Pair of Pirates thinks big
Two coupes and a one-car garage.
Track talent can be spread pretty thin at the NCAA Division III level, where the schools are small and athletic scholarships, well, don’t exist. This is true even at Whitworth University, where coach Toby Schwarz has built up the program to the point that the Pirates men could make a top-five showing in the national meet this week in Oshkosh, Wis.
So it’s rare to find a pair of racers like Emmanuel Bofa and Brandon Howell making the same tracks for the same team – and so content in their co-dependence.
“It seems when one of us is kind of weak or a little off, the other is on,” said Bofa. “We keep each other going.”
And going faster.
Howell pushed Bofa into breaking Howell’s school 800-meter record this spring – down to a time of 1 minute, 50.74 that’s second best among the entrants in Oshkosh. Bofa returned the favor in Howell’s run to his first Northwest Conference title after three frustrating years – and then pacing him to an NCAA qualifying mark of 1:51.75 a couple of weeks later.
Even at nationals, it won’t be every man for himself.
“We tell each other everything,” Howell said. “It’s more like we’re working together to beat the other guys.”
They’ve needed the mutual support. As hot rods go, Howell has spent a fair amount of time up on blocks. As a freshman, he tore up a knee in football that turned him to track full time, and over this past winter the senior from Clarkston underwent meniscus surgery that wiped out his indoor season. Bofa, a sophomore from Puyallup, Wash., also came through two cross country seasons with stress fractures and other assorted hurts.
But mostly they’ve tried to tap into each other’s best qualities.
For Bofa, that would be Howell’s perseverance. Beyond the injuries, much of Howell’s career was given over to chasing Willamette’s Nick Symmonds, who has turned into one of America’s best Olympic 800 hopes. Two years ago, Howell missed qualifying for nationals by just .01 – and didn’t make the starting line last year when a quadriceps injury flared up.
So Bofa was ecstatic with Howell’s win at the NWCs – even if it came at his expense.
“The guy really deserves to win,” Bofa said, “and I wanted to do everything I could to get him there. But actually, he pulled me along if anything. To see his hands go up as he crossed the finish line, I just had to tip my hat to him.”
Howell has tried to incorporate more elements of Bofa’s training – longer runs, higher intensity – some of which are a legacy from his hard-driving father.
James Bofa was a 400-800 runner for Ghana and made his country’s 1976 Olympic team. He came to the states to attend Ohio University and later graduate school at Cal Tech before settling the family in the Northwest. His son, however, preferred basketball before finishing second at state in the 800 his senior year. Now he’s on Ghana’s radar for a spot on its Olympic team.
“They have two guys running around 1:50,” Bofa said. “They said if they’re impressed with my time they’d like to have me, but I have to run under 1:49. If I’m the top guy in the country, I would think they’d have no choice but to put me on the team.”
That could be difficult – races at nationals often turn tactical – but event leader Jimmy O’Brien of Ohio Northern has run 1:48.45. And Bofa will also have an encouraging voice in his ear.
One that he is already apprehensive about missing next year.
“Running with another Top 10 guy on your team is something at this level that you just can’t buy,” Bofa said. “It’s going to be so different next year. Brandon’s been the big brother who showed the little guy with potential how to get the job done. Now he’s handing me the keys.”