Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Catching up with Castro Valley runner, Ben Eversole...

Today we chat with Castro Valley HS senior, Ben Eversole.  He won the NCS Division I cross country title last year leading his team to a hard fought 2nd place finish behind the winning San Ramon Valley team.  He recorded the 9th fastest time overall and is the 4th fastest NCS runner returning this year in any division on the Hayward course(15:30).  Eversole continued to impress during his junior season by qualifying for the state track and field meet in the 3200m finishing in the final qualifying spot, 4th place (9:23.89).  I am sure that was quite satisfying following his narrow miss the year before in the 1600m when he ran 4:20.45 as a sophomore.  He mentions that below so without further ado, Ben Eversole.


1) How did you get your start in running (xc and track and field)?
I started doing track in fourth grade for my elementary school, but I didn't take it seriously until seventh grade when I joined the Castro Valley Track Club, which started me on the path to where I am now.

2) What other sports have you participated in before or during high school?
 I grew up a soccer player and played on the JV team my first two years of high school. I played football in eighth grade. The Castro Valley Track Club, however, motivated me to focus on running. I still ride my bike or rock climb on weekends though.

3) When did you first realize that xc and track are the sports for you?
 In eighth grade I started to take running really seriously and saw my times drop. After running a 4:38 1500 at the end of the school year I knew I had found my sport.

4) As a young runner, what runners did you consider to be your mentors (at CV and other schools)?
 In middle school I always wanted to be as good as Anthony Martore because he was a lot faster than me. Freshman year I looked up to the seniors James Fazzio and Jack Leng and just tried to keep up with them in every workout. Anthony, James, and Jack really helped me a lot along with my coaches Jim Phillips, Peter Brewer, Michael Spencer, and Alex and Dino Cardiasmenos. 

5) What race efforts stand out for you during your freshman and sophomore seasons (xc and track)?
My freshman year I'll never forget the Monte Vista Invitational. I hadn't done much summer running but my coach told me I had a shot at the top 10. I won the race and couldn't believe it. My sophomore year my highlight/biggest disappointment was NCS MOC in the 1600. My legs gave out in the closing steps and I lost to Dan Milechman by .09 seconds. It was a 3 second PR but I was so close to state!

6) What were some of your highlights during your junior season in xc?
Junior year cross country my highlight was winning NCS. I don't think I would have won if Alex Summers had stayed healthy, but it still meant a lot to win in a big race like that.

7) You qualified for the state meet in the 3200 this past track season? What led to the decision of focusing on the 3200 at the NCS MOC?
n the middle of the track season I hurt myself lead climbing and when I came back I didn't have any leg speed but I still had endurance so I focused on the 3200.

8) What does a typical training week look like for you? How many miles a week?
Last year I did 45-50 miles a week. 8-9 mile long run monday, track work tuesday (ex: wu, 8 strides, 1000-600-1000-600-1000 w/ 400 jog between ea., cool down), medium 5-8 mile run wed, track work thursday (ex: warm up, 8 strides, 5x500, put on spikes, 3x300, cool down), easy run friday of 3-7 miles friday, race saturday, and then easy 3-4 miles sunday.

9) What are some of your favorite and/or toughest workouts?
My favorite workout is doing 4 mile tempo runs. They are really tough, but give me confidence. The toughest workouts are the ones when we do longer intervals like 800's or 1000's.

10) Favorites: xc race? xc course? Track race distance? Track meet? Competitor(s)? 
Favorite xc race: State meet because of all the excitement. Favorite xc course: Our home course at Castro Valley Invitational because I know it like the back of my hand and can fly on the curvy downhills. Track distance: 3200. I get time to settle into a pace. Track meet: NCS MOC because the great crowd and I love UC Berkeley. Competitors: Reesey Byers because he's such a great guy.

11) A freshman is undecided about running xc. What would you tell them to convince them to join the team?
-there's no bench, everyone gets to compete.
-other sports expect you to already be good, xc coaches will make you good.
-the hard work you put in will give tangible results through your times.

12) Anything else you would like to add.
I'd like to thank my loving parents, teammates, and coaches. Good luck to everyone with their running but watch out for me this next cross country season.


Thank you very much for your time Ben!  AJC.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you need to give yourself a bit more credit, brosef, I think it is possible, if not likely, that Eversole would have beat even a healthy Alex Summers, correct me if I'm wrong.

DJ Winston Churchil said...

Wow, so focusing on the 3200 seems to have gone well last Friday... unless he ran a 9:08 not focusing on the 3200 in which case I am afraid. Yeah and I agree, I would lay my money on Eversole on a good day over Summers on a good day, personally.

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