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After
finishing third in the NCAA Cross Country Championships his sophomore
year and second his junior year, Jorge Torres will attempt to continue
that pattern November 25th in Terre Haute, Indiana. Torres and his
Colorado teammates will vie for their second-straight national title,
but they'll do so without the help of last year's fourth-place finisher
and Torres' training partner, Dathan Ritzenhein, who was diagnosed
with a stress fracture last month. Torres says he and his CU teammates
are certainly feeling the loss but that no one should count them
out just yet.
Now
in his final year at the University of Colorado, Torres has established
himself as one of the U.S.'s top runners over the past several seasons.
Last year, as a junior, he took home three NCAA runner-up finishes
(cross country, indoor 5,000m, outdoor 5,000m) but his best finish
may have come at the World Cross Country Championships in March
where he led the US team in the 4k race, finishing 11th overall.
Torres
originally hails from Wheeling, Illinois where he was a prep standout,
winning the Foot Locker Cross Country National title in 1998. He
and his twin brother Edwardo, also a top runner for the CU team,
now share a house in Boulder.
MensRacing.com:
So, what did you do this
summer?
Jorge Torres: A lot of running (laughs). I just did my
base training over the summer, nothing really difficult, just a
lot of mileage. What do I mean by a lot of miles? Like 100-105 mile
weeks.
MR:
How does that compare to
other years?
JT: Usually by this time I've only gotten like eight
100-mile weeks or so, and this time around I have fourteen almost,
so it's a big difference.
MR:
Were you in Boulder this
summer?
JT: Yeah. I hardly ever go home... I only go home for
about a week or two each year. Most of the time I stay in Boulder
because I have a home here.
MR:
Were you able to train with other guys from your team this summer,
did many of them stick around?
JT: CU has a lot of kids that stay in Boulder for the
summer, it's one of the reasons for our success. Most of the guys
stay here, train with the team and get their mileage in, so everyone
knows where they're at.
MR:
Did you do anything besides running this summer?
JT: Let's see, I went to Vegas for Chris Lear's bachelor
party, a couple of the Alumni from [Boulder] and a couple of my
teammates went to Vegas and we had a pretty good time out there
(laughs). I went on a cool trip up Mt. Elbert, which is the tallest
mountain in Colorado, with a bunch of my teammates and Mark Wetmore.
We camped out and hiked up the mountain -- actually, we didn't hike
up it, we ran up it (laughs)... It was quite an adventure.
MR:
At the time trial two weeks
ago, you finished with a pack of five runners. What kind of effort
was that for you?
JT: That was pretty much like a jogging effort (laughs).
I just stuck with the pack, it was more like a workout, just to
get the team started off...
MR:
How are you feeling fitness-wise?
JT: Well, I've felt fit every year so far, except for
my freshman year. This year is no exception. I feel really fit and
comfortable. I don't know [how I compare] to the rest of the country,
but based on previous years, I'd say I'm as fit or even better than
previous years.
MR:
When will you run your first
race of the season?
JT: October 5th is my first meet, the Rocky Mountain
Shootout, our home meet. That race will probably not be as intense
as the Pre-Nationals, which are two weeks after the Shootout. I
really don't know where I'm going to be going all-out and showing
my cards. Maybe it won't happen until November 25th. But my opener
is the Shootout and I'm looking forward to it because I've been
training a lot... I need to start doing some fun stuff (laughs).
MR:
How many times will you
race this season?
JT: Probably, for the NCAA season, just a total of five
times: The Shootout, Pre-Nationals, Big 12s, Regionals and Nationals.
And then I'm hoping to run the US Cross Country Nationals [in Houston
in February].
MR:
What are your goals for
your cross country season, including Winter Nationals?
JT: I definitely would like to contend for a national
championship, hopefully come away with a national championship
this fall. As far as USA Nationals go, I would like to make another
World Championship team, maybe even win the USA Championship in
cross, and then go on to the Worlds and finish, hopefully, in the
top seven this year. Last year I finished 11th and I'm hoping to
improve on that.
MR:
Will you run the 4k again?
JT: Mark Wetmore is trying to convince me to run a 12k,
but I think the 4k is what I'm going to lean towards because it
doesn't take too much out of my track season and it's fun doing
a short race.
MR:
Going back to the NCAA season,
what is it going to take to beat (last year's winner) Boaz Cheboiywo
this year?
JT: I can't answer that question, because I don't know
what Boaz's fitness is. I can only do what I've been doing the previous
years: just chopping away and improving a little bit at a time,
and hoping that's enough to come away with a national championship.
I think I've done my part, and it's time to see if what I've done
is enough to come away with it.
MR:
And you've lost Dathan for the season. Has it been hard, losing
your training partner?
JT: Yeah, it has. Having someone there at my side during
the workouts, it's comfortable, it makes me feel confident, it helps
both of us because we're both top runners... and we can tell what
level of fitness we're at. With Dathan not there, it's a little
bit tougher to get motivated to go hard and push the pace a little
bit sometimes. But I have my brother. My brother's always been there
and I have Steve Slattery, they're also pretty good runners themselves.
