PURE PASSION
by Joe Hartman

When you’re in the same league as Casa Grande’s Jacque Taylor (see DyeStatCal for Doug Speck’s interview with Jacque), you can do one of two things…either accept your fate or rise to the challenge. It seems that Healdsburg senior Sarah Sumpter has chosen the latter.

As a raw sophomore Sarah topped out at 12:21 for 3200 meters. But then as a junior, she got down to business. In the fall of ’06 she took 6th at Stanford in the Division 4 XC race with a time of 19:05. Sarah was about a minute behind Taylor – but still good enough for second at the Sonoma County League finals. She then qualified for state by taking 2nd at NCS sections, trailing Brittany Escamilla of El Molina by only five seconds. At the CIF State XC meet she just missed top ten in D4 by taking 11th with a time of 18:49.

It was that autumn success that seemed to invigorate Sumpter. She dropped several seconds off her 3200 times during the junior year. At NCS section finals she placed 10th in the 3200m with an excellent improvement of 11:09. But be forewarned: by now she’s probably even faster.

The tireless blonde just put in a monster summer with occasion triple-digit mileage weeks that have put her in a position to challenge for top honors in D4 come November. Sarah has been winning road races and trail runs up and down the north coast virtually all summer - in times four to five minutes faster than last year. Since the end of school she’s won 10k’s in Sonoma, Fort Bragg, Kenwood, and Ukiah, all under 40 minutes. At the Hit the Road Jack 10k in Sonoma she set a new age group course record. Her best 10k time to date was a 38:38 (6:13 pace) at the Legends of the Redwoods 10k in Ukiah. The summer season culminated with a 2 hour and 14 minute 3rd place finish (#1 female) at the 26 km Salt Point Trail Run versus 70 adults. The course featured a 2500-foot elevation gain.

There seems little doubt Sarah can go the distance. Her love and passion for the sport of running seem to be in full throttle heading into the upcoming season. As long as a 5k isn’t too short for her – and she keeps that intensity in check - we’re really starting to like her chances at Woodward Park.

Sarah was nice enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for DyeStatCal.com.

DyeStatCal: Which summer run were you the happiest with and why?
I was definitely most happy with my run at Salt Point with the Pacific Coast Trail Runners. I wanted to test whether I was capable of not only competing at in a race with a high level of mileage, but with a generous amount of elevation change as well. The race felt fantastic, the scenery was gorgeous, and with a 2,500-foot change in elevation throughout the course, I felt pretty accomplished by the time I crossed the finish line.

DyeStatCal: What’s the main reason you like to run in the Pacific Coast Trail Runners series?
This was actually my first run with the Trail Runners, but I would love to be apart of many more of their races. There's a thrill and a sense of adventure that I get from running through challenging natural landscape that I just can't find on a track or a paved course.

DyeStatCal: Do you think there’s any possibility of a fall letdown after so many summer races?
Not really. Even though I did run competitively in several races over the summer, they were fairly well spaced apart -- it wasn't as if I was out there hammering multiple races a week with a "this is the defining competition of my life" type attitude. And since I did run pretty heavily last summer, it honestly didn't feel overwhelming at all.

DyeStatCal: Tell us how about your typical summer training week (including mileage).
I know I'm going to be labeled a crazy girl for this (but hey, you have to be a little crazy to be a runner) but to be totally honest, I was averaging anywhere from 90-100 miles a week this summer. In a given week I'd typically alternate between long runs and tempo runs about every other day. I'd take an active rest day about once or twice every other week. I also did quite a bit of weight training, swimming, and biking on the side as cross-training.

DyeStatCal: You seem to have really embraced running sometime over the last 12 months as a hugely important activity in your life. What happened because it wasn’t that way at the start of your sophomore year?
I just got hooked -- I really don't know how explain it any better than that. Running has given me a strength, confidence, and drive that beforehand I had never recognized in myself, and it has become a very personal and powerful piece of who I am. It's my addiction, my religion, my joy.

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