|
Castek and Wherry lead the way in Osage Cross Country
Osage senior cross country runners Brett Castek and David Wherry are the definite leaders of their 2008 squad.
Four-time letter-winner Castek has had a strong career at Osage. He is a 2-time individual state qualifier and a member of three qualifying state teams.
Wherry has been a 3-year varsity letter-winner and member of state qualifying cross-country teams for the last 3 years.
Below are some comments from an interview with both squad members:
How long have you been running?
Brett: "6 years. Well, actually since I was like 2 years old."
David: "I started in eighth grade after Ben Klapperich told me I should go out since everyone else was, so I did. So 5 years now, I've been running."
What got you interested in being in cross-country?
Brett: "I really didn't like football very much and I like to run."
David: "Ben deserves a lot of credit for his recruiting efforts that season."
What are some of the things you've learned from being in cross-country?
Brett: "Building team effort and figuring out how to run (fast)."
David: "I've gotten a lot out of the sport. My parents, especially Mom, have really supported me. It's also been a good stress reliever for me."
What are some of your goals you have yet to reach?
Brett: "Be top 10 at the state meet and be a 4-time state team qualifier."
David: "State, obviously. Win conference, maybe even win Districts - something we've never done before."
What's your favorite type of running workout?
Brett: "Trail runs are usually the best, something where I don't have to have long straight-aways and see the same thing for a long ways."
Do you have a particular strategy going into a meet?
Brett: "The competition definitely helps. If there's good people out front, it usually pushes you to run faster. It gives you someone to compete with. I like the cooler weather, just not too cold. Otherwise it doesn't bother me too much."
David: "The different competitors will definitely motivate me, especially knowing which ones to try to be ahead of or next to. If it's cold out, I'll need to warm up a little longer or wear a little more. I'll also eat bananas so I don't cramp up. You still need to just go out there and try to run fast. There's not a whole lot else you can do."
What's been your biggest highlight so far in your running career?
Brett: "Probably winning meets 3 times now this year.
That includes top 10 finishes at 6 meets this year in races that typically have 50 to 100 or more runners."
David: "Probably qualifying for state three times. Going just once is a pretty big deal. It's nice to have that experience. Also going from very few out for cross-country to 30 or more guys out has been a huge change. Practices have continued to get harder from when I started and competition within the team has gotten much harder."
Is there anything in particular you can attribute the success to - something to pass on to the younger runners?
Brett: "Running regularly in the off-season mostly."
David: " I want to help build the team, especially since we graduated quite a few seniors last year. To try to get to where we were last year, even be better and to set an example and be a role model for the team."
Any plan or desire to run in college?
Brett: "So far I haven't decided yet -maybe. I'm still thinking about it."
David: "I don't know yet about competing in college, but I know that I will run on my own and maybe in intramurals, and definitely take part in fun runs around the area."
Do you have it narrowed down yet where you want to go to school next year?
Brett: 'I'm still looking. I figure I'll start out majoring in Business and see where it goes from there."
David: Right now, I'm pretty sure I want to be a civil engineer, possibly at Iowa State or the University of Minnesota."
Story created Oct 14, 2008 - 10:54:29 CDT.
|
