GRISWOLD, Iowa — The Topham house had an unusual floorplan.

You could go in a circle from the dining room to the kitchen to the living room and back to the dining room. And there was a stairway in the middle.

That's where Jeff Topham would sit when it was his turn to watch the kids, timing his four children as they sped around the house.

"They thought that was a blast, that Dad would let them run on this little racetrack we had inside the house,'' said Jeff's wife, Lori.

Fast-forward to the women's open 5,000-meter run in April 2007 at the Kansas Relays. Rebekah Topham crosses the finish line first in 18 minutes, 42.08 seconds, just more than two seconds ahead of 27-year-old Kelli Benton.

Rebekah is 10. She's in the fourth grade. That time still stands as a world record for 10-year-old girls at that distance, according to the website youthmom.com that compiles the best age-group performances from 46 countries.

Rebekah is now 15. She's homeschooled by her mother but is competing as a freshman on the cross country team at Griswold High School in western Iowa, which competes in the smallest of the state's four classes.

Rebekah has won more than 30 age-group national championships in track and cross country. She's a five-time national cross country champion. As a seventh- and eighth-grader, she ran the two fastest times in the 16-year history of the Iowa junior high cross country state meet.

At last November's Nike Heartland Regionals cross country meet, which included runners in seventh through 12th grades from several Midwest states, Rebekah finished seventh as an eighth-grader. The only Iowa runner to beat her was recent Sioux City East graduate Shelby Houlihan, who is now at Arizona State and didn't lose an individual high school track or cross country race as a senior.

Among those Rebekah beat that day were Karissa Schweizer (by five seconds) and Madison Waymire (by 46). Schweizer, a sophomore from West Des Moines Dowling, is the No. 1 rated runner in Class 4-A, Iowa's largest. Waymire, a sophomore from Dallas Center-Grimes, is No. 1 in 3-A.

Rebekah has the state's fastest time this year, regardless of class, by 45 seconds, a 13:10 at 4,000 meters.

"Being a freshman, it's going to blow people's minds this year,'' said Griswold junior Xavier Olivo, her after-school running partner. "It's incredible to watch her in a race, and I think it's kind of cool for all of us to be able to say that she's on our team.''

Her parents weren't running phenoms. Jeff Topham was good, but not great. He grew up in Peabody, Kan., and once finished fifth in the state in the 880-yard run. He broke 4:30 in the mile at Emporia State (Kan.) University, but sometimes didn't even travel with the team.

Lori Topham's track career didn't last beyond middle school. But she knew something was going on with Rebekah, the second of their four children (John is 17, Joanna 13 and Daniel 10). Before she was 10 months old, Rebekah was on her feet. She virtually bypassed walking and went right into running.

When Rebekah was 8, her father took her to her first road race in Hamburg, Iowa. It was a small, two-mile event. Rebekah won, in 13 minutes and something.

"I just remember walking down the stairway (at home) with my trophy,'' she said.

She was still 8 when she competed in her first national cross country meet in Kingsport, Tenn. The course was muddy and Rebekah was tired. She walked for a time.

That was one of the few low points. The family kept traveling and Rebekah kept winning.

Eventually, buying six plane tickets for each trip got to be overwhelming — not to mention expensive.

"I was kind of like, 'Wait a minute. What are we doing? Can we keep up with this?''' Lori Topham said. "It just got to be too much.''

Now, when there's a faraway meet, it's just Rebekah and father, except for a pair of annual December trips that everyone enjoys.

The miles also have taken their toll on young Rebekah's body. She's been plagued with injuries. She's been fairly healthy this season, but Achilles pain in both heels kept her out of Monday's meet in Greenfield and will sideline her for Thursday's event in Atlantic.

Jeff Topham takes the blame for some of his daughter's ailments.

"I just ran her too many miles,'' he said. "It was my fault, really. I was her worst enemy.

"I tend to want things more right now, and go for records and stuff right away, but I've had people tell me, 'You've got to slow down.' ... So I've had to back off quite a bit.''

Jeff Topham, who also is an assistant coach on Griswold's cross country and track teams, is learning to dial it down when necessary. That's extremely important, David Ramsey said.

Ramsey is the coach and founder of the famed Brocaw Blazers cross country team that is based in Overland Park, Kan. Rebekah has been on his team for more than six years in addition to running for the Omaha-based Cornhusker Flyers.

Ramsey is one of the nation's most staunch cross country advocates. He holds numerous clinics across the country and serves on the executive board for the Cross Country Coaches National Youth Championships. He said there are pitfalls to avoid when a girl has run so fast so young.

"The huge danger here is over-racing,'' he said. "The second biggest danger is getting injured, and that comes from over-racing. And getting too greedy too fast.''

Ramsey said he always has his athletes' long-term future in mind.

"People look at things as, how much can we get out of them right now?'' he said. "What they ought to be doing is, where can we have them 10, 12 years down the road? What's the possibility? How do we get them to that point?''

The funny thing is, Rebekah almost never seems to think about the future. She doesn't dream about running at any particular school or in any particular prominent event. She's just a 15-year-old who likes to run and take pictures and play ping-pong and board games.

She's also a great teammate, Griswold cross country coach Jane Chaillie said.

"As soon as she's crossed the finish line, she's back cheering for all of her teammates,'' she said. "And so that goes a long way with acceptance, too, of the girls. They know that she's not a one-person show.''

Although she enjoys being on a team, she's still uncomfortable being singled out at races.

"Sometimes people are like, 'I'll see you in the Olympics,''' Rebekah said.

She doesn't know quite how to respond to that. For now at least, she would rather let her running do the talking. Like that house when she was a 4-year-old, she's still running circles around the competition.

And that stairway in the middle? It's still there, at least figuratively, and it leads somewhere.

Someday we'll know where.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1055, kevin.white@owh.com

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