The pressure no longer fazes Rose Kiley.
Sure, the spotlight has been there from the start, as the little sister of three-time Eagle-Tribune MVP Molly Kiley and the daughter of Sue Kiley, Andover High’s head cross country and track distance coach, both programs among the state’s elite.
The Golden Warriors’ latest breakout distance star, however, long ago stopped sweating expectations, internal or external.
“At first I definitely internally held myself to a pretty high standard,” said Kiley. “But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how different my sister and I are, and kind of kept myself to my own individual goals separate from what anyone else has done, and continued to step up my running abilities.”
The senior has certainly opened eyes on her own this fall.
Through the first five weeks of the cross country season, Kiley has surged to three individual victories, a runner-up and a third-place finish.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “It’s already been a really fun season. I keep training hard to get better all the time, and our girls team is really deep, so it’s nice to have a lot of teammates to push me to do my best for my team. Knowing this is my last season of cross country, I was determined to make it the best season I could.”
Kiley’s victories have come in a multi-meet against Billerica, Lawrence and Tewksbury (17:48), a tri-meet against Haverhill and Methuen (19.21) and against Dracut (21:11.8), with the second-place vs. powerhouse Lowell (19:31) and the third against Chelmsford (19:31).
As a junior last year, she ran to a second, three thirds and a fourth.
“She’s inclusive and a hard working, and a great role model for the younger athlete with her work ethic,” said coach and mom Sue. “She makes sure everyone feels like an important part of the team.”
Rose said she has embraced the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of her sister Molly, a two-time Eagle-Tribune cross country Runner of the Year (2021-22) and 2023 Eagle-Tribune indoor track MVP, and run for her mom, Andover’s cross country coach since 2018.
“It’s been nice following my sister because she has been through the same ups and downs,” said Rose. “So being able to have her for guidance has definitely helped me keep going. And it’s been a great experience to have my mom as a coach. It’s always nice to have my mom there cheering for me, and truly understanding running and how to help when I’m struggling. She definitely likes picking on me more, but I would definitely say the positives outweigh any challenges.
“It’s fun. It is nice to always have someone to run with or talk about running, and I can always ask either my mom or sister advice on my running career.”
Kiley now hopes to continue this stellar streak through the end of cross country season, and into track. Last winter, she placed third in the 1,000-meter at MVCs (3:10.13) and last spring she was eight in the 800 at Andover Boosters (2:29.58) and helped the 4×800 to a second-place finish at MVCs (10:25.69).
“I think my main goal for this season is for our girls team to make it to All-States, because I definitely think that we have a good chance and that would be a lot of fun,” she said. “That’s something that hasn’t happened while. For track, I think my goal is to keep this energy going throughout the year, and definitely hoping to earn some PRs (personal records) along the way.”
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