They switched their days where they help me out and push me.
MR:
How does that work, is it
like, 'Okay, today's your day to try to keep up with him'?
JT: It's more like if one of them is feeling good, they'll
help me out. I definitely don't want to put them in [a situation]
where they have to help me out every day (laughs) because if they
[pushed themselves too much] they'd get hurt. It's more like if
they feel good, they'll come out and help me.
MR:
Do you think you can still
win the team title without Dathan?
JT: Yeah. Why not? Dathan's a good runner and yeah, we
miss him, it's a big blow to our team. But we still have three really
talented front runners and we have a pretty good supporting cast
with the incoming freshmen and a couple of the guys we've developed
over the last couple years, why not? We have just as good of a team
as we did last year, even though we only won by one point last year
(laughs). Yeah, I think we're still in contention to win a national
championship.
MR:
Is there anyone in particular
that you think could really step up and fill those fourth and fifth
spots?
JT: I really can't name any names because there are just
so many guys contending for the fourth and fifth spots.
MR:
Have you thought ahead
to track season at all? What are your goals?
JT: I haven't even thought about track season, I've had
some dreams (laughs), but I haven't seriously thought about what
I want to do. I have a dream of running under 13:15 in the 5k, making
the World Championship team, maybe coming away with a 5k National
Championship... But I really haven't sat down and thought about
it. I know that at the end of the year I graduate and I lose my
eligibility for NCAA. I want to keep running [professionally], go
on to the US Championships and contend for a 5k title there, and
hopefully go on to the World Championships.
MR:
Technically you have another
season of indoor track eligibility after this year, so you could
come back, right?
JT: I could, but I don't think it's worth it.
MR:
Particularly in an Olympic
year.
JT: Exactly. That's probably my main reason for not coming
back. But I think I have a pretty good shot at the World Championship
team next summer, and then I have to start preparing myself for
what this is all about -- the Olympic Games.
MR:
Do you think that you'll
concentrate on the 5,000 in the long term?
JT: I think that I'll concentrate on the 5,000 for the
first Olympics. I can't say about 2008. Depending on how it goes,
I might consider the 10k, but I'll mostly likely stay with the 5k.
MR:
Have you ever run a 10k on the track?
JT: No, I haven't. I'm kind of anxious to run the 10k,
but I know that I can still develop my speed and run really well
in the 5k, so I'm just going to be patient and wait until later
years to run a 10k.
MR:
And is it safe to assume
you'll remain in Boulder after graduation?
JT: Yeah, I plan to live here in Boulder. I have a house
up here, I'm pretty set right here for a couple years.
MR:
Will you still be coached
by Mark Wetmore?
JT: Most likely yes, Wetmore will be my coach and I'll
still be training with Dathan Ritzenhein. I think he's a good training
partner and Edwardo plans to stay around here too. As long as Edwardo
keeps on running -- he's planning to run for a couple years after
college -- he, Dathan and I will hopefully help each other do well
on the national level.
MR:
Mark Wetmore has been criticized
for working the team too hard -- much of the criticism seems to
be based on the '98 team and "Running with the Buffaloes"
-- do you think you train harder than other teams? Do you think
he comes closer to walking that line between health and injury than
other coaches do?
JT: I think "Running with the Buffaloes" exaggerates
the way Mark Wetmore trains [his teams]. It [makes it sound like]
we're just killing ourselves and just pounding ourselves. I don't
think it ever mentions -- I've never read the book really, I've
just skimmed it -- how we take easy days and how we recover and
do all this other stuff that helps us recover from the hard runs.
I don't think Mark is really that different from any other coaches,
he runs a legitimate program that emphasizes running every day,
and doesn't allow for people to go home and be lazy and then come
here and not perform to the level that he expects of them. I think
the program is good [because] everybody here is dedicated, willing
to work hard, willing to go out there every day and not go out partying
and drinking and do a lot of the other things that I think a lot
of Division I programs do. And the few programs that don't are the
ones that are successful. I think that Mark's reputation of killing
us is over-exaggerated.
MR:
Would it be accurate to
say that you work really hard on the hard days and take it pretty
easy on the easy days?
JT: I think that myself, Ritzenhein, Edwardo and Steve
are the exception to the runners that take it easy. We kind of push
ourselves and that's because we want to push ourselves. When
you read "Running with the Buffaloes," Chris Lear is describing
people like Adam Goucher, Jorge Torres, Edwardo Torres, Steve Slattery,
Dathan Ritzenhein and Alan Culpepper -- individuals who take it
an extra level and work harder. [Athletes] who are willing to lay
it on the line sometimes, even though they know they're at a point
of injury. That's who "Running with the Buffaloes" [describes].
It's not Mark's doing. Mark sometimes tells us to run easy and it's
up to us to decide whether we're going to run easy or we're going
to [walk on] that fine line between getting injured and not getting
injured.
