Washington State's Half-mile Heroes
By Dave Devine
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From Lindgren to Lukezic, the state of Washington has long been a hotbed of high school boy’s distance talent. This year has been no exception, but the surprise of the season may be the concentration of blistering 800 meter times in this one corner of the country. Heading into the third weekend of May, three of the top four marks in the nation have been recorded by Washington preps. Luke Lemenager, a senior who competes for Tahoma in the 4A classification, recorded a 1:51.40 at an early season dual meet. Class 3A stud Nectaly Barbosa of Prosser threw down a (at the time) US#1 1:50.98 at the Pasco (WA) Invite. Ellensburg’s Isak Bergman, also in 3A, posted a 1:51.50 in a dual meet battle with Barbosa.
Lemenager and Bergman may be unfamiliar names for track aficionados outside of Washington, but Nectaly Barbosa has long been on the national radar. He burst on the scene with a stunning 4:20 mile as an eighth grader. A distant second in that middle school race—at a self-described “pedestrian 5:08”—was fellow eighth grader Isak Bergman. He’s been chasing Barbosa ever since. Although the two juniors won’t have the chance to race Lemenager at next weekend’s Washington State Meet, due to the difference in classifications, if Barbosa and Bergman toe the line—as expected—in the 3A 800 final, it will only be the latest duel in a long history of races. Two of the fastest middle distance runners in the country, they happen to compete in the same seven-team league.
The distance between Ellensburg and Prosser is roughly 85 miles, but the rivalry—and friendship—between Isak Bergman and Nectaly Barbosa has been forged one grueling half-mile at a time. For several years, Bergman says, his teammates have been after him, wondering “When are you finally going to beat Nectaly?” The answer came at a low-key Prosser-Ellensburg dual meet several weeks ago. Barbosa, nursing a sore iliotibial band that has severely curtailed his training, took the race out at an ambitious 52 seconds through 400.
“It was a bit crazy,” Barbosa admits.
“From the get-go,” Bergman says, “I could tell it was on. Nectaly split the first 200 in something like 25, and I knew it was either going to be a hero moment or a complete crash and burn.” For Bergman, who trailed through 400 in 52.5, then reeled in his rival down the backstretch and drew even off the final turn, it was the former. He slipped past Barbosa 30 meters out and collapsed across the line in a PR 1:51.50. Barbosa came home in 1:52.30, barely able to walk afterwards, so painful was the IT band in his right leg. Nevertheless, he bounced back on the strength of raw talent to flip the finish order at their district meet, clocking a 1:53.42 to Bergman’s 1:54.12. “We end up racing each other every other week,” Barbosa says, “so yes, it is a rivalry.”
But it’s also a friendship.
The two competitors regularly confer before races— exchanging pace plans, goal times, and training ideas. They’ve even traded visits to each other’s homes this season. When Isak recently spent a day in Prosser, Nectaly took him on a favorite run along a nearby ridge. “Yeah,” Barbosa laughs, “I brought him out to this pretty tough hill. I think it was a bit rough for him.” Bergman, whose weekly mileage peaked at 39 this past winter, doesn’t disagree. “We started off jogging, and then we hit a steep incline, and it turned into a brutal interval workout up the side of this mountain. At one point Nectaly just powered away...I was puking at the end.” Despite the challenge, Bergman found the run with Barbosa beneficial. “I saw what it takes to get to Nectaly’s level. It’s something I won’t soon forget.”
Still only juniors, it’s possible, before their high school careers end, that Barbosa and Bergman will produce a few marks the state of Washington, and the country, will be hard-pressed to forget. Each gets animated when speaking about the concentration of mid-distance talent in their state this year, and both promised to be watching next weekend when Luke Lemenager runs his 800 race at the combined 3A-4A Washington meet. Then it will be time, yet again, to line up next to each other. Barbosa’s IT band is finally feeling better. After racing his way into shape this season, he knows that his once comfortable margin on Bergman has shrunk. “Now it’s a dogfight,” he says. Bergman, who focuses on individual excellence over wins and losses, has nonetheless gained a new and narrow confidence from defeating Barbosa head-to-head. “Nectaly’s a great guy,” he says, “I have the utmost respect for him.”
Which doesn’t mean he won’t be trying to beat him the next time they meet.