Gannon Farrens stood by himself on the U.S. Bank Stadium field, frozen by disbelief and disappointment. He watched from a distance as Eagan’s boys soccer team burst into celebration.
Scoggins: Rest up, Gannon Farrens. There’s another state championship to chase, and soon.
Gannon Farrens, a senior at Maple Grove, played Friday for a boys soccer state title. On Saturday he’ll run in the cross-country state championships. Thanks go to his mom and his coaches.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 1, 2024 at 11:03PM
The Maple Grove senior forward battled hard and scored a highlight-worthy goal in the Class 3A boys soccer state championship. Like every player on the field, Farrens had to feel physically and mentally exhausted after an intense back-and-forth title game ended in overtime with Eagan celebrating its first championship.
A half-hour later, Farrens already had begun preparing himself mentally for his next challenge: the cross-country state championships on Saturday.
“Got to move on [emotionally] and be ready,” he said.
Farrens isn’t just a multisport athlete. He’s a two-sport athlete in the same season who is competing for a championship in his two sports on back-to-back days.
His recovery time is roughly 27 hours from the time the soccer championship game ended Friday until his race in the Class 3A cross-country championship starts Saturday.
While his fellow running competitors might have been resting and conserving energy Friday, Farrens sprinted as fast as his legs could move up and down the soccer field, pouring everything he had into the championship game.
Don’t think he’s conceding anything in his race on Saturday, though. His goal is to finish top 10, which he calls “very doable” in his sixth and final state meet appearance of his high school career.
“This is a great opportunity,” he said after the soccer awards ceremony. “I trust myself. I’m a very confident runner. I have faith that I will be able to get it done.”
Farrens played both sports as a sophomore as well, but he had a smaller role in soccer that season. He gave up soccer as a junior in part because a health issue brought daily complications beyond athletics.
He experienced breathing problems and coughing fits. Doctors initially thought it might be asthma, but inhalers didn’t help. A respiratory specialist finally pinpointed the cause: vocal cord dysfunction (VCD).
VCD cases often develop during puberty in endurance athletes and swimmers. Farrens’ mom, Erin, expected to hear surgery as a treatment. Instead, the doctor ordered breathing therapy.
“I’m like, yoga? Meditation?” Erin said.
Her son attended weekly sessions with a breathing therapist who taught him techniques. Three times a day he turns on a timer and goes through breathing exercises to help mitigate the effects of VCD.
Farrens felt strong enough this summer that he asked his coaches in both sports if he could double up again. Not only did they say yes, but they collaborated on a training schedule that required concessions on each side to help Farrens navigate the physical demands.
“The coaches have been super accommodating,” he said. “Sometimes I was a little late to soccer, sometimes leaving cross-country early. Sometimes I come to soccer and just chill in the warmup. Sometimes in cross-country, it’s like, ‘You’ve got a soccer game after. Let’s just be really smart.’ ”
Kudos to those coaching staffs for allowing a young man to play his two favorite sports and not be forced to give one up.
Farrens didn’t shortchange either. His reward is getting to compete on the final day in both sports.
He scored on a spectacular diving header off a free kick in the second half Friday to tie the score 2-2.
“Just kind of willed my way to get to that ball,” he said. “It was a little out in front of me. I’m like, I can’t reach it. Got to dive for it.”
Farrens joined his teammates for a gathering after the game, then drove to the Gophers campus to walk the cross-country course along with other competitors as a preview for the state meet.
He has qualified for the state meet as an individual every year since eighth grade. He competed with Maple Grove’s team in the meet as a seventh-grader.
Farrens planned to spend Friday night in recovery mode with the help of his mom, a triathlete who serves as her son’s “mama coach” in running.
The recovery outline called for “liquids, liquids, liquids,” he said, followed by lots of stretching and using his mom’s Normatec full-leg compression boots that help with recovery. Farrens uses them every night on the couch while he’s studying.
Oh yeah, Farrens also is taking three AP classes this semester — stats, calculus and physics.
“He’s busy and focused,” his mom said.
He understands how to prioritize. Maple Grove’s undefeated, No. 1-ranked football team hosted Eden Prairie in a playoff game Friday night. Farrens asked his mom if they could watch it on live stream while he rested at home.
He has another big day Saturday.
The Eagles defeated Rochester Lourdes in the Class 1A final. Only Edina, at the turn of the century, won three boys titles in a row.
