Nationals qualifier
Four days after qualifying for Junior Olympics nationals in cross country, youth boys’ division, Rory Ruskovich went to his weekly piano lesson.
“I have some bad news,” he told his teacher. “I won’t be able to play in the Christmas recital this year. I’m really sorry. I’ll be in Rhode Island for nationals.”
This young man has his priorities straight.
On Nov. 18, Rory competed at the USA Track and Field Regional meet at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane against boys from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The top 20 runners in each division qualified to compete at nationals, which will be held at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., today. Chris Sears, the cross country coach at Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy, and Rory’s regular season coach, will accompany him to the competition.
Four other Coeur d’Alene runners, all from different divisions, qualified as well: Cody Curtis, in the midget boys division; Mason Sanchez in the bantam boys division; and Stevie Gildehaus and Rachel Gerboth, both in the youth girls division.
The youngest of four children and the only boy, Rory lives with his family on a farm on HooDoo Mountain, an hour’s drive from Coeur d’Alene. Rory describes it as a “nonprofit farm. We have cows, turkeys, chickens, ducks, goats and a horse. Most of them we raise for fun. We sold the beef we raised, but we only made $3 profit. If you subtract the gas money, we ended up in the hole.
“We don’t drink the milk from our cows or goats. My mom’s a food nazi and instead, we drink peanut milk, almond milk, rice milk. She had an experimental sandwich awhile ago: We grew sprouts on top of a piece of bread and then topped it with another piece of bread. It wasn’t much of a hit. Flax is a must at home. We put flax on everything. This morning for breakfast I had raw oats, with flax, of course, and bananas and walnuts and almond milk. I’ve never had a Big Mac, but I revolt occasionally. I splurge at my friends’ houses.”
The family’s closest neighbors are three miles away, and Rory likes living far from the madding crowd. The only inconvenience, in his opinion, is transportation and the winter snowplowing. “We always have to plow our driveway, which is about a quarter-mile long, and sometimes we plow the whole Forest Service road that connects to it, which is over two miles long.”
Rory’s daily schedule begins at 5:20 a.m. He leaves for school at 6 with his dad, Mike, who teaches English at Lake City High School. Rory practices basketball for an hour and five minutes before his classes begin at the Charter Academy. After school, he practices basketball or runs until 4:30 p.m., when he heads home. He does his homework in the car – “one of the advantages of a long commute” – and after dinner, practices piano, watches reruns of “The Simpsons” and then he’s back in bed.
Rory has studied piano for eight years, beginning before kindergarten. “I couldn’t even read,” he says. “Piano actually helped me start reading, because I’d sing the words to the little songs while I played. I don’t listen to much music – I’d rather play music than listen to it … especially jazz.”
Rory started playing the trumpet in sixth grade at the Charter Academy. “This is my third year. I mainly like it because of Terry Jones, our band instructor.”
Rory’s career goal is professional sports, but if that doesn’t pan out, he plans to go into oceanography or marine biology. “I became interested in fish when I went snorkeling in Hawaii while visiting my sister,” he says. “I love fish-keeping … I have salt-water tanks at home.”
Also at home is a slab of concrete and a basketball hoop.
“I’ve played basketball since I can remember,” he says. “When we moved to the mountain, I was 6 or 7 and we lived in our barn for a few months while the house was being built. My dad put a hoop on a tree for me … no net, no slab, just dirt.”
Rory practices in an open gym with the varsity and JV teams at his school during the off-season but will be a point guard for the eighth-grade team when basketball season begins.
“I love basketball,” he says. “It’s my main sport, a great game. I love the competition and the fact that it takes a lot of skill. Michael Jordan’s my superhero, of course, but I’d most like to be like the Gonzaga Bulldogs. I like the closeness of the team and their knowledge of what the other players are thinking.”
As for running, Rory says, “I just like the feel of it. It keeps me in shape for basketball, my main sport. And I like that the terrain is so varied. … You see the scenery as you run, and your parents can’t watch you every minute because of all the trees.”
Next year the national meet will be held at Plantes Ferry Park, where regardless of trees, a lot of parents will be watching. Every minute.