Betsey Frens improved her Crim 10 mile time to 58:16.
Betsy Frens, co-Female Runner of the Year in 2004, shares the 2005 title with Leigh Daniel and Sarah Plaxton. Don't figure on a three-peat.

"I'm expecting another child," said Frens, 31, of Kalamazoo. "The baby is due in mid-June, so I probably won't compete much in 2006."

As in 2004, Frens' Crim-10-mile effort was a highlight of her year. "It went pretty well," she remembered of the Aug. 27 Flint classic. "I was on target to run under 58 minutes until about seven miles, when I got muscle cramps. But I was happy with my time (58:16). I have no complaints."

Frens ran Crim in 59:18 in 2002, and 58:58 in 2004. So she has improved, even after becoming a mom, each year. She has also been top state woman runner all three years.

"I usually end my season at Crim. The PR was a good way to finish," she said.

The former Betsy Haverkamp was a seven-time All-American in track and cross country at Calvin College, where she won the 1997 NCAA Division III 3,000-meter championship. (She has PR of 9:51 at that distance.) Coming from that background, she usually concentrates on shorter races leading up to Crim.

Frens started last year by finishing runner-up in the Spectrum Health Irish Jig 5K in East Grand Rapids (17:37) and winning the Borgess 5K in Kalamazoo (17:05).

She came in third overall in the Fifth Third River Bank Run 5K in Grand Rapids (16:57). Frens doubled up at the Reeds Lake Run in East Grand Rapids, taking second in the 5K (16:41) and third in the 10K (35:52). Both times were significantly faster than in 2004, where she doubled in 17:07 and 36:38.

Frens ran her fastest 5K of the year, 16:40, at the Brian Diemer Run in Cutlerville, finishing one second behind winner and elite runner Nicole Hunt, 35, of Montana.

"She was ahead me the whole way," Frens recalled. "She was always within range, but I never could get past her. I'm very pleased with my time, though."

Her 16:40 was another big improvement over her 17:05 winning time the past year, but didn't threaten the 16:27 PR she set winning the race in 2001.

During fall Frens coaches the Kalamazoo Christian High School girls cross country team. Her Division 3 Comets won their conference and regional, and finished eighth in the state last year.

Her daughter, Madelyn, 2, accompanied her mother to several meets. "She is very much into it," laughed Frens. "She loves being around the team."

Madelyn also comes to her mother's races. "She knows my routine and cheers from the sideline with her father," Frens said. "When we get home, she runs around the house saying, 'I'm running like mommy.'"

Kent Frens, like Betsy, was a Calvin College All-American. If Madelyn wants to become a runner like her parents, she has the genetics to do it. MR