Sophomore outruns her competition
Some cross country athletes are, first of all, runners. Some are racers. Northwest Christian High School sophomore Lisa Vandenburg is both.
What’s the difference? A racer’s motivation exists outside herself, in the desire to finish ahead of her competitors. A runner may not win the race, but she’ll still enjoy the run.
If that all sounds a bit esoteric, get to know Vandenburg, the defending Washington Class 1B/2B cross country champion who won the Bi-County League race by more than 3 minutes two weeks ago and captured regionals last week with 26-second margin. She has only Saturday’s state championship meet in Pasco to finish the season.
She won last year’s championship race by 25 seconds over Joscelyn Minton, who competes for 2006 team champion Northwest Christian of Lacey, and whom she expects to be her primary challenger again on Nov. 3.
Vandenburg has out-distanced her league competitors for the past two seasons, and relies on area invitational meets for her other stiffest tests. This fall, she’s run in four, finishing in the top five in all of them against runners from schools of every classification.
“Sometimes it’s hard when I don’t have anyone pushing me,” she said, “and I get used to being able to slow down if I’m tired and have a big lead. It’s a mental thing for me, because I know I can go harder.
“In the invites, though, I know I’m not always going to win, so I go for a fast time. It doesn’t really make any difference to me in those races whether I win, but I like trying to beat other fast runners. If I run a good time, even if I don’t win, I feel like I did well.”
Northwest Christian coach Stephan Fritsch has been watching and coaching Vandenburg since she was an eighth-grader, frequently outrunning male racers in the Knights of Columbus league. He knows that training for big races is a challenge for Vandenburg.
“Lisa works hard and really drives herself,” he said. “She’s so much faster than anyone else in our league, though, that she trains differently, using our league races as training days. She just loves to run – last year near the end of the season I found out she was putting in a ton of weekend miles because she just wanted to run.
“Lisa’s strong suit is her ability to ignore pain, to push through and work hard. She’s not satisfied with being average. She’s very competitive and wants to win, but her running isn’t necessarily about winning. What she really wants to do is to achieve something her body doesn’t want her to, to go for something bigger than what she thinks she can achieve.”
Vandenburg has three older brothers, two of whom ran at Northwest Christian. Her brother Brian recently won Le Grizz 50-mile ultra-marathon in Missoula, and her father, Larry, has run in five ultras. She trains with both of them in the off-season.
She’s looking forward to renewing her competition with Minton, who won a distance triple at the State 2B track championship meet last spring, with Vandenburg second in the 1600- and 3200-meter races.
“I’ve been watching her results this fall,” Vandenburg said, “and she’s been racing really well. You can’t compare our times because courses are so different, but I know it’ll be a good race. I’m training through my other races, but my focus is really on the state meet. I know Joscelyn wants to win – she was really upset last year when I beat her.”
Fritsch is also looking forward to the contest.
“I see the same battle shaping up this year,” he said. “Boy, it’s going to be a great competition. Last year was exciting. Minton was in striking distance but Lisa stretched it out at the end. I knew she had that ability in her.”
And he’s looking forward to seeing her do it again