The Haggen to Haggen 5k, with over 1000 finishers this year,
is starting a new trend. High school domination. Last year, the Top 3 finishers
in the men’s 5k were high school athletes, with Oliver Bear Don’t Walk winning
in 15:07. He was closely followed by David Elliot and Patrick Gibson in 15:08
and 15:09. The women’s race was also won by a high school athlete in 2011 as Brittany
Gappa, 15, ran 17:54 for the victory. This year Gibson and Gappa again carried
the flag for the high schoolers as they raced to convincing victories and some
of the fastest times in race history.
Gibson separated himself from a very deep field when he
attacked “early and hard”, according to his coach Peter Oviatt, as he ran the
fastest time in the last 10 years, crossing the finish line at the Meridian
Haggen in 14:36. Though his closest rival was his brother in 15:03, his
blistering pace from the sound of the gun must have inspired those behind him
as nine other runners ran 16:00 or faster. Gibson, who is only a junior, was a
mere 16 seconds off the course record of 14:20 set in 2001 by Paul Kinser. Danny
Gibson and Iain Davidson ran 15:03 and 15:06 to grab the final two podium spots
on Saturday.
Gappa, who attends Squalicum High School, ran 17:11 to win a
race that saw the Top 3 women finish within 21 seconds. Ariana
Lee and Amber Morrison ran 17:21 and 17:32 to finish 2nd and 3rd.
In collecting her 3rd Haggen to Haggen title on Saturday, Gappa
registered the fastest time on the course since Christina Ashby ran 17:11 in
2002.
Gibson, who is a junior at Squalicum High School will hope
to run the 1600 and 3200 meters at this year’s state championships. When he is
not representing the Storm, he runs for Coach Oviatt and the Whatcom Tesseract Track Club. Running for Tesseract allows Gibson, as well as Gappa, to lay a
solid base of mileage between high school seasons and work on tempos and long
runs during the season on weekends.
“Tesseract
is going very well. It takes a bit of juggling and making sure the kids don't
get overloaded but I think it's working pretty well for the kids that are doing
it,” said Oviatt about his club and the kids that represented the club on
Saturday.
Looking to his senior year Gibson will use some of this
year’s experiences, like Footlocker Regionals and the super competitive
University of Washington Indoor meets, to catapult him to faster times and the
possibility of qualifying for Cross Country Nationals at either NXN of
Footlocker. Oviatt thinks Gibson not only has the physical tools, but the mindset
to accomplish the goals they have set for him.
“Patrick
came from a very high level of competitiveness in basketball and what I find is
that kids who are good at other sports tend to run with the other sport's
mindset of not being afraid to compete. It would be great to get under 9:00 for
the 3200 meters(national elite time), which I think is very realistic in the
next 12 months,” remarked Oviatt about Gibson’s winning mindset.
Gibson,
won the 1600 meter run tonight at the 2A Sub District Meet in Bellingham in
4:19 and will run the 3200 meters on Friday night at Civic Field. Having
secured his status as one of the best high school distance runners in
Washington this year, only the clock will tell whether or not he will rank among the nation's best high school distance runners in the next 12 months.
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