If you've read Running With the Buffaloes, you know the significance of November 23, 1998, for Adam Goucher. That was the day that Adam Goucher (photo, left, courtesy of CU Athletics) shoved aside the legacy of near misses and won the NCAA DI cross country individual title at Rim Rock Farm.
But, there was a lot of things that happened in Goucher's career prior to that national title (and a few after, too). Those stories have not been told as well or as often. And, in terms of the history of Colorado high school cross country, perhaps no day looms larger than October 2, 1993, 20 years ago today.
That was the date of the Pueblo Central Invitational. The Pueblo Central Invitational still exists, but it is now rather a shadow of its former self. Back when the state meet was held on the Elmwood Short Nine Golf Course in Pueblo, the Pueblo Central Invitational was the pre-state meet. Aside from the state meet itself, there was no more important meet to be found in the state of Colorado.
And October 2, 1993, was a day that history would be made.
Goucher reports, "I went into the race feeling that I had a good chance of breaking 15 minutes. I had run 15:03 the previous year at the state meet on that same course, and I felt that I was in as good or better shape as when I ran that. Two weeks prior I had run 15:05 at the Liberty Bell Invite and I had been running low 15 minutes every time I raced, so I felt that I was ready to go under 15 minutes."
The Pueblo Central course had been kind to Goucher. He already owned two state individual championships from that course going into that early October morning. He had won by 13 seconds as a sophomore in 1991, and by an astonishing 1:01 as a junior. Little wonder he looked to this course for special things to happen.
So, there was more than a little anticipation in the air on the morning of October 2, 1993. And the anticipation was more than Goucher's alone. There were whispers afoot that this might be the day the the magical 15-minute barrier would be broken.
Goucher had discussed that possibility with Coach Judy Fellhauer before the race, " [She] told me that if I ran 4:49 per mile I would be on pace to break 15 minutes. People knew that this could be the day the 15 minute barrier was broken in Colorado, and I could feel the excitement. When I heard my mile two split I knew that I was well ahead of anywhere I had been before and I needed to maintain."
But challenges lay ahead. Those familiar with the Pueblo Central course know the last half mile is slightly uphill, and all grass.
"I knew that I couldn't settle, so I focused on trying to maintain my pace. With 600 to go people were yelling that I was going to do it, but I had no idea it would be by so much."
By how much? As it turned out, Goucher stopped the clock at 14:44.46, more than 15 seconds under 15 minutes.
And all this, of course, raised the question of how much faster Goucher could go at state on the same course four weeks later. Fellhauer was quoted in the article covering the meet (see below) as predicting that the record would fall again.
But, circumstances do not always converge in the way we expect. Goucher would win state easily four weeks later, but the time of 14:54.7, though winning by 55 seconds, came short of resetting the record time.
Snow fell the day before the state meet, softening the course. Goucher's grandparents were both seriously ill and hospitalized in Florida, keeping Goucher's thoughts half a continent away. Yet, despite all that, Goucher's state meet record still stands but for a time recorded on a short course in 2003.
So, why bring all this up now?
Well, that would be because we seem to have flushed out news of the real state 5K cross country record a couple of weeks ago by declaring Cerake Geberkidane's 14:46 a new state record. It may well turn out that Geberkidane eventually claims the record, but, for now, it is still Adam Goucher's.
And just how sure are we that Goucher's mark really is the record? Pretty darn sure.
For one thing we have both Goucher's account, and the account of the newspaper coverage of Scott Stocker (who was Mr. High School Sports in Colorado for the better part of an entire generation), that nobody had previously broken 15 minutes in Colorado.
But, I wanted to be a little more certain than that. So, I talked with Jon Hume, a top Colorado high school cross country runner a few years prior to Goucher's run of three consecutive state titles.
While Hume was hesitant to speak as the final authority on times, his recollections certainly corroborate the testimony of others that 15 minutes had not been broken before Goucher's time, "I was told that my 1984 state championship in 15:38 was the fastest state winning time, but I cannot verify that (editor's note: Hume's 15:38 was indeed the fastest 5K state time to that date). I read back on some old articles I have when John Luff and I battled it out on the Pueblo course the next year at state and he ran 15:14.7 and I was second in 15:15.2. I read in another article that his time was the state meet record, but I cannot verify that either other than what was written in the article."
Nobody ran faster than Luff's 15:14.7 at state until Adam Goucher beat that record in 1992, and then shattered it again with the sub-15 mark in 1993. The 5K cross country distance was not in use in Colorado until 1980.
Liberty Bell would wait until Ryan Deak's 14:58.4 in 2003 to host a sub-15 time. To date, the count of sub-15 event winners at Liberty Bell remains at four. It's not a frequent sort of thing, even for the state's fastest invitational.
It seems also to be the case that Goucher owns the fastest cross country 5K time by any Colorado high school athlete. Goucher's 1993 Foot Locker Nationals time was a lofty 14:41.70.
This discussion, of course, raises the question of what is the all-time fastest girls time in Colorado. But that is a question for another day. October 2 belongs to Adam Goucher. On the other hand, if you have insight to share about the all-time fastest 5K girls time in Colorado high school history, please e-mail me at the address in the lower left corner of this page. That article is coming... someday.
Scanned copy of Rocky Mountain News article courtesy of Adam Goucher:
