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RSNV Interview With Austin Rogers

Published by
John Dixon of DyeStatNV   Sep 2nd 2015, 3:42am
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Interview with Green Valley senior, Austin Rogers

 

RS:  First of all, Austin, thank you for agreeing to do this interview.  You are the defending Sunrise Regional Cross Country Champion running 16:42 at Sunset Park.  The only other runner in the South with a better returning time is Noah Landers from Palo Verde (16:19).  Green Valley HS won the boys Regional Championship last year and placed 2nd at State behind powerhouse McQueen HS.  Your 4th place finish at State (16:14) is the state’s top returning time.  So overall, what are your reflections on the 2014 cross country season?

 

AR: The team and I had an outstanding season last year.  Winning meant a lot to us, believe me, but we knew that having fun along the ride was important and a key factor to success.  Most teams just train and train, but never develop a true friendship with teammates, but the team last year were best friends and that is why we had a successful year.  For myself, last year was an amazing season for progress in my running career.  I ran a 14:58.8 3 mile at the Woodbridge Classic which gave me the confidence for the remainder of the season that I could be in the top 5 at state, which was my goal at the beginning of the season.  So far last year was the best season for myself personally and in Green Valley’s Cross-Country history.

 

 

RS: Your team graduated 4 of the 7 State runners, only returning yourself, Lenny Rubi (15th at State) and Dartanyon Jones (54th at State). How does this team shape up?  Any newcomers that we should be aware of?  Anyone make great strides since last season?

 

AR:  I think a lot of people are going to be shocked how good our team is going to be this season.  Normally when you graduate 4 of the top 7, you start the rebuilding process, but we have a very young and talented team.  We had several newcomers that ran track and realized their potential in distance running who are now running cross-country and already obtaining more success as the training goes along.  Omar Rubio moved in the zone for us and is now running for us, and in the track season ran under 4:30 for the 1600m.  Newcomers for cross-country who are going to make an impact on our team are Jesus Narciso, Milton Amezcua, and Martin Nelson.  Dartanyon Jones has improved already compared to last season.  We have a young, but great team.

 

 

RS: Green Valley also has a new coach this year, Bud Beam, taking over the team after the passing of long time Green Valley coach Blaine Thompson.  Coach Thompson’s death hit the Nevada track and cross country community very hard.  How has the adjustment been to a new coach?

 

 

AR:  Replacing someone like Coach Thompson is not easy, but Coach Beam is doing an excellent job with the program.  Adjusting to a new coach personally has been very hard considering I was super close to Coach Thompson.  Honestly I was nervous that Coach Beam did not know much about running and was not going to move this program forward.  I was proven wrong.  He followed right into Coach Thompson’s footsteps perfectly.  He is a great coach, and I am excited to see what else he has in store for our team this year.

 

 

RS: Tell us a little about how your summer training went?

 

AR:  My summer training was amazing this summer.  After a month or so of training by myself, I came to team practices feeling healthier and more ready than ever.  I trained with the team for a week and a half, and went on vacation to Hawaii for 3 weeks.  I trained in Hawaii almost every day, with rest days and trained efficiently and comfortably.  Some days I would do a long run, tempo runs, beach runs, near the Volcano runs, and even got to do one interval workout on a dirt track.  My summer training was pretty bizarre, and I believe the summer training is going to help me complete all my 2015 season goals. 

RS: How is your training going so far with the team?

 AR:  Training with the team has been great.  I see improvements in my teammates every day.  On long runs we run in packs and intervals we separate a little more depending on our most recent 5k time.  Training with a team makes the practices go by more quickly than running by yourself.  The training this year has improved to last years because we are taking care of our bodies a lot more, to make sure everyone is healthy for the season.

 

RS: How do you plan on managing all the meets this season?  Weekday meets on Wednesday and invitationals on Saturday.  Sometimes scheduled for 4 meets in a 2 week period.

 

AR:  As much as I love to race, the schedule is too much racing for me.  All you have to do is manage some of the races as workouts and not worry about winning or getting a PR on the weekday meets.  I always race to my full potential on invitationals, but on the weekday meets I will take them as figuring out better race strategies and getting in good workouts instead of going 100%.  This will allow the team and I to figure out what strategy works best for us and to get in some nice speed work.

 RS: What are the team goals this season?

 AR:  Just like every team there has ever been, we want to win.  The main goal is to motivate each other through success and failure.  We want to complete this season with everyone healthy and line up our best at the region and state meets.  I believe we can compete for both the region and state trophies.  Our team’s goal is to always have fun, train smart, and win.  Will we fail? Of course, every team, and every person does.  The thing that matters the most is to learn from those failures and turn them into success so we can be ready for Championship season.

 RS:  What are some of your personal goals for the season?

 AR:  A goal of mine this season as a leader is to motivate and cheer for every teammate at every race and every practice.  I want to be that person they look up to and can always come to me for something.  Last couple of years I have not been as good of a leader as I could have been, but so far this year I have changed that.  A goal this season is to stretch and take care of my body as much as possible, so I know I am healthy and ready for the region and state meets.  My goal for the 5k is to run under 15:45 which will not be easy, but possible.  At the Woodbridge Classic I want to run the 3 mile race under 14:40.  Given that, if I attain those goals I will be confident in the end of the season, to receive my biggest goal of my career to be standing on top of the podium at State Championships.

 

RS: As a senior leader and one of the top runners in Nevada, what is your day to day role with the team? Meaning, what do you do to motivate, mentor, guide the other boys on the team, especially the newcomers?

 

AR:  Being a leader to a group of people my age is awesome.  The part that makes it awesome is how they look up to you and cheer you on at practice.  My role with the team is to be a leader, but at the same time I am training them to be leaders as well.  Every day after practice we get a break and I will tell someone else to call it so they know they are important and have a role to this team, just like me.  Whenever anyone has questions, especially newcomers because they are not use to the system yet, I try my best to give them the best answer possible and lead them to the right direction.  I try to be like Coach Thompson, not only mentor them for the sport, but try to mentor them for life, as well.

 

RS: Finally, projecting to November, the State Meet is over and you reflect on your cross country experience at Green Valley, what will you take with you…what will you remember?

 

AR:   I will take in all the blood, sweat, and tears it took me to get where I am at the end of the season.  I will take with me that, there is no mountain you cannot climb.  If you have enough motivation you can do anything.  From waking up at 5 a.m. to eat before summer practices, morning runs before school, number of miles I have ran, the people I have met thanks to this sport, the 110 degree interval workouts, the blisters, the amazing coaches I got to meet, the butterflies you get before a race, the failures and successes, the people who think I am crazy because I “run for fun”, the laughs, Coach Thompson, how my family cheered me on, these interviews, and knowing I found a new passion for something I never thought I would love to do, that is what I will remember about my high-school running career. 

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