Week of September 10th-15th, 2007
German Fernandez (Riverbank)


Kristine Martinez Photo

One of the state’s great young talents took a bit of a detour with injuries and all after winning the State Division IV title as a sophomore two years back in one of the best tenth grade times ever run at Woodward Park over 5k with his 15:14 clocking that defeated two year down the road Foot Locker Champ Chad Hall (Big Bear). This week’s DyeStatCal Athlete of the Week German Fernandez of Riverbank came on like gangbusters last track season, and ended up third in the State Meet at 3200m with his 9:08.05 best, then was second in the Golden West Invitational Mile at 4:13.32. He put in a good summer of running after circumstances not making that possible with injury and the like previous years and has really been out rolling this Fall so far this season. His run last weekend at the Sierra Invitational at Legion-Tuolomne Park over the five kilometer distance was another very, very impressive one. The very accurate 5 kilometer course there is described as: “55 feet above sea level; composition: 41.5% grass, 30.1% asphalt bike path; 28.4% dirt. Situated on the banks of the Tuolomne River; this accurate 5000m two loop course negotiates flat or undulating terrain on the rivers shaded flood pan. There is one 12 meter hill 200 meters past the 2 mile mark. Each mile is marked on bike path or permanent feature.” The old record here was set by German at 16:01 from 2005 on the way to his tenth grade state title, with that a forty-three second victory. Again his 15:14 State meet soph win that 2005 season is equal number five all-time on the soph list for the Woodward Park 5k course that has been used twenty years for the California state meet, and about the same number of years along the way as the Kinney/Foot Locker Regional course. Last weekend in 2007 it was off to the races time for Fernandez at the Sierra Invite, with a low 4:30's clocking for the first mile, a two mile split close to 9:20, and eventual finish at 14:47! Second place in the race was 16:35. With the course obviously not a hilly one, but relatively flat, the foot fall certainly could not be what it would be on an all-weather track or all concrete surface for the 5k distance. The impressive performance has put him in the center of any discussion as to who is the nation’s top prep runner at this time, with the rest of the season to tell there. The young man has been through it all during his high school career and seems nicely centered as he looks to a fall season that he hopes will end in San Diego at the national individual finals in the sport.

We caught up with German on a Tuesday evening at home as he readied for a League Meet on Wednesday against the other schools his Riverbank HS squad is grouped with.

DyeStatCal - German, what are your thoughts after your 14:47 run Saturday at the Sierra Invitational?
GF - I had a good time, but was a bit disappointed as I slowed some near the end. I wanted to break the Course Record, and went out at 4:34 for the first mile, and eventually slowed a bit. It was good, but really just another race.

DSC - What was the race plan or your goal coming into the Sierra Meet?
GF - I wanted to run even splits and hoped to hit in the high 14's this day.

DSC - What was the course like?
GF - It was mostly concrete, slight hills, some grass, but you would have to call it a pretty flat course.

DSC - What did you do this week so far for workouts the first two days?
GF - Monday and Tuesday so far have been fairly easy workouts. I do a long 12-14 mile run on Sundays so Monday we did some easy running, circuit training, some strides, and I always do push-ups and pull-ups. On Tuesday, with a meet tomorrow, we did about 7 miles, and then had a study hall. I probably ran about 6:20 per mile on the run Tuesday. For the most part this season I have been running once per day with some morning workouts.

DSC - Was there a workout last week that had repeats or intervals as a part of your practices?
GF - Last week we did six times one mile and I was supposed to do like 5:10, but ran down around 5:03-5:07 for most of them.

DSC - How does it feel to be thought of as among the best runners in the nation in any discussion now that goes on about that group?
GF - It feels good, but I am not going to get a big head about it and choke in a big race. I hope I can make it to the Foot Locker Nationals and on that day we will see who is the best. Some people along the way who do not even know me have said some things that are not real nice like I am a waste of talent and all. They do not even know me or what has happened over the last couple of years.

DSC - What are your next races?
GF - Tomorrow we have a league meet against the other schools in our area. My next big Invitational will be Stanford and I hope to run the Sweepstakes level race there. While my real dream is about the Nationals meet I look forward to Stanford and get both excited and nervous about the competition I may face there.

This Sac Joaquin Section star is certainly on a roll, and the quality of his performances already early his senior year show an impressive ability to blast amazing racing efforts. His championship Riverbank program is no stranger to success individually and as teams, so there certainly is a long-term well thought out plan. We did an interview with German a couple weeks ago that is linked here with a bit more about his training during the summer.

Best of Luck, and we will look forward to seeing German in his future racing.

Doug Speck
DyeStatCal.com

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