Sandburg Eagles Fly To Portland!
Having wrapped up a very magical 2014 Cross Country season at the Nike NXN national meet in Portland, I asked the seven Sandburg runners to answer a few questions regarding their experience.
Sean Torpy completed a great junior cross country season. After finishing 42nd at the State Meet in 15:02, he led the team to the Nike Regional championship with a 25th place in 15:43 in Terre Haute, IN. At Nike Nationals, Sean finished in 16:36, good for 113th place.
Here's what Sean had to say about the trip to Portland:
There are so many amazing memories that will last a lifetime about the trip out to Portland, Oregon. The one part of the trip in particular that will be most memorable for me though is probably quite obvious - the race. On our normal warm-up routine, I zoned out a little and reflected a bit on the 2014 season. I just remembered all of the hard workouts and all of the hiccups we had along the way just to make it to where we were on that day. I couldn't help but think about how lucky we were just to be competing. And not only that, but to be competing with the best group of guys in the nation. Even though there were things that I wish I could have gone back and fixed, I was very proud of what we had accomplished up to that point, but we weren't done yet. We finished our warm-up and were soon introduced in front of the crowd. This really got my adrenaline pumping and I was very excited, yet also really nervous. We all stepped to the line poised and ready to go. The race soon began and it was a tough ride all the way through, but thrilling to experience such an amazing reward for something that you worked for all season long. I didn't quote have the best race, but it was truly something special and I will never forget it.
I wasn't really on top of my game that day. It was definitely one of the hardest races I've ever run in. The conditions weren't necessarily ideal, but that was a true cross country race. The hills, mud, wind and the standing water were all difficult factors to overcome. The start was very quick and I fell into the back early on and had trouble making up ground. I can't say that I've struggled that much in a race before. I had the time of my life though and I, along with my socks, are soaking up the experience. I ended up finishing in 113th place, which was disappointing. My score helped our team to a 15th place finish. I wish I could have been up closer with our top guys and scored even less points, but hopefully I'll have the opportunity to race there next year and improve upon whatever needs to be fixed.
Sometimes it can get a little old constantly facing the same teams over and over again each season. It was nice to step on a national level and get some new competition. I was really excited to see what all of these teams had up their sleeves. There were only 22 teams there who fought tirelessly to make it to the national meet, so I knew that I couldn’t underestimate any of them. They were the real deal. They were top notch and the best you were going to get. I thought it was neat not knowing anybody there or how any other team raced. It was a whole new atmosphere with tons of uncertainty that I got to experience. You couldn’t worry about what anybody else was doing. You had to trust yourself to get the job done. It was a fair fight the whole way through and everyone had the same opportunity to win. That’s why it was so cool.
How did you like the course?
The course was a bit easier than I originally thought it was going to be, but it certainly wasn’t easy. Like I said before though, it was a true cross country course and it was so incredible to race on. I never really raced on a course with those kinds of hills and mud in Illinois either, so it made it that much cooler of an experience. Everything was new and exciting. Even with as hard as the course seemed, to me it is definitely one I would want to go back to. It was something that I wish everybody on the team could experience.
At dinner each night a select few teams would be assigned a professional athlete to sit with and ask questions to. On the second night, we were assigned with Ryan Hill. I didn’t know who he was originally, but he got my attention right away. He was an average high school distance runner who moved on to race at NC State. He was humble and trained hard and it definitely showed up in his races. I asked him what his PR’s are and he told me 3:54 in the mile and 13:14 in the 5k. Any runner can understand my reaction when he said that as my jaw dropped in complete awe. Those aren’t times you hear about every day which explains why he is a professional. He told me that if you stay humble and work hard that you can achieve anything. It is hard to believe all of the improvements that he made. He is a truly inspiring person and very relatable and that is why I found him most interesting out of all the amazing people that I met.