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Chris Solinsky, one of the best high school cross country runners
ever to come out of Wisconsin, is one of the favorites to take home
a Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship in December. After
finishing third at last year's Foot Locker Championships, Solinsky
went on to clock 8:48.44 for 3,200 meters at the prestigious Arcadia
Invitational in April. He then finished second at the adidas Outdoor
Championships in June with a time of 8:59.92. We caught up with
this highly-recruited athlete last month.
MensRacing.com: So how has your season
gone for you so far?
Chris Solinsky: Pretty
good. I've had some ups and downs, but basically some gains. I'm
getting the good, hard training in and I'm not really worried too
much about meets -- I just kind of train through everything. My
lowest mileage so far was 62 the week before Great American. Just
training through everything and getting ready for the big stuff.
MR:
Are you happy with how the results turned out at Great American
or did you hope for better?
CS: I
was definitely happy with the win because that was one of my goals.
Last year I took third in the Race of Champions and fifth overall
on the day. So I wanted to come out of there with the win to kind
of show improvement and show the guys that even though I'm not in
my best form right now I'm ready to go. I definitely would have
liked a faster time. That was the first time in over two years I
was over 16 minutes. But for everyone the times weren't a good indicator.
MR:
What were the conditions like?
CS: Friday
night it wasn't the greatest for the college race, but for the high
school race the day was a nice day, but the course was pretty soggy
and pretty muddy and there were lots of slanted hills. You could
never really get a rhythm… It kind of put the crap in your
legs.
MR:
Your state meet is approaching. What is the game as you approach
the meet for your training? Are you planning on training through?
[Ed. Note: This interview was conducted before the Wisconsin state
meet. Solinsky won his third-straight state title in a record-breaking
time of 14:54.]
CS: I'm going to bring my mileage
down a little bit to try to see, you know, get a good time in before
I go on that four-week break before [the Foot Locker Midwest Regional].
So my mileage will be about 50-60 and I'll just try to get in there
and run a fast time and see how it feels to feel good during the
race and everything.
MR:
What has your mileage consistently been during the season?
CS: I've
been consistently around 70-80 miles during the season with my highest
being 92.
MR:
What was your summer training like?
CS: Actually,
it wasn't as high as I wanted it to be. I was right around 70 miles
or so. I wanted it to be pretty high, but I'm making it up during
the season, I'm just kind of training through everything and getting
the base still with the speed mixed in. My highest, though, over
the summer was 106.
MR:
That's a pretty high week there.
CS: Yeah
it was! It felt good though to get it under my belt.
MR:
It's been three years now that you have been training by yourself.
What was the adjustment to it like and are you used to it?
CS: At
first it was really hard to get used to because my freshman year
I was the number two runner on the team so I always had that guy
to train with. But then my sophomore year it was kind of a wake
up call. I've gotten used to it, its not as bad as everyone thinks
it is. It teaches you to work harder and you are not afraid to run
by yourself to, so it helps out.
MR:
Has being a high mileage runner affected which colleges you're considering?
CS: A
little bit, but I did flirt with the lower mileage in track and
it paid off, I did pretty well. I'm not necessarily saying that
I'm going to pick a high mileage school, but it's preferable for
me.
MR:
What have been your focus points in choosing a school?
CS: The
running is what kind of what attracts me to the school and then
I look at the academics and both Stanford and Wisconsin have really
good academics so, I can't lose either way I go.
MR:
What are the schools that you are looking at?
CS: The
ones I have visited are Oregon, Stanford and Wisconsin. Right now
I have it narrowed down between Wisconsin and Stanford.
MR:
When are you planning on signing?
CS: I'm
going to sign early just because it will be a relief off my back
and I've felt quite a bit under pressure, but up until now I've
been able to pretty much hold it off and distract myself with other
things. But its starting to build up a little more, so I'm definitely
looking to relieve that pressure.
MR:
What's the weather like in Wisconsin and how does it affect your
training?
CS: Yeah,
but I pretty much get used to it. Because you have to deal with
it pretty much every day, and if you're going to let the snow and
everything get to you and make you stop, then you're not going to
be any kind of runner, so I've gotten used to that fact and just
go out there every day and trudge through the snow. Actually today
(October 22nd) we got about six inches of snow so it wasn't the
most pleasant of training conditions. It's definitely not fun.
MR:
You are the favorite to win Foot Locker this year. What do you think
your chances and how are you gearing yourself for [the Midwest Regionals]
and the National Finals?
CS: I
think I'm going to go into Midwest and concentrate on winning that
one because I believe that in the Midwest Regional there are three
or four of the top guys that are contending for the national title.
It's going to be a good race there and I'm going to do the best
I can and run the fastest I can, hopefully I can be under 15 minutes
and see what I can do at nationals. I've got the goal that quite
a few people have and that's to win it, so we will see what happens.
MR:
Is it too early to think about track or do you have some preliminary
goals set?
CS: Yeah,
preliminary goals, I'm not going to try and form a major goal right
now I'm just going to focus on the end of cross country. This week
I have the state meet to focus on; hopefully we can get a good team
place and a good time, and then try to focus my attention to Footlockers.
After that I will turn my attention to track and hopefully try to
run as fast as I can in the mile and two mile and try to get my
time down there in the 800.
MR:
Are you planning on doing Winter Cross Country Nationals? If so
are you going to skip indoor and train through or do you still plan
on racing at the big meets?
CS: I'm
thinking about doing it, I'm almost positive that I'm going to but
I still have to talk it over with my coaches and everything and
see what the best option would be. I'm pretty much going to train
through indoors… If I were to qualify for [the World Junior
Cross Country Championships] I wouldn't gear my training towards
it, instead [I'd focus on] track and try not to make mistakes a
lot of the guys did last year overdoing it and not having enough
leg speed. I'm going to still get in speed training for track and
just focus on the experience.
MR:
What other interests do you have outside of running and school?
CS: I
love the outdoors, I just love being outside and enjoying the weather,
whether it's cold or warm. I definitely just love hanging out with
my friends and doing the normal high school thing, once in a while
getting into trouble.
MR:
Do you have any advice to offer to aspiring runners?
CS: Mostly
just to have fun, don't get tired of it. Never do things that you
dread going to practice for. Always have fun with the sport and
pass it on and keep it alive, it's a great thing. It's being revived
lately, hopefully it keeps on going.
A.J.
Andrassy is an undergraduate at Notre Dame and a freelance writer.
(Interview conducted October 22, 2002. Posted November 11, 2002)
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