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Celebrating Colorado's college-bound track and cross country athletes:</h3>
Blake Yount is set to continue his track and cross country careers at the University of Oklahoma next fall. Photo by Alan Versaw.
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Blake Yount's personal best marks:
800 meters - 1:51.63 (Colorado state high school record)
1600 meters - 4:26.31
5K cross country - 15:33
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Tell us a little about the decision for the University of Oklahoma from an athletic perspective. When it came to choosing their program over other offers, what made the decision for you?
I chose Oklahoma because know I'm going to have the most success there. Dunn is an incredible coach and I got along with the team great. Also, the facilities are outstanding, and I was extremely impressed with how pretty the campus was. The library looks like it's something straight out of Harry Potter. The most attractive aspect of Oklahoma was the amount of academic support the student-athletes receive. I knew on my visit OU was a place where I'd be successful and very happy.
What is your planned course of study at the University of Oklahoma?
I plan on studying business. I've taken a few business classes throughout high school and I'm really interested In a lot of the material we're learning. One of the topics which stood out to me the most was promoting and advertising. Honestly, I could see myself in the future making stupid TV commercials, so maybe a journalism major?
Are you still training for any post-season cross country events, or has the focus shifted to track at this point?
Yes, I am planning on racing NXR and hopefully NXN. I made a promise to myself when I saw Rachael Chako qualify for NXN my sophomore year that I would do the same my senior year. Then after my cross season ends I'll be splitting the focus between playing ice hockey for the Cherry Creek District team and training for track.
I'm guessing that OU is recruiting you primarily as an 800/1500 runner. For you, will that still include logging all the heavy miles over the summer and into the fall for running cross country?
Yes, I plan on training for cross country and then when the season starts I'll see whether or not I'll be red-shirting or not.
If you look back over your high school career can you pick a single highlight moment that stands out above all the others?
The highlight of my high school career was having the opportunity to run every single day with my boys. No matter how stressful or disappointing a day was, whenever I was at practice I was happy and having the time of my life; all other issues in life just melted away. For every 2:00, 5:00 or 16:00 minutes of glory I've ever had, I have hundreds upon hundreds of incredible hours training with my best friends. I couldn't have asked for a better coaching staff and a better group of guys and girls to be around all the time, and I'm extremely thankful for that.
When you ran your 1:51.63 did you have any awareness during the race that something special was going down or did all that come after?
During the race I knew I wanted to break the state record, but I didn't know if I would be able to. The last 100 was excruciating and I remember crossing the finish line and trying to ask "did I do it" but not having the energy to form real sentences. So I gave up on asking and found a nice place on the infield to go lay down and recover. It wasn't until about 5 minutes later when I realized I did it, and it took a couple of hours before it sunk in.
Are there any targets in your mind for what you'd like to accomplish this spring?
First off, I'm going to have a blast this season and train harder than I ever have before. Then, I want to ensure my legacy will be remembered. Correct me if I'm wrong but the mile record hasn't been broken in a while and I believe I can crack 1:50 in the 800. I haven't won any state championships yet so that is definetely on the list.
