Photos by Colleen Thompson
The Central Catholic boys had a very young squad last fall that was able to win their second straight Oregon state title as well as qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals from the Northwest Region with an eventual 19th place finish against the nation's best programs at Portland Meadows. With a top 6 back capable of running close to or under 16 minutes for 5K ths fall, Central Catholic has one of the more tightly packed teams in the country with only a 22 second spread separating their top 5's PRs.
The bigger question is if they can develop stronger front running to emerge in order to make a deeper dent in the team standings at Nike Cross Nationals at season's end. Top 10 finishing teams at NXN usually have a few guys breaking into the top 50 individually. In their 2013 Nike Cross Nationals race, only their #1 runner Kyle Thompson (now running for the University of Wisconsin) was able to slip inside the top 50.
Sam Truax looks to take over the #1 runner role for Central Catholic and lead his squad near the front of races after running a 8:41 3K and nearly breaking 4 minutes on the track in the 1500. Gunnar Vik and Sam Lomax will be steady and consistent runners in the #2 through #4 spots, while Jean Baptiste Tooley has maybe the greatest upside for improvement after clocking a 3:58 1500 in the spring.
Central Catholic head cross country coach David Frank is definitely willing and not afraid to test his guys in some high profile and competitive meets before the post-season as shown with a fall schedule of races including a preview of the NXN course at Nike Pre-Nationals in late September and running the California state meet course at the Clovis Invitational. The end goal for Coach Frank and this year's squad of seniors since they were freshmen was to become one of the best teams ever in the history of Central Catholic, which happens to also be the same high school that Galen Rupp got his running career started. A top 10 finish at the 2014 Nike Cross Nationals would cement themselves in that discussion.
Boys Top 7 Returnees Times: 5K XC - 3000m - 1500m
Top 7 Boys Returnees from 2013 XC Season (5K Times)
| Central Catholic (OR) | ||
| 1) Sam Truax | 15:49.00 | |
| 2) Gunnar Vik | 15:55.00 | |
| 3) Sam Lomax | 15:56.50 | |
| 4) Daniel Thompson | 16:01.00 | |
| 5) Jean Baptiste Tooley | 16:11.00 | |
| Average Time: 15:58.50 Total Time: 1:19:52.50 1-5 Split: 22.00 | ||
| 6) Zack Lavier | 16:18.50 | |
| 7) Jackson Frank | 16:46.40 | |
Top 7 Boys Returning 3000m Times from 2014 Outdoor Season
| Central Catholic (OR) | ||
| 1) Sam Truax | 8:41.01 | |
| 2) Sam Lomax | 8:41.03 | |
| 3) Zack Lavier | 8:45.10 | |
| 4) Jean Baptiste Tooley | 8:50.41 | |
| 5) Daniel Thompson | 9:12.79 | |
| Average Time: 8:50.07 Total Time: 44:10.34 1-5 Split: 31.78 | ||
| 6) Harry Stewart | 9:24.79 | |
| 7) Jackson Frank | 9:26.36 | |
Top 7 Boys Returning 1500m Times from 2014 Outdoor Season
| Central Catholic (OR) | ||
| 1) Jean Baptiste Tooley | 3:58.18 | |
| 2) Sam Truax | 4:01.98 | |
| 3) Zack Lavier | 4:07.76 | |
| 4) Daniel Thompson | 4:10.42 | |
| 5) Sam Lomax | 4:10.90 | |
| Average Time: 4:05.85 Total Time: 20:29.24 1-5 Split: 12.72 | ||
| 6) Jackson Frank | 4:17.56 | |
| 7) Gunnar Vik | 4:22.06 | |
Q&A with Central Catholic High School (OR) XC head coach David Frank
How many years have you been coaching high school cross country (and at your current school)?
This will be my 25th year of coaching. I was an assistant coach for 10 years at Saint Francis HS in Mountain View CA under Coach Brian Curley (we were the CA D3 State Champs in 1998).
At Central Catholic I was Alberto Salazar’s assistant for five years; this will be my 10th year as Head Boys Coach at Central Catholic; we were State Champs in 2003 when Alberto was here. Since then we’ve won the State Meet six more times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013) and finished second three times (2008, 2010, 2011). We competed at NXN in 2005, 2007, and 2013.
What do you attribute as the main reasons for the success of your program?
Our success has been built on the backs of incredibly hard working and talented young men and fantastically supportive families and school administration.
What would be the best way to describe your style and philosophy of coaching and working with high school runners?
One of our mottos is “Always Be Closing”… This refers to the idea that, while the journey is very important, we want to be at our best at the end of the season.. We want to run well at the end of the race. We want to finish workouts well. We want to be better as seniors than we were as sophomores.
Everything we do has progression built in, and we make a huge effort to be very patient with regard to each boy’s development.
We talk a lot about “doing things right”. When we make good decisions on a regular basis, typically the outcome is absolutely worth the effort; this applies to a great deal more than just the athlete’s running.
What are your core beliefs in your training plan and workouts for your cross country squads?
As stated above, we aim to be at our best late in the season. With that in mind, we run a great deal of sub-maximal workouts in the summer and early fall with the intent of hitting our “window” in November or December, depending on our goals. This doesn’t mean that we never run fast, but we spend a lot of time becoming aerobically fit and boosting confidence before attempting any really difficult work.
