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Week of
October 8-13, 2007 Last weekend’s Orange County Championsips had an sense of change in the air, with the first real moisture of the Fall season in the greater Southern California area putting an interesting edge on the morning. With some mud on the course at the Orange County Championships and runners rolling in with dirt on themselves from spills or dirty uniform splotches from the back-kicks of others or themselves, meet directors made the decision to take out a slippery hill section during the morning, and the races were interesting tests of the competitors in attendance. It was not surprising that one athlete, not well known in this sport, would pick such a day to upset the form charts with a special optimism while racing along up front with a talented Sweepstakes pack. Johnathan Schawel had run 4:18.00 two years ago as a soph and 4:14.51 last spring for 1600 meters, and had achieved impressive results on the oval in the spring, but he had not really made his mark during the fall harrier seasons thus far. As the Sweepstakes Boys event made its way around the course Shawel was a part of the lead pack, and one sensed that if he was close his 1:55 800 meter speed was probably much more than anyone in the field could handle. To his credit, despite a fall racing background that did not lend itself to the upmost confidence in his ability to take a talented field of distance runners, the Troy HS senior who had some good work recently, found himself near the lead with a quarter mile to go with the rest history as he unleashed a great finish down the final cement trail to the close of the Irvine Park event to a surprising win over a group in a hotbed of distance runners. We had some time to talk to John below after the race, and it is summarized below. Congratulations John DyeStatCal - In a county known for its distance programs, maybe known a bit more as a middle distance runner, Johnathan, please talk a bit how you came into the race and how it went for you? Johnathan Shawel - The race was a little muddy at the beginning. But I knew if they were running through the mud I had to run through it also so I had to give myself confidence that we were all going through the same thing. I said if I can stick with some of the guys in the last 100 meters with my middle distance speed I had a good chance of pulling away (ed note - he has run 1:55 for 800 meters and 4:14 for 1600 meters in track) . DSC - So that was your plan, to run with the pack and see how you felt at the finish? JS - Right, I knew that I was going to be tired because some of those guys would be pushing it, but I knew something would click in that last 100 or 200 meters. DSC - How much running did you do this summer, roughly how many miles per day? JS - I started off doing eight miles per day, four miles in the morning and four in the evening, and I tried to add a mile a week. DSC - How much running per week are you doing during the season. JS - I did 70 miles two weeks ago and built down to about 40 miles per week now. DSC - So what place did you think would take coming into this meet? Were you confident that you could win? JS - I had little confidence coming in. You know the Trabuco and Valencia guys they are really, really good runners, and I did not do some very good in the Sunny Hills Invitational, but each week I have run better and last week I broke the school record. I felt strong, but I did not think that I could win it today. DSC - So what does this do for your confidence? JS - It boosts it right up. DSC - So seriously, do you enjoy Cross Country or Track and Field more? JS - To tell you the truth, Track is my sport right now. DSC - But when you can beat a group like this in cross-country it sure is going to perk the interest of the college coaches, so have you given any thought to where you would like to go to school? JS - I have given a lot of thought to where to go. Some east coast schools are looking really good right now, but I would like to stay in California, as it is my hometown so I will see about that. DSC - So you have pretty good academics? JS - Troy HS is felt to be among the top high schools in the nation so it is going pretty good. DSC - Congratulations on a great job today. JS - Thank You Best of Luck Johnathan
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