The 800-meter dash is a grueling, test-of-will race that isn't for the faint of heart.
It’s two full laps and combines the all-out strategy of shorter events with the mental tactics of distance races. It can grind up the very best athlete and transform the best tactician’s strategy into chaos.
The 800 meters was created for athletes like Glencoe's Ryan England.
The senior doesn’t move the college recruiting needle much with sheer speed. He’s the top seed in the event in this week’s Pacific Conference district meet Thursday and Friday at Tualatin High School but knows he’s going to need the performance of a lifetime just to make the finals at the Class 6A state meet in a week.
He gets by with old-fashioned hard work, heart and the mental fortitude to push through the extreme pain that race dishes out.
“You’ve got to be a hard worker to do it,” Glencoe head coach Dennis Rice said. “That race fits him perfectly. He’s dedicated to every race he runs, just the way he’s dedicated to his training. To be in that type of race, it takes dedication.”
England’s best time in the 800 this year, a 1:58.21 set in the April 26 Elden Kellar Invitational at Hare Field, is more than a second faster than his closest district competition, junior Daniel Harper of Newberg.
“It would mean a lot,” England said of the possibility of winning his first district title.
He’ll likely qualify for next week’s Class 6A state meet held at the University of Oregon’s historic Hayward Field for the third consecutive year. But he’s not in the top 10 in Class 6A and nearly six seconds off the pace of top-seeded Alec Smith of Westview. England isn’t too concerned about that, however.
He plans on using his athleticism to his benefit in another future endeavor: law enforcement. And he got a taste of what he’s capable of during a cold night last December.
England and his father, Brian England, awoke to flames engulfing Brian’s tow truck. Someone had lit a gas can that sat on the truck, which Brian operates for his job with Hillsboro Towing, and the rig was engulfed by the time they made it outside.
“It was pretty crazy,” England said.
A boy, who England said lives nearby, had called 911. But as the commotion died down and the fire was extinguished, Hillsboro Police officers wanted to question the youth, who had remained near the scene.
That’s when the boy took off running into a nearby field. And England sprang into action.
As police officers scrambled to pursue the fleeing suspect, according to police reports, England sprinted after the boy, quickly tracked him down, tackled him in a nearby church parking lot off Jackson School Road and subdued him until officers arrived.
“I sprinted about 400 meters, it felt like. I was pretty tired after I got to him, but I got ahold of him and threw him down and held him there until the cops got there,” England said.
England plans to study criminal justice next year at Western Oregon University and said he was already contemplating becoming a cop at that time. That sealed the deal, he said.
“I had the adrenaline going and I was angry, too,” England said.
England said the police officers on scene were shocked but grateful. One officer, he said, came to England’s house the next day and presented him with a medal with the words “courage, honor and leadership” inscribed on it.
Rice said it’s that kind of “whatever it takes” mentality that has made England such a perfect candidate for the 800 meters.
“He’s a very high-character kid,” Rice said.
Take, for example, England’s performance at the Elden Kellar, the signature track and field event held annually in Hillsboro. In the first heat, England went so hard that he literally lost his lunch after the race.
“I had some leftover pasta about 2:30 or 3 o’clock,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
Not only that, England was having trouble catching his breath and his head was pounding on the unseasonably warm evening.
He had not just the finals of the 800 to compete in later, but he also had to run on Glencoe’s 4x400 relay.
So why not just withdraw, come back another day? It wasn’t districts or state, after all. It didn’t even enter England’s mind.
He came back with a personal best in the finals of the 800 and ran the first leg of the Crimson Tide’s fourth-place relay.
“The whole last lap it was just trying to put one foot in front of the other and trying to finish,” England said. “But yeah, that was rough. It wasn’t really a tough race but I’ve never felt that way. By that time my head was still kind of hurting. Wasn’t really feeling up to par with my stomach.”
Just doing what had to be done, Rice said.
“The cool thing is it shows he’s there for his team, as well,” Rice said.
England has competed pretty much his entire life.
His dad — who ran anchor on Grant’s 1986 4x400 relay team that set a state record in the Class AAA state meet and also placed fourth in the 400 meters — set him on the path in youth cross country and track in grade school. He also played soccer until he switched to football in middle school and wrestled up until his senior year. Last fall, he was an honorable mention defensive back and as a junior he was named an honorable mention running back.
In track, he first qualified for the state meet as a sophomore when he finished second in the 800 at districts. He finished second again at districts last year and 10th at the state meet.
“I think last year instilled a lot of confidence in him,” Rice said. “I think this year he knows he’s the top runner in the conference and he has the confidence and he’s ready to do well.”
But why the 800?
England said he actually prefers running the 400 but knows he doesn’t have the sprinting speed to compete. He said, for whatever reason, he’s just good at the 800.
“Which is kind of a bummer because it’s the hardest race,” he said.
England said one of the keys to the 800 is preparation.
He said there’s no cheating that race. If you’re not in shape, you’ll fail.
“I get myself in shape how I need to be,” he said. “It definitely is a killer, but it’s nothing too bad. You just have to prepare for it.”
And in the race itself, he said it’s all about overcoming obstacles physically and mentally – especially after you hit the halfway point and you have one more lap to go.
“It’s real, real mental,” he said. “It’s probably the most mental race I can think of. Because you’re flying after one lap, after the first 400 you go as fast as you can. And you go pretty first for that first lap and then you hear the bell, and it’s all in your mind even though your body is telling you something completely different. Once you kind of overcome that, and you know you’ve trained hard enough and can do it, you get through it.”
England’s sights are obviously set on getting that elusive conference title in the 800. He’s also hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father and will the Glencoe relay team to a top-two finish at districts and into the state meet.
Regardless of how the next week plays out, England will always have a medal from a Hillsboro police officer that means just a little bit more.
“They were pretty stoked,” England said. “It was really cool.”
-- Dan Itel
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