“CATCHING THEIR BREATH”
Brief interviews with the winners of the Lagoon
Valley Invitational, Vacaville, CA, 9/8/07
by Joe Hartman

Varsity Girls Winner: Laurynne Chetelat, Davis
DyeStatCal: How are your expectations different coming into this year from last year?
Laurynne: I haven’t really sat down and looked at my goals, like what I want to achieve this season. I know I definitely want to focus on the races at the end of the season. Along the way I want to try and do my best at each competition, but I’m really looking forward to state meet for our entire team. And after the high school races, I’m looking at cross country national championships... Foot Locker.

DyeStatCal: Tell us about the summer because you were traveling. Did you get the kind of running you wanted to get in - and then how much fun was it to be in Europe?
Laurynne: Well I didn’t get any running in (at first) because that was going to be my two weeks off and then I started running after two weeks, because I was there a little more than a month. I ran some in Italy – we went to Italy first. So I was running around Rome. That was awesome and that was an amazing experience because I’d be running through these parks and there would be all these ruins around. There are ruins everywhere: you’d round a corner and there would be a whole new set of ruins that you had never seen before. It was real enjoyable… I sort of rediscovered running in a way, how enjoyable it can be, instead of running around Davis - which can get really boring. (laughs)

DyeStatCal: Any urges to go back and play soccer?
Laurynne: No actually. There are some girls on our team who play soccer, and I really enjoy it too. But I see that I have this great opportunity in front of me to do collegiate running – and the rest of my high school career – and how soccer’s really going to get in the way of that. And I don’t want to lose sight of my academic responsibilities. And if I was going to do soccer it would cut back on the time to study for school. There’s also the injury part…

DyeStatCal: Do you have any early tips for us on where you’re going to college?
Laurynne: I’m really looking at California. I’ve already applied to Stanford, so I’m waiting on whether or not I’ve been admitted. I’m looking at Berkeley and UCLA, because I would love to go into pre-med to major in medicine or marine biology. My dream career is Doctors Without Borders - it’s been like that for a while.

Varsity Boys Winner: Kenny Durell, Davis
DyeStatCal: Last week it was all the Jesuit guys (at the Davis-Jesuit scrimmage)…this week a host of fine competitors. Which one felt better as far as you winning and as far as the race went?
Kenny: This week the team performed well against good competition. Last week was very informal. We were just out in our trainers, training through it. Today we really wanted to pick it up. Today was the nicest weather we’ve had running here in a long time. Last week’s course at William Jessup… it’s an underrated course. I’d never heard about it and that’s a very tough course. I ran almost a minute slower and it felt pretty bad.

DyeStatCal: Where do you feel you this year versus last year at the same time and what’s the biggest reason for why you’ve elevated your game thus far?
Kenny: For my improvement? It’s all about the little stuff, the core work. If people are looking to improve it’s about the core work. You gotta do the sit-ups, you gotta do the push-ups. I know with runners it’s all about how many miles, but if you do the core work, those sprints at the end of the races are like money. The last 200 meters everything is just smooth. Last year there was a lot of sort of falling across the line or barely crossing the line, and today I’m pushing through the line. And the hills, too. Plus another year of experience… this is my third year on the varsity and it really changes (you). And for me, it’s especially been staying off the pavement. I don’t know what other teams do, for me it’s been the grass and dirt. It’s forgiving and it’s really helped a lot.

DyestatCal: The next question is about your leadership role. Last year you had Brendan (Gregg), Pat (Lynch), and Zach (Bonner) on the team. How has that transformation gone from those three leaving and you and others like Matt (Petersen) now the ones to look up to?
Kenny: The guys last year – three guys going off to run at Division 1 schools - definitely made a point of sitting us down and saying ‘Next year you guys are going to be the returners.’ It wasn’t one specific statement but it was more a ‘realization’. And those guys had always been open to us and it felt very natural for them just to bring the other guys up. We had a lot of guys who it was their first real varsity race today…so we’re just showing them the ropes. We’ve been out here before, we’ve raced ‘Big Mama’ now three times, so there’s nothing really weighing on me more than last year. You just have to go out and do it.

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