reach out,” Mann said. “Mt. Vernon High School and Greenfield-Central have been amazing. They brought me cards and signed them. I have them all hanging up in my room. My team has been amazing. I couldn’t ask for better teammates. I have their cards hanging up, too.”
It’s all part of the cross country community.
“Respect. All of my girls know her by name,” Mt. Vernon head coach Kean Coy said. “They know when we run against New Pal the Mann girls (including Emma’s older sister Kendall, who graduated last year) have been some of their most potent runners.
“Cross country is much different than a team sport. You build these relationships and bonds with people whether or not you even realize that you’re supporting them. You’re still supporting them. (My girls) have a lot of respect for Emma and the New Pal program. It made them see that this is a devastating thing that has happened to someone. We need to be there to support her regardless what the front of our uniform says.”
It seems only fitting that in her time of difficulty Mann is getting plenty of support and love.
Even at her young age, she spent much of her life helping others.
Mann, as a 9-year old, started Emma’s Peace Bears.
It began when she wanted to help a family member with cancer.
“My aunt had cancer,” Mann said. “She didn’t survive, but when I found out (she had cancer) I gave her one of my teddy bears because I didn’t know how to make her feel better, but I wanted to do something to make her smile.
“She loved it so much, I thought I could start doing that for other people.”
Mann gets teddy bears from the Build-A-Bear Workshop. She writes notes of encouragement to go with the bear and then sends them to cancer patients. She’s sent them all over the state, other states and other countries. She has also set up events with the Camp Little Red Door cancer agency where volunteers both build the bears and write the notes to the fighting friends and loved ones.
Her volunteerism hasn’t gone unnoticed. On Monday, she was notified that she was a recipient of a Lilly Endowment Scholarship, which is strongly based on volunteering and community service.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve been involved in volunteer work,” Mann said. “So this is something that is really important to me. Faith and service are two things that are very important to me.”
Mann has not yet been cleared to resume running. She said she’s kept busy baby-sitting and tutoring.
She is hopeful that day will come soon. She wants to begin winter workouts in hopes of competing this spring for New Palestine’s track and field team.
“I’m feeling a lot better than I have been,” Mann said. “I have some things coming up that will be indicators on how much longer it will be (before I can run again). Right now, I feel alright. The hope is that I can run track season. I am hoping to get back to winter training as soon as I get cleared.”
She added, “I think what happened to me, so much good has come out of it. The girls from Franklin Central have been absolutely incredible and have been a light for me throughout the whole situation.
“It scared people. People tell me it scared them. It brought more light to the sport and that running is about so much more than competing to win. It’s about sportsmanship, coming together and building each other up. What happened to me helped people realize that the sport is more than winning.”
2021 Daily Reporter Girls Cross Country Team
Name, School;Year
Lydia Carrell, Mt. Vernon;Sr.
Emma Gale, Mt. Vernon;Fr.
Alexandria Jenson, Mt. Vernon;So.
Emma Mann, New Palestine;Sr.
Courtney Study, New Palestine;So.
Morgan Tharp, Mt. Vernon;Sr.
Caitlin Urrutia, New Palestine;Sr.
Honorable Mentions
Emily Adam, New Palestine, Sr.; Lexi Baynes, New Palestine, Jr.; Lexie Copeland, Greenfield-Central, Fr.; Melinda Cornelius, Mt. Vernon, Jr; Olivia Evans, Eastern Hancock, Fr.; Julia Iserloth, Mt. Vernon, Fr.