MR:
You've been pretty fortunate
with injuries, right?
JT: Yeah, I think I learned a pretty big lesson in high
school. I was injured often in high school and that was kind of
a starting point for me to learn about my body and what it can take
and what it can't take. I've been able to go to workouts for like
six weeks and then one day I'll feel a little pain that just
kind of feels funny and I'll be like, 'Mark, I'm taking a day off,
or I'm taking two days off, I'll see you in a few days.' Mark will
say, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?' And I'll say, 'Trust
me, I'll talk to you in two or three days.' Two or three days later
I'll go back to the workouts like nothing happened and I'll be fine.
MR:
When you take those days
'off' do you go in the pool or anything? Or do you just take them
off?
JT: Usually I just take the days completely off. I sit
on my butt, become a civilian, a regular person, and just hang out.
MR:
Can you tell us about your
house? It sounds pretty interesting.
JT: Well, it's called 'The Fight Club.' I can't really
remember who gave it that nickname, it was somebody on the team,
a couple years ago. It's this house that we bought when we first
got here, we were looking [toward] the future. The land was beautiful
but the house itself was a crap hole (laughs). It was like a mining
shack, Ed and I looked at it and we were like, 'We could fix this
up, the land is what counts.' We ended up restoring it, fixing it
up, it looks really nice now, like a dream house for a lot of people.
I know we're fortunate to be college students and live in such a
nice house. It's a good place to hang out, we have get-togethers
and cookouts and just watch boxing matches, sporting events... It
has a nice yard and a pretty big living space... It's away from
the city of Boulder, it's in the mountains, it's right next to a
creek, and it's a really cool place just to chill.
MR:
How far is it from the CU
campus?
JT: It's about a 12-minute drive, it's not that bad
at all. It seems like it's far because it's in the mountains...
It feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, but then you get in
the car and drive down the canyon and you're at campus in 12 minutes.
MR:
Is there some good running
right around your house?
JT: There are a lot of cool places to run. They're not
easy courses, they're really difficult. The only time you ever do
them is when you're running really, really easy -- even though you're
running easy, it's still going to hurt -- or if you want to run
hard, then you're going to be in a world of pain.
MR:
How many people are living
there right now?
JT: We have six people, five of us are teammates and
the other guy is a good friend of mine from back home.
MR:
Are you going to get rid
of your tenants when you graduate?
JT: I'm hoping that slowly, but surely, people will
start moving out, start living on their own, and leave Ed and me
to our peaceful home... Getting away from the college life a little
bit and start living like an adult (laughs).
MR:
We see that in addition
to Edwardo, you also have three older brothers. Did any of them
run?
JT: Daniel did, he's the one that's right next to us
in age, the middle child. He's the one that actually introduced
me to running. He ran in junior high and high school and when I
was going in to junior high I asked him what sport I should try
out for. He said, 'Try cross country, it's a cool sport, it's fun,
it keeps you fit...' So I tried it... And my (club) coach Greg Fedyski
kind of molded me and directed me the right way, told me to set
long-term goals, didn't burn me out... He was looking out for my
future, I guess he saw some kind of talent in me... I respect that
because I think he did a really good job of teaching me how to look
out for myself in the long-term and [focus] on long-term goals like
hopefully being an Olympian for the United States.
MR:
And not all high school
kids are so lucky as to end up with such a good coach.
JT: Yeah, exactly. My high school coach was not the
kind of guy that wanted me to look for the future, he wanted me
to be good now. Whereas Greg Fedyski took me aside and said,
'Listen, you've got way better goals ahead of you, better races
to run. Concentrate on developing yourself as a runner.' I really
respect that and he's actually one of my good friends and I still
talk to him -- that's who I was on the other line with when you
called.
MR:
Who would you say your role
models are?
JT: My dad, my mom, my brothers... Greg Fedyski as well.
That core right there, those people I just mentioned, have really
molded me as a person and as a well-rounded individual. I've been
fortunate enough to have such a great family that supports what
Edwardo and I do, and gave us the opportunity to go out there in
our junior high and high school days and run all these cool meets.
They were always 100% behind me. Even though the didn't get to see
all of my meets when I was younger, I understood that they were
working hard in life so we could do what we were good at... I would
say they were the ones who have helped my brother and me out, enabled
us to be where we are now.
MR:
Who would you say your role
models are?
JT: They've seen more of my meets in college than they
ever did during junior high or high school. They travel often, they
come out to Boulder often and just hang out with us. They help cook
dinner for us... and treat us like little boys (laughs).
MR:
What do you do to get your
minds off things, how do you unwind?
JT: Pretty much just hang out with my friends, hang
out at the Fight Club. I just find something to do like play Monopoly
or play with the dog, or just sometimes go on little hiking trips...
Just do immature, stupid stuff.
(Interview
conducted September 15, 2002, posted September 24, 2002)
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