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Crater's Monroe wins state award on eve of district Crater senior Andy Monroe, second from left, won the Wendy's High School Heisman Award for Oregon and is in contention to be a national finalist. He and the Comets will compete in the Midwestern League meet Wednesday. [ANDY ATKINSON/MAIL TRIBUNE] Monday Oct 23, 2017 at 5:43 PM Oct 23, 2017 at 5:44 PM Kris Henry Mail Tribune @Kris_Henry Andy Monroe’s senior year at Crater hasn’t exactly gone as he first envisioned when he entered the high school. A partial tear to the plantar fascia ligament in his right foot, suffered while winning the Class 5A 3,000-meter state title last spring, put him off course, but everything is trending up these days for Monroe and he couldn’t be happier. “For me, there’s no say in how this cross country season was going to go,” said Monroe, who last year was named Gatorade Oregon boys cross country runner of the year. “It’s hard because it’s your senior year and it’s supposed to be the year when all the records and (personal records) go down, but sometimes there’s nothing you can do.” “I wasn’t even supposed to be out here running cross country according to one of the doctors I saw,” he added, “so I’m just happy to be out there with my team running cross country, and hopefully the track season will be big for me.” Monroe recently learned of some other big news when it was announced he had won the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award for Oregon. The last local state winner was Sarah Bennion of St. Mary’s in 2012, and that year she went on to be only the second Oregonian to be named a finalist in 18 years of the Heisman award. “It’s honestly really, really nice because it definitely will benefit me for college,” said Monroe, who expects to choose between Stanford University and the University of Oregon before Nov. 8. “I wouldn’t have had this award at all if it weren’t for my teacher (Mike Rogan). He was the one who told me to apply for it. I just hope I’m making my community proud and getting our name out there with this award, so it feels pretty good to be chosen.” The Wendy’s award goes to high school seniors who give back to their communities, treat people with respect, continue their education and excel on the athletic field. As a state winner, Monroe will receive a $1,000 scholarship, a silver medal, a Wendy’s High School Heisman State Winner patch and a $50 Wendy’s gift card. In addition, he’s in the running to be named a national finalist and potentially earn at least a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to Heisman weekend in New York City. National finalists will be announced the week of Nov. 6. “I’m definitely excited about it,“ said Monroe, whose older sister Jordan was a local school winner of the award. “I’d love a chance to be a national winner.” One year ago, Monroe won the Midwestern League title and 5A state championship in cross country, building on his third-place showing as a sophomore. This year’s MWL district race will be Wednesday around Hagler-James Park in Talent, with the state meet Nov. 4. After taking 2½ months to recover from his injury, Monroe has taken a cautious approach to training leading up to this week’s race and isn’t in the form he expects to be for the bigger meets fast approaching. “I’m not there yet, but I’m getting better,” said Monroe. The initial days after his injury in Eugene were the hardest, according to the 6-foot-1 standout. Less than 24 hours after the injury, he found himself hanging the 1,500 winner’s medal — one he would’ve been favored to take home on his own — around the neck of teammate Jantz Tostenson. “Honestly, it was really an emotional time when I was watching Jantz in the 1,500 the day after,” he said. “I was so happy for him to be keeping the title at Crater but almost found myself with tears coming down my face when I was supposed to be in that race. But here I was on crutches and in a boot. It really let me know how emotionally invested I am in this sport.” Such a scene led to a lot of soul searching in the days that followed. “Running has been a huge part of my life since eighth grade and randomly having had that taken away, I’ve gained a lot of mental toughness through all of this,” said Monroe. “It made me realize to never take what I have for granted because you never know when something like this can be taken away from you. I’m really fortunate in my case that didn’t happen because it wasn’t a full tear. If it had been, I wouldn’t even be running track in the spring, and possibly it could’ve been career-ending.” His first race back on Sept. 23 was a feeling-out opportunity at the Rogue XC Invitational and, with no real thoughts to the time, he came in at 16 minutes, 36.5 seconds. In his second race on Sept. 30 at the Nike Portland XC, Monroe was a bit humbled by a 12th-place finish in 15:34.2. “The Nike Portland was definitely a huge eye-opener,” Monroe said with a laugh. “Even I didn’t think I was going to be in that bad of shape. It was really hard because I got beat by a lot of guys. They’re all great runners and I respect them a lot, but I was in a spot I’ve never been before and it was an eye-opener.” Monroe said the hardest part is knowing where he could be now had he not suffered his injury and lost so much training time, but he’s continued to ramp up his program — about 70 base miles per week in workouts not lasting more than 90 minutes each session — and is hopeful for greater things in the future. In only his third race this year, he won the Max King Invitational in 15:28.4 as he came in stride for stride with the junior Tostenson and senior teammates Derek Tripp and Erik Olsen not far off the pace. As always, the goal will be to put Crater in the best situation to claim MWL and state titles in the ensuing two weeks, but Monroe said the Comets have even higher hopes for the Nov. 11 Northwest Regional championships in Idaho as they look to secure a spot at nationals. “Honestly, the further the race is out the better it is in my condition,” said Monroe. “That just leaves me more time to get back in shape and get back everything I lost, so races in November and December, those are the races I’m really excited about. At that point I’ll have enough under my belt to go get out of the course what I was able to last year, or even better.” — Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry