Paul Roberts on his way to his 4th state xc title on Oct. 31st. Photo: Matthew Scoggins
You're the first Colorado high school athlete to win four straight state championships. What was it like to win the first title and did you think you would be able to accomplish this?
Definitely, since I was in middle I've had an older brother and a couple older sisters run. It's always been a goal of mine. Coming in freshman year we had a really good team. The team goal has always been the focus each season but at the end of the year you also want to get the lowest points possible for the team. I ended up winning, which was super exciting, and from then on the team and individual goals have gone together.
You compete in the smallest classification; did you approach the state meet trying to win your race but also post the fastest overall time?
Yeah definitely. Freshman and sophomore year I had the second fastest time. That's definitely one of my goals, especially this year. I just try to run as fast as I can and see how I match up against the other guys.
Are you planning on aiming for NXN again?
I'm actually going for NXN and Foot Locker this year. It is going to be a tough four weeks trying to make both of them but I think it'll be a good experience to try to run at both and place as highly as possible. I've already gone to NXN, but I wanted to try to do both.
How many siblings do you have?
I have two older sisters and and older brother, along with three younger sisters and brothers, so there are ten of us.
What's it like growing up in that household?
It's pretty awesome. I'm the fourth from the oldest, so I've had a lot of good role models and there's never a dull moment. You always have somebody to play with so it's pretty fun.
Right now, how old are you, your oldest sibling, and your youngest sibling?
I'm 17, my oldest brother is 25, and my little brother is 5.
Do you have any funny stories from sharing such a large household?
We have quite a few funny stories. I used to share a room with my little brother and older brother. We live on ten acres so there's plenty to do around the house.
Are you the fastest of all ten siblings?
So far. My older brother Andrew almost made it to Foot Locker his senior year. He got 12th. His year was when the Midwest Region was very strong. I passed all his records but there are plenty of other siblings coming who will hopefully break my records.
How many do you think could run faster than you are right now?
My little brother Isaac is a little faster than I am in the mile and down right now. We'll see if he gets faster in the longer distances. My little brother David will probably be pretty good. We'll see how motivated he gets about running. We are home schooled so we run for our PE. So it's a thing we have to do but then you get excited about it later.
Talk about what the home school experience is like.
I'm home schooled and take a few classes up at Lyons where I run. I take anywhere from two to four classes at the high school. It's different going from home school to high school. Normally I go to school four days a week and stay home one day when I don't have classes. It's fun, you get to hang out with all the kids on the team every day and have classes with them. The mix is interesting, but I like it.
You just recently announced your college decision, can you tell us about your choice?
I visited CSU then looked at Kansas when I was out there for Rim Rock. I had contact with a couple other coaches. But I visited CSU Pueblo back in January, because you can visit D2 schools early. My sister is also down there. I really liked the team and the coaches. They're a really new school, it's only the second year for the cross country and track programs. They've been progressing really fast and I really enjoyed the coach and team atmosphere there.
Now that you're a 4-Time state champion, what are your goals as you approach the national championships at the end of the season?
I have some time goals, but my main goals are to go out and compete hard. Be at the front of the races, hopefully Top-5. Obviously the goal is to try to win, but there's a lot of great competition out there. I will run as hard as I can, put myself in a good position, and see what happens.
How have you been trying to prepare for national championships when you don't often get to race against elite competition in the smaller classification races?
I've always run off the front of races. Actually earlier in the season I raced Ben Butler. I ran on him for the first mile and a half. We ran together, and then I took off. I guess we'll see how it plays out, but I'll try to run further up to the front. It's the same type of strategy, but there are just more people to push you. I don't have a great kick compared to my aerobic ability, but we'll see what happens. It's different to get used to racing tactically, but I've had a few experiences in the past and the two regionals should help prepare me for the national meets.
Is there anyone in particular you're looking forward to racing?
Definitely, in the Southwest Region there are some pretty good kids. I raced and went to NXN last year with Alek Parsons and he's a fun kid to race. Casey Clinger's up there along with some other good athletes in that region. Since freshman year my times have been pretty close with Phillip Rocha. Austin Tamagno and Drew Hunter are two I haven't raced yet, but I'm looking forward to racing the big competition at the end of the year.
Do you think you're a bit under the radar considering you haven't raced at the big well known invites, and you could surprise a lot of people at nationals this year?
I hope so, maybe not too far under the radar. You've got to take rankings with a grain of salt because you've still got to go out and prove it on race day. I'm not too worried about being underrated, I'm going to continue training hard. They may run against better competition at the bigger meets, but we can all go out and race hard on any given day. I'm just excited to go out and see what I can do at the end of the season and see where everyone matches up against each other.
You had a unique experience when you ran at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in China back in March. What impact did that experience have on you?
We saw that the qualifier was right in Boulder so we went down and I barely made it. A couple kids actually fell right at the end and I barely made it in. I was very fortunate to make it there. That was a great experience to represent the country, see a lot of elite athletes, and run for Team USA. I was actually more excited for the track season than going to China at the time, but it was definitely a good experience and I'm happy I got to go there and still have a solid track season.
Mentioning you were more aerobically based, what did you think about racing the 8K in China?
I'm probably at better at longer distances, but I didn't like the 8K that much. It hurts a little bit more, but you've got to get used to that.
Do you have any specific goals for your track season to finish out your senior year?
I haven't thought about track too much. I didn't get a PR in the mile last year. We usually PR in the last meet, but it was super rainy so we weren't able to get good times. I want to get a big PR in the mile. The all classification record is just under 4:11, which may be just out of my reach. Then the all classification record for the 3200m is 9:05, which has been a goal since middle school. That's a very good record and I want to go after that. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for national meets. I might go try to run one in the summer. Maybe Brooks PR or New Balance, but I'm not totally sure.
With some time in between your state meet and the upcoming regionals, how does that affect your training?
Not too much will be different. We didn't peak for State. It was just another race along the way. We had a bit of a down week to get ready for it, but NXN and Foot Locker have been the focus for the season. Just keep training, keep consistent, then taper a little bit for those races and get ready to run fast.
What's the hardest workout you've done all season?
Last Tuesday I did an eight mile progression run which was pretty windy for the last three miles so that was pretty tough. Other than that I think this week I'll have some pretty hard workouts I have 3xMile at 5K pace and then 3xMile at 3K pace. Those will probably be my hardest workouts of the year.
