Three to Watch: Hoover, Everett, and Ford Meet at Forest Park This Weekend
By: Chris Ammen
Caleb Hoover, Daniel Everett, and Caleb Ford. They are certainly three to watch this year as the Missouri Cross-Country season opens. All three had big opening weeks with Hoover of College Heights Christian posting an impressive 15:28 at SWCCCA and Ford of Saint Louis University High just beating out Everett of Westminster Christian Academy by a hair, 15:48.82 to 15:49.09, in an epic battle at First Capital. All three will clash at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival in St. Louis this weekend. Expect some fireworks as all three have a legitimate shot at winning the race. I had a chance to catch up with them after their big races this past weekend.
Daniel, Caleb, and Caleb, congrats on your finishes last week! All three of you put up some pretty impressive times. Tell me a little about how your individual races unfolded.
Caleb Hoover (CH): I took off a little fast because the course bottlenecked after 500 meters. I was running at a good clip up to the 1000 mark but I did back off a little because I was waiting for Thater to catch up with me. At about 1200m this guy in a red jersey passes me and I figured that he was just a rabbit and would come back. I didn't realize this was Ben Chapman (of Glendale High School) until I saw Thater cheering us on and calling him by name. Then I had to run quickly to catch up with him, which I did as we were starting the second lap. When I caught up to him I decided to stay right behind him although I did have to slow down a good amount. With 1000 meters to go I kicked it in and didn't let up until I crossed the line. (Editors Note: That must have been one great kick! Chapman lost 23 seconds in the last 1K.) I had been sick since three days before the race and I still am sick as I am doing this interview.
Daniel Everett (DE): I knew going into the race that Caleb Ford was my main competition (nothing against any of the other talented runners at First Capitol on Friday). My coach and I decided that it would be best to try to break from him at 1.5 miles in. Caleb had his mind set on sticking to me so I wasted a lot of energy trying to break off. We were still together with a half a mile left, from which it turned into a full on battle to the finish line. I had a slight lead going into the last straightaway, but he had just a little bit more left in him then me. It was a great first race of the season, with a great time.
Caleb Ford (CF): Daniel Everett and I stayed with the lead pack of the race through about a mile and a half, and then Daniel took the lead. He put some noticeable distance on me a couple of times, but I kept bringing him back. With about 600m to go he surged down a hill and gapped me a bit, and I caught him with about 400 or so to go. From there we built into a sprint, and I crossed the line just ahead of him.
It doesn't happen too often during the season that three guys of your caliber all get together for a race. What is the most enjoyable part of racing against each other?
CH: The most enjoyable part for me is the competition. I usually don't get to race as many high caliber runners since we usually race at small meets. I like to see who is the best. I do also like the friendships and I am friends with Daniel already. I have never met Caleb Ford, but I do like his name.
DE: There are two things for me: the friendships and the epic races that come out of racing each other. Caleb Hoover and I had the chance to hang out this summer at the Great Southwest Track Meet, which was a lot of fun. He's a great guy that I respect a lot. I don't know Caleb Ford as well because I just met him at the First Capitol meet. Racing against each other is a lot of fun though. I just seem to be pushed to another level whenever I race against competition like them.
CF: The best part of racing people like Everett and Hoover is that you find things about yourself you didn't know you had. As you push each other to try to break away, you end up pulling others with you, and you can run faster times than you knew you could. Everyone seems to run different elements of the course better than others, but when you run as a group, you all end up having to run with the guy who can best run the flat, hill, or downhill at the time.
Great times don't happen in the first week on accident. Tell me a bit about how your summer training went and what type of mileage you were putting in. What about your early season training?
CH: My summer training went pretty well, I would put in about 60 miles a week mainly doing easy runs. My early season running has consisted of 3 hard days week with 3 easy days and 1 long run a week. I do my repetition training as my first hard day, interval training as my second hard day, and a tempo workout as my third hard day.
