When the officials at the Ian Cumming-Tim Lathan Invitational were forced to shorten the course to 2-miles because of excessive heat, Cooper Castleberry couldn’t have been happier.
The Poway High junior considers himself more of a miler than a 2-miler and has finally adjusted to the normal 3.1-mile cross country distance that the state and section work into by the second half of the season.
So far, though, Castleberry is on a good run — pun intended — as he has won two of the three invitationals he has entered and finished second in the other.
With Castleberry leading the way, Poway was ranked the No. 1 team in San Diego by section coaches heading into the Mt. Carmel ASICS Invitational Saturday at Balboa Park where he’ll get a chance to avenge his lone loss.
This time, however, barring unexpected hot weather, 80 teams will cover the 2.95-mile course that is the same one used for the section championships Nov. 16, two weeks before the state meet in Fresno.
Even though he its he prefers track to cross country, Castleberry’s looking forward to the opportunity.
“I like track more than cross country because you can compare your times to what you’ve done before, working for a personal record,” said Castleberry, a 5-foot-9, 130-pound 17-year-old. “Every track is 400-meters.
“But cross country is fun, too, and running the hills is an extra challenge.
“I’ve learned what works for me and I’ve adjusted. Before, when I ran courses like at Mt. SAC, I’d get to the top of a hill and before going down the other side, I’d slow down. It just seemed natural to catch your breath.
“But now I actually speed up going over the top and coming down. I let gravity do the work, especially on the longer runs. On the shorter runs I shoot forward, so naturally I’m faster.”
Castleberry is already off to a quick start. While he won his 2-mile races at the Bronco Invitational (Kit Carson Park) and Ian Cumming-Tim Latham meet (Rohr Park), it was a second-place performance in the Ravens Invitational at Canyon Crest Academy, where he ran 14:41.8 for 3 miles, that pleases him most.
“It was the home course for the runner who won, Luca Caruso, and like all of the other runners I compete against, he’s a friend,” said Castleberry. “Give him credit, but I hope to beat him at Mt. Carmel. I was very pleased with my time.”
As a freshman he covered the same distance in 15:10 and last year he lowered that to 15:05.
Poway coach Ronnie Harris, who was an assistant when Castleberry was a freshman, immediately saw the potential.
“He’s running at the next level; he’s already beaten my times,” said Harris, who graduated from Eisenhower High in Rialto, one of the state’s premier programs. “If he stays healthy, he’ll be one of the best.
Cooper’s a high-volume guy, by that I mean when you tell him to run seven miles, he’ll go nine. You say 8 or 10 miles, he’ll go 12. Naturally, you have to temper that to keep him heathy, but he is very good at communicating with me how he feels.
“He’s on a three-month program leading up to the state meet. We’re looking forward to running Mt. Carmel because that’s the section course and I want him to get comfortable with it.”
Castleberry has run Balboa Park before, but never in the kind of shape he is physically and mentally right now.
In fact, Castleberry has never qualified for the state championships, cross country or track, although he missed making the 1,600 in track by a scant two seconds last spring.
“I went to the state track meet to watch Tessa (Buswell) and it was very eye-opening,” said Castleberry, who fully expects the Titans to be among the top two teams in Division I which qualify for the cross country championships.
“It was such a fun experience, especially seeing her win (the 1,600). What impressed me the most was everyone in the finals were so close that it became a tactical race.
“While I haven’t been to the cross country championships, I expect it to be just as nerve-wracking only with a lot more runners. I want to be in at least the top half of the finishers this year to make it a learning experience for my senior year.”
While Castleberry is pleased with his times, it’s just the start.
“I want to be as close to 14:30 as I can get by the end of the year,” said Castleberry. “I really believe as a team we can win the section. We only have three seniors, so it might even be more exciting next year.
“We’ll see.”
