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Olson�s focus is solely on running By Greg Stiles In the moments that followed the 800-meter final at last spring�s Southern Oregon Conference district track and field meet, Shaun Olson was greatly disappointed. Olson had distinguished himself as one of the state�s top 800 runners as a South Medford sophomore by turning in a 1-minute, 57.12-second effort. Unfortunately, he was pitted against perhaps the finest group of 800 runners the SOC had ever seen with seven performers owning times faster than the state-meet qualifying mark. Because only the top two finishers automatically advanced, the rest had to cruise under the 1:58.3 qualifying mark in the district final to make it to Eugene. Six did, Olson didn�t. "I was really frustrated," Olson recalls. "When I didn�t get to state, it really made me mad, because I had run a second faster than the qualifying time in previous meets." Olson recognized he could follow one of two courses: He could go on playing soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and run track in the spring. Or he could leave soccer behind and chase his dream to be a collegiate distance runner by going out for cross country. "I really want to get a scholarship for college," Olson says. "I thought my track would be my best chance and cross country would complement track." So instead of dribbling a speckled ball and practicing headers in the dog days of summer, Olson hit the pavement. "I was running between 20 minutes and an hour, six days a week, three weeks before school," Olson says. It didn�t take long for Olson to make the transition to cross-country trails. In the predistrict meet Sept. 21 at Jackson County Expo, Olson led South to victory by finishing second. (Defending state champion Klamath Union�s big guns were in North Carolina for a national meet at the time.) Then last Saturday, with many of the Northwest�s top runners and teams gathered at Eugene�s Lane Community College, where the state meet is held, Olson finished eighth out of a field of nearly 300 finishers. "He�s a tremendous worker," says South coach Bill Rowan. "As he gains more experience, he will get stronger. (Saturday�s) race was kind of a breakthrough for him. He took off over 20 seconds off his season�s best. He ran with the big boys and proved that he�s in the upper echelon in the state." Only four South cross country runners � Perry Custance, Lance Took, Tim Meador and Josh Wallace � have turned in a faster 5,000 meters than Olson�s 16:07. Custance, one of the runners to advance to state from last spring�s 800 final, had an impact on Olson before enrolling at Oregon Tech this fall. "Shaun�s fortunate to have had Perry to train with and chase after for a couple years," Rowan says. "He sort of showed him the ropes in training and competing." It was two years ago in the state meet that Custance got knocked down and turned into a welcome mat by runners before regaining his feet. Olson proved a quick study in such matters by avoiding a mass of bodies that spilled to the turf Saturday � near where Custance went down � just before the course narrowed. "I loved it," admits Olson. "It�s not good if you�re one of the people that fell down, but it was great fun. I got to jump over a guy. It teaches you to get out fast and not get tangled up in the pack. When the course goes from 60 yards wide to eight lanes, you have to move fast to get out of the way of everybody." Unlike track, where lap splits and pace are key elements, reeling runners in is the name of the game in cross country. "I hadn�t beaten (Klamath�s) Jimmy Addison before this weekend and I beat him," Olson says. "I almost caught up to (Klamath�s Jacob) Gomez, and he�s next." In the end, he�s still getting his kicks. "Soccer was fun," Olson says. "But cross country is going to be better for me in the long run." STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS in baseball and wrestling and a runner-up finish in girls basketball propelled Crater High into the Oregon Athletic Coaches Association�s all-sports standings top 10 for Class 4A schools during the 1999-2000 school year. Crater weighed in at No. 8 on the list released last month. Crater athletic director Dan Speasl says he thought it was the first time the Comets have made the coaches� association top 10. Jesuit of Portland was the runaway leader with 142 points, doubling Mountain View of Bend�s 71. Lakeridge, Westview, Sheldon, South Eugene, Lake Oswego, Crater, Bend and Central Catholic rounded out the top 10. Phoenix was No. 10 among Class 3A schools with Marist of Eugene No. 1. Catlin Gabel of Portland easily outdistanced the rest of the Class 2A field, while St. Mary�s was No. 3. Condon was No. 1 among Class 1A schools. PHOENIX HIGH athletic director Pat Halpin was taken to the hospital after he grew dizzy and tumbled to the floor in the school�s commons last week. Halpin was taken to Rogue Valley Medical Center, but was back on the job the next day. "I didn�t realize a person could get that dizzy," admits Halpin, 65, who at first thought he was having a stroke. Halpin goes back to the doctor today for tests . "I�d sure like them to find something," admits Halpin. "I�d sure like to know what it was." CRATER�S GIRLS basketball team won�t be going to Chicago in December after all. The $14,000 transportation price tag was too much. The Class 4A state runner-up squad became a hot commodity when it put together an impressive run during summer tournaments. As a result, the Comets received an invitation to the 32-team Nike National Tournament of Champions in Chicago. "The tournament field was set up in June, but a team dropped out and we didn�t find out until recently," Crater coach David Heard says. "It would�ve been a great opportunity, but 14-grand? How many car washes is that?" Instead, Crater will make a second trip to the east Bay Area in December to play in the 16-team West Coast Jamboree at Antioch. The Comets will be at Amador Valley Dec. 7-9 for an eight-team tournament. "There are supposed to be four teams in the top 50 nationally and we�re seeded No. 2," Heard says. Brea Olinda, a powerhouse from Southern California, is in the same bracket for the Dec. 27-31 tournament Berkeley High and is the No. 1 seed. As a result of the road trips, Crater has just one home non-conference game. But that one home date, Dec. 4 against Springfield, should be worth the price of admission. "Now that they�re seeding the state tournament, that becomes a very big game," says Heard. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.