How many runners do you return from your top 7 from a year ago?
Five and a half. Our #1 runner graduated (he’s running at Wisconsin in the fall) and our #7/8 graduated.
Who is your projected top 7 heading into the cross country season?
Any of these six could be our #1 man, and I expect that we won’t have the same #1 very many meets.
(sr) SAM TRUAX – 5th at State XC in ’13; 3rd at State 3000m in ’14 (8:41 – PR)
(sr) GUNNAR VIK – 7th at State XC in ’13; injured for track in ‘14
(sr) SAM LOMAX – 13th, 11th, 24th at State XC in ’13, ’12, ’11; 8:55/3000m in track ‘14
(sr) JEAN BAPTISTE TOOLEY – 19th, 15th, at State XC in ’13, ’12; 3:58/1500m & 8:50/3000m in track ‘14
(jr) DANIEL THOMPSON – 12th, 23rd at State XC in ’13, ’12; 9:02/3000m in track ’14
(jr) ZACK LAVIER – DNC at State XC in ’13; 9th at State 3000m in ’14 (8:45 – PR)
After that we have five more athletes who ought to fight for that seventh spot…
(sr) HARRY STEWART – 17:04 as a soph, injured as a junior; 9:24/3000m in ‘14
(jr) JACKSON FRANK – 16:46 as a soph; 4:17/1500m, 9:24/3000m in ‘14
(so) GAVIN MACPHERSON – 17:19 as a frosh; 9:24/3000 in ‘14
(so) MIKE McCAUSLAND – 17:35 as a frosh; 9:25/3000 in ‘14
(so) BRADY LANCE – 16:48 as a frosh; 9:34/3000 in ’14 (injured last half of the year)
Who are your team captains or leaders and what stands out about them as examples for the rest of their teammates?
Truax, Vik, Lomax, Tooley are clearly the leaders. Truax, Lomax, and Tooley have been varsity athletes since freshman year.
Truax is our true leader. He has the charisma to get others to buy into the team and is not afraid to hold himself accountable. The others see it in him and emulate his effort. He loves to have fun, but it never takes away from the goals of the team and is never at the expense of another team member.
Who have you been most impressed or surprised with their improvement and/or fitness from their summer training?
Zack Lavier had a fantastic spring so his summer hasn’t been a surprise, but he had a great camp at Clear Lake/White Pass and has looked great during our training as well.
Harry Stewart was healthy in the spring and has continued his excellent running this summer.
Gunnar Vik was outstanding last fall but missed most of the spring due to injury; he’s looking very good this summer.
Any impactful freshmen or transfers to join the team this season?
We have two very solid freshmen coming in, Cameron Thompson & Eric Brecht. Both will be very good runners in time, but neither is ready to crack our top seven this fall.
What are the top invitational meets that your team will be attending this season?
Two early season big meets: Sundodger in Seattle on 20 Sept & Nike Pre-Nationals in Portland on 27 Sept… We’ll certainly run hard there and work on some specific things, but the outcome of those meets won’t be terribly important to us.
11 October, Clovis Invitational in Fresno on the CA State Meet course (Woodward Park).. Many of California’s top teams will be there, and we hope to be ready to compete with them.
What will be the biggest obstacle or challenge facing your team this season?
A year ago we found that we were pretty good when we were racing up front, but we struggled when competing in larger, more competitive races (NXN Regionals, NXN Nationals). We’re running Sundodger, Pre-Nats, Clovis to improve our effort at “racing for 50th”.
What will be the biggest reason why your team is successful this season?
See question #2. Great kids, great families, wonderful support from our school.
Our boys believe in our system, and they believe in each other. The hold each other accountable at a very high level, and they love each other.
What is a favorite annual or common pre-season workout or run for your team?
Three or four times each summer we run the Washington Park Fartlek, a workout designed by a group of post collegians in Portland almost 30 years ago… A four mile loop in Forest Park using the Wildwood Trail with eight pickups ranging from 80m to 1000m. Our veteran kids sometimes do two full loops with 16 pickups; often times it’s less. Alums and kids from other schools and adults – almost anyone is welcome – often show up for this workout. It can be very challenging, but it’s a workout that many of our boys enjoy.
What is a favorite annual or common mid-season workout for your team?
Not sure if it’s a favorite, but one of our most challenging sessions is 7-10 x 1000m on a bark chip trail at Wilshire Park, about 2 miles from school. Some of our best kids over the years – Galen Rupp & Kenny Klotz – did 12 x 1000m there!
What is a favorite annual or common championship season or end-of-season workout for your team?
We do a one mile time trial at the track on Nike Campus one week before our biggest meet… Despite the fact that we aren’t really training to race at that distance, many of our athletes PR – giving them great confidence leading into the meet the next week.
What are your top 3 goals for this year's squad?
We simply want to be as good as we can be – both running and as young men. When this group of seniors were freshmen, we talked about being the best team ever at Central Catholic. These young men have put in an incredible amount of hard work over the last three years and are in a great position to be that team.
In terms of tangible goals… 1) We’d like to defend our 2012 & 2013 State Meet victories… 2) We’d like to return to NXN… 3) Finish higher (11th) than any previous Central Catholic team at NXN.