By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
Before this season, Amherst High's Salla Pulli competed in cross country type races before, maybe two or three a year, in her native Finland.
As a foreign exchange student, Pulli joined the Falcons cross country team this year and in her 13th meet of the season she won the biggest race in Wisconsin. Pulli, a senior, captured the individual state championship in Division 3 girls race, finishing in 15:03.
Lindsey Faust of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption was three seconds behind in 15:06 and Rosholt's Tami Scott took third in 15:19.
Pulli started the season off with a bang, setting the course record at the Iola-Scandinavia Invitational. She finished behind Scott at the end of the season, at the Central Wisconsin Conference meet and the WIAA Sectional at Sevastopol.
"I think she knew she could win," Amherst coach Rob Sparhawk said. "I think it kind of fell into her hands with her 800 (meters) speed. She had a strong finish."
Pulli has been a team-orientated runner all season, Sparhawk said, and this time, he told her to run her race and see what happens.
"I think a lot of times, along the course of the year, she ran more for the team than for herself. She wanted to secure those second-place spots," he said.
"This was the first race that she went into with the mindset to be the winner."
The race didn't start as fast as Pulli thought it would and she was with the leaders at the mile mark. She led Faust by a few steps just before the two-mile mark of the 4,000-meter race.
"It didn't start that fast. I was a little bit surprised that I could keep it up with the girls," Pulli said. "I just ran with the group and it was enough."
Pulli said she didn't come into the race with any special plan. "No, I just thought I would run a good race. That was my goal. I didn't think that that would've been enough (to win)."
Sparhawk thought Pulli had a chance to make the medal stand at state after he saw her first race at Iola-Scandinavia.
"Ever since the Iola meet, we hoped that she would be the state champion, we wanted her to go back to Finland with a medal.
"As a coach in the last 11 years, I probably haven't been happier. This is an outstanding feat, to have an individual champion," said Sparhawk, who coached Jim Leu (1991), Kurt Warzynski (1994, 1995) and Dave Cisewski (1996) to WISAA state championships at Pacelli.
Added Pulli: "I assume he believed more in my chances than I did. Rob believed in me and I'm very thankful for that."
Pulli just didn't pick Amherst out of the blue when deciding where to spend her school year. Students are able to choose what country, and in the case of the United States, a region of the country. She is staying with the family of cross country teammate Samantha Diver.
"It was just the place that they found a family for me," Pulli said. "You have an option for which part of the United States you want to come."
"My coach's friend (in Finland) is involved in the student exchange. He said that in this area of the country there would be a good chance to join cross country."
Diver, a senior who was the team's third runner for most of the season, and her family are hosting Pulli through July. "It seemed like she had a lot of things in common with me - running, she liked horses, just stuff like that," Diver said. "We made a good match, I guess."
Back in Finland, Pulli said cross country is different. There aren't as many competitors, for instance. "You have a lot more runners than we do. In these cross country meets, you have 130 people per state. In our regional competitions, there might be 10 or 5. You can then go to Finland's championship, which must have 40 girls."
Pulli said Finns get involved in athletics as children. "I've been involved in track and field since I was a younger kid," she said. Instead of school-related competition, there are town teams.
"When kids grow older, they choose sports they're good at. I liked running more," she said.
After Pulli decided to continue running, she's been training in a running program for three years. From June to August, there are track and field competitions almost every day in Finland.
In track and field, which she will compete in at Amherst this spring, she focuses on just the running events. "I guess it's been natural. I noticed I've been doing better in longer distances. I'm doing that instead of the long jump," Pulli said.
Sparhawk said the training Pulli had in Finland worked well together with the training he had the Amherst girls doing. "She was easy to coach, but really not the easiest. She had a different running background," Sparhawk said. "Some of our training, along with her training, helped her.
"She did a lot of things on her own after practice - push-ups and strides. The morning runs that we do really gave her some strength, the mini hurdles helped too."
Pulli said she fit in well with the Falcons. "The team has been great. I'm grateful also that I had the chance to join this nice team. Everyone has welcomed me very well," she said.
"There are lots of girls there that are trying so hard. They have a good team. They would've had a great season even if I wouldn't have been here. So I'm grateful for them."
Her Amherst teammates were happy to have her, too. Pulli helped the team to its first state meet appearance. "It was really exciting to make it to state," Diver said. "Winning sectionals was great. To make it to state was a dream come true."