ROBERT GEORGE RYAN

VARSITY MVP 2001&2003 TEAM CAPT. 4 YR LETTERMAN IN TRACK &CROSS COUNTRY

AS MY HEAD COACH PUTS IT, I AM THE BACK BONE OF THE TEAM. AS YOU KNOW I AM A 4 YEAR LETTERMEN IN BOTH T&F AND CROSS COUNTRY. BEFORE I ENTERED HIGH SCHOOL I RAN CLUB AND CITY TRACK WHERE I WON THE 2 MILE IN OUR COUNTY WITH A TIME OF 11:19 (8TH GRADE) AS THE YEAR PROGRESSED I JOINED A CLUB TEAM, VENTURA COUNTY CONDORS, WERE I TRAINED WITH RUNNING POWER SUCH AS PHILIP REID. I THEN WENT ON TO RUN IN THE JUNIOR OLYMPICS WHICH WERE HELD IN BUFFALO, NY. THERE I PLACED 25TH IN THE 3K WITH A TIME OF 10:03. AS I ENTERED HIGH SCHOOL I BEGAN TO PLAY FOOTBALL. BEFORE THE SEASON EVEN STARTED I WAS STARTING BOTH WAYS, INCLUDING SPECIAL TEAMS. (ST. BONI IS A VERY HIGHLY REGUARDED FOOTBALL POWER WITH SUCH ALUMNI AS LORENZO BOOKER AND WHITNEY LEWIS) AT THE CLOSE OF CAMP WEEK I DECIDED TO DROP FOOTBALL BECAUSE RUNNING WAS MY FIRST LOVE. BUT BEFORE THE YEAR WAS OUT I RAN FOR CANYON COUNTRY CROSS COUNTRY TEAM, WITH THAT CLUB MY TEAM AND I WON 3RD PLACE ON A THREE MILE COURSE IN RENO, NV IN THE USATF CROSS COUNTRY NATIONALS. AS I STARTED RUNNING FRESHMEN YEAR I QUICKLY BECAME THE LEADER ON THE FIELD AND BECAME MVP. MY FRESHMEN TRACK SEASON I ENDED MY SEASON RUNNING A 10:44 2 MILE AND A 4:52 MILE. MY FIRST MEET OF THE MY SOPHMORE YEAR I RAN A 16:34 ON A FLAT CEMENT COURSE AT SEASIDE PARK IN VENTURA. JUNIOR CROSS COUNTRY I REGAINED MY POSSITION OF MVP BY THE END OF THE YEAR. JUNIOR TRACK I FOCUSED MORE ON SPEED AND RAN A 2:05 HALF MILE. THIS YEAR IN CROSS COUNTRY OUR SCHEDUAL WAS AN INTIMIDATING ONE. WE HAD NO FLAT COURSES SCHEDUALED EXCLUDING THE STANFORD INVITATIONAL. AT THE MT. SAC INVIT I RAN A 16:53 IN THE D4 SWEEPSTAKES RACE. THE CONDITIONS WERE VERY POOR BEING THAT ASH FROM THE MANY FIRES THAT WERE BURNING AROUND THE AREA AT THE TIME WERE VISIBLE AND IT WAS APPROX. 85 DEGREES. AT CIF PRELIMS WHICH WAS HELD ON THE 15TH I RAN A 17:02 IN GOOD CONDITIONS, I RAN THIS MEET SOLELY TO QUALIFY TO THE FINALS WHICH ARE BEING HELD ON THE 22ND OF THIS MONTH. BEFORE CIF BEGAN THIS YEAR I RAN IN THE LEAGUE FINALS WHERE I FINISHED IN 8TH PLACE IN OUR POWER HOUSE LEAGUE. (IN CIF PRELIMS, THE 3 TEAMS WHO ADVANCED AQUIRED 3 SPOTS IN THE TOP 4, MY TEAM GOT A CLOSE 4TH BEHIND ORANGE LUTHERAN WHO RAN IN A DIFFERENT HEAT BEFORE US, THEIR TEAM TIME WAS 1 SECOND FASTER THEN OURS.) AT FINALS WE ARE SHOOTING FOR SECOND PLACE AND A QUALIFICATION TO GO TO STATE. FOR MY TRAINING I USUALLY GET UP TO ABOUT 60 MILES PER WEEK, MOST OF THE WORK IS SPEED WORK (400M - 1200M INTERVALS) BUT ATLEAST ONCE A WEEK WE RUN A LONG RUN(10-11).