Mike Russell had a Walk on the Beach in Breaking 1600 Meter Run Record
Canyon Lake had some surprises at the Hawk Relays last week and one of the
1600 Meter Record Holder: Sophomore Mike Russell
Russell ran on the Cross Country Team and has been a long distance runner for a while.
However, his best time was 5:19.00 two weeks ago in Wimberley which for a Sophomore is still a very good outing.
Enter a week at the beach and all of a sudden his time improves 18 seconds and with this run breaks the Canyon Lake record of 5:01.70 by 0.22 seconds.
Senior Chris Neiland ran that event last season in Dripping Springs almost exactly one year ago.
“I never thought I would break a record,” Russell said while recuperating after this grueling run. “It wasn’t even in my mind, but after I finished I knew that I might be close.”
Russell surprised several people familiar with who had done what in the mile run and this race was not looking like it would or could result in such a good finish.
Russell had lost a group of eight runners after that first lap and by the time the final circle had started, Russell was at least 50 yards behind those front runners.
Do the math and if you have eight athletes in front of you and they are 50 or more yards in front, then having a chance to pass just three runners for points did not look possible.
“I started with my kick at about the 250 yard mark,” Russell stated. “The whole time I was feeling pretty good and I knew I could pass them.”
Not only did he pass three runners, this young man finished in 4th Place and just less than a second from a third place finish.
Impressive to say the least.
Has The ReSporter mentioned that this student is only a Sophomore?
Another note about the 1600 Meter Run is that it has a lot of strategy going into how you can finish as high as possible.
In Russell’s case he was bucking a head wind since the gang of eight were so far a head of Russell’s pace. The wind was unrelenting, especially on that stretch to end the race.
“I wasn’t trying to lose ground,” A more relaxed Russell contemplated. “And I did not feel like the head wind was affecting me.”
That was certainly apparent as he made up enough ground in beating that 6th Place finisher by 8 seconds.
Now the pressure is on as this young man has a chance to break that pivotable 5:00 minute mark.
When asked what he had done that week gearing up for this meet, Russell said, “I went to the Beach.”
Another question that this ReSporter pondered was how he could improve 18 seconds in one week period, “I have not been loafing, I just gave it my all.”
Now ‘All’ you have to do is either go back to the Beach and hope to improve another 18 seconds or work out each day and try to just gather about 4 or 5 more seconds in order to break that 5 minute barrier.
“I want to hit the 4:45 mark before I end my career of High School,” Russell kicked as this interview was drawing to a close.
Congratulations and now Coach Cody Means can get your name up on that Board for Canyon Lake’s Records.
The ReSporter thinks that Coach Means can get a name plate, but to hold off on getting those numbers that indicate what his time was….by just being a Sophomore that record might change a couple more times.
Top Six Runners School Time Finish Lane Hoskinson Canyon High School 4:55.20 First Edward McDonald Canyon High School 4:57.08 Second Rodrigo Martinez Canyon High School 5:00.72 Third Mike Russell Canyon Lake High School 5:01.48 Fourth Jason Peed Hays High School 5:06.34 Fifth Luke Larue Dripping Springs High 5:09.05 Sixth