DE: I had a long track season, as I ran until the end of June with Nike Outdoor Nationals. I started training around the beginning of July for cross. I ran 6 days a week with one of those being some kind of tempo run/race. I focused on trying to get my easy pace down to about 7 minutes. I ran with my twin brother David as well as Julie Sharp (the top girl runner from my school) and Grace Bridwell (another local high school runner that took 2nd at the Class 3 3200 this spring). My early season workouts have mostly consisted of what my coach calls “progression runs". I like to think of them as 5-7 miles easy and then 2 miles at race pace. It's been different, but I've liked what my new coach has me doing.
CF: This summer I did mostly mileage with a few tempo runs. I hit a high of just over 70 miles but averaged upper 50s. I did a long run of 17 once and also a short run of 2, so I hit some extremes. We have been doing mostly mileage of about 60 or 70 per week. We've done a few tempo runs around 5:50 pace or so, one repeat workout at 800m around 2:25, and one fartlek workout which was probably my best workout so far this year.
You all are upper classmen with Caleb Ford being the lone senior. What advice would the 3 of you pass down to those who are just starting in the sport?
CH: Get a good running partner and learn to enjoy running first. Then once you actually like something, its makes it worth your while to do the hard workouts and put in the time to train because it is very demanding. Also I would run a lot of easy miles, but not necessarily slow.
DE: Cross-Country is a great sport. You don't need to be the world's most talented runner, just the hardest worker. That doesn't mean going out there and killing yourself every day in practice. That means listening to your coach and doing what he tells you. Don't go harder or easier then your coach tells you.
CF: My advice would be to take easy days easy and recover so that you can take your hard days really hard and push yourselves.
Every team has their own training method. What makes your team's training distinct and how has that contributed to your success?
CH: I don't think our team has a very distinct training method. We do 1000-meter repeats once a week for our interval session. Trenton and I usually do a long run on Sunday nights of 12 miles. We always have devotions at the beginning of our practice. We really don't run a lot of miles, just enough to do well. Running just enough miles could be a reason we don't have many injuries.
DE: I had 5 different coaches in my first two years (including off-season clubs). I have a new coach this fall that is doing things a lot differently, but I like what he is doing. I've been running with my brother David, and one of my good friends Danny Keith (ran 17:31 last Friday). I've stuck with them on the easy runs and then just bumped up my pace for the workouts. The workouts consist of the progression runs, hill repeats, fartleks, or track workouts.
CF: At SLUH, we focus on group running. We have an emphasis on the whole team down to the slowest guy, which has really contributed to our success because we are such a large group. We have 100 guys this year.
Where will you be racing the rest of the season? Any big out-of-state meets?
CH: The rest of the season I will race at the Southern Stampede, Chile Pepper, MSU's meet, and I plan to try and race at Footlocker Regionals.
DE: Rim Rock in Kansas is the only other huge meet, but we have some other decent meets like Borgia and Ladue.
CF: Our other big races are Rim Rock and State.
You can pick one winner for this week's race, and you can't pick yourself. Who is it, and what will their time be?
CH: Since I can't pick myself, I would go with Daniel because he is a good friend of mine. I would want his time to be under 15 minutes and I wouldn't want to be to far off.
DE: Caleb Hoover. I believe he is the most talented runner in the state when it comes to Cross Country. I'm not so sure about the time but I will say 15:25.
CF: I'll go with Hoover. Pride of the name, and he's fast.
What is one thing about you that people would not expect?
CH: One thing most people would not expect is that running is definitely not my favorite sport, it just happens to be the sport that I'm best at. Also I spend much more time doing homework than running.
DE: I used to be a "sprinter" in elementary school. Even to this day I would much rather run in the 400 then the 3200, but my coach never lets me.
CF: I have worn the same pair of socks for every race but one (that one didn't go well) since my first race of freshman year.
It was fun catching up with these guys. They are all tremendous runners who are looking to throw down some low times on the fast Forest Park course. Hope to see you all out at the race!