Friday, December 05, 2008

Catching up with Davis' runner Matt Petersen...

Today we chat with Davis High senior runner, Matt Petersen. At the state cross country meet, Matt finished in 7th place in the highly competitive Division I race as he recorded one of the fastest times for a Northern California runner, 15:17. An outstanding effort for latest star on the Davis High cross country team, one of the juggernauts in the San Joaquin Section (SJS). How dominant is the Davis team in the SJS? Try 7 straight SJS titles for the girls and 5 straight for the boys.

1) How did you get involved in the sport of Cross Country?
In 7th grade for my Jr. High

2) Who were runners (on your own team or other teams) you looked up to as you were first getting started in the sport?
Brendan Gregg for sure, along with Patrick Lynch, Zach Bonner, and Kenny Durell

3) There is no comparing Division I at the state meet to the SJS final or to any other section final for that matter. What race would you say prepared you best for the state meet?
A mix between mt. Sac because of the competition and the fact that I knew I saw all who I would be racing, and sections because it gave me the confidence you need at the state meet.

4) What was your plan and/or strategy going into the state meet race?
I knew there would be about 8 guys in contention to win, so I just hung with the pack and tried not to do a lot of the work. I found that I was still in contention at the 2 mile and from then on it is a gut race. I remembered it was the last shot I had at CIF cross country so I went for it.

5) How did the race unfold during the first mile?
During the first mile, things shook out almost just the way I thought they would, all the players were there and I just fell in to place and relaxed. I didn't check my time at the mile on purpose to just focus on the place.

6) Did your position change during the 2nd mile?
I pretty much hung at about 5th place for the whole 2nd mile. I made sure to push both the down and maintain and not give ground on the up.

7) What about the third mile?
As I expected, Sanchez moved up at the end of the two so I latched on to him but he gapped me a bit and then went on to get third. Thinking back that was probably my only mistake not to press harder there to stay with him. I had a really good final push with Danny from Buchanan in the final 8 though.

8) Now that you have had some time to reflect back to the race, how do you feel about your time and place?
I am thrilled with the time, like I said before, if I went with Sanchez I think I could have placed higher.

9) Tell us a little about your coach Bill Gregg and what he has meant to your own success and the success of the Davis team?
I cannot say enough about Bill. He has built this team from the ground up and has got together something special that will last for a while. The atmosphere is unlike anything else I have experienced. As for my own personal fitness, I owe so much of it to Bil and this was possible because of him. I couldn't have hand picked a better coach.

10) What workouts did you do during the season that you feel gave you confidence to compete with some of the best runners in the state?
Bill's training has prepared me for so many aspects of running. He has trained my speed, my threshold, and my vo2 max. I think the most preparing workout for me however, would be my threshold days, although vo2 max is just as important. I say threshold because, on a personal level, that is where I have made the greatest improvement this year and it shows.

11) Looking ahead to track season, what event will you focus on and what races are you looking forward to that you have done in the past?
Well I don't want to look to far past footlocker, but for track I will focus on the 3200 although I need to bring down my mile PR, but that will hopefully be done in a lower key meet or maybe the second day of Stanford. I am looking forward to Stanford, Arcadia, and then State meet (surprise surprise). I haven't raced at the state track meet yet so I'm excited to see what that is like.

12) Anything else you would like to add.
It has been a great cross country ride and I am sad I will no longer be representing Davis on the cross country course.

Matt, thank you very much. AJC

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