Melbourne's Brian Atkinson had a stellar Junior Cross Country Season winning back to back 4A State titles and posting a PR 15:11 while winning the Nike Southeast Regional in the post-season. His fellow "Project Bulldogs" had a great season as well, finishing 2nd at State and was Florida's top boys team finishing 8th at the Nike Southeast Regional.
Anyone who has ever seen Brian race knows he doesn't leave anything in the tank as he races as hard as anyone I've known in the last 30 years. It's not uncommon to see Brian completely spent, chest heaving, eyes rolled back and totally drained much like Dathan Ritzenheim when he ran for Rockford High in Michigan during the resurgence of Prep distance running almost 10 years ago.
I recently caught up with Brian during the Christmas Holidays...
DB: Brian, Congratulations on a great Junior Cross Country Season. Prior to the season, did you have any specific goals in mind?
I didn't really have a definite time goal, but I knew I was ready to run a lot faster than 15:33 (my PR from last year). My goals in terms of postseason placement were to win state, and to qualify for nationals.
DB: You had a really great race against some tough competition at Bale-n-Trail where you finished second behind Leon's Matt Mizereck posting a stellar PR 15:08. Looking back at that race in particular, do you have any thoughts on how it affected the rest of the season?
That race was really great because it gave me a lot of confidence, but also a lot of hunger. The fact that I had run 4:52-4:55 pace and actually held it for 3.1 miles gave me the confidence to take the first mile out at 4:50 or 4:55 in later races, and that produced a lot of good times. But I lost the race. No one could be (or should be) completely satisfied with a race when they get beat. Matt crushed me in that last 200, and that made me hungry to get better.
DB: At Pre-State, you finished 3rd behind Mizereck and Wallace. It seems like you always run great at Little Everglades and your 15:26 that day was no different. What are your thoughts on Little Everglades as a course?
I really love that course. The ideal course for me is one that has hills and even footing. Because I am more of a strength runner, I do well on hilly courses, but I can't stand courses that have patches of grass or sand or anything else that makes the footing uneven. Little Everglades meets my standards as a great course, which is nice because it looks like state's going to be there for all 4 of my years in high school!
DB: Coach Woodbury has mentioned that as an athlete your aim is to take care of the details such as getting enough rest and eating right. What's the toughest aspect of being an elite distance runner?
Because I try to get in at least 9 hours of sleep each night, I end up going to bed pretty darn early. This is tough only because a lot of times my friends are off doing fun stuff (nothing illegal of course) and I have to decline the invite because I have to get my beauty sleep. I'm not a huge partier by nature, so I don't really long to go to parties, but I do end up skipping out on a lot of late movies and such. Eating right is not tough at all. My mom (a pediatrician and awesome cook) makes really delicious and nutritious meals every night, and she has raised us on healthy food since birth (we weren't even allowed to have fruit loops!).
DB: It's always easier to have a great team alongside you in the distance world. Can you tell us about your fellow Bulldog harriers?
God has really blessed me with awesome teammates who love running as much as I do, and who work hard at practice every day. The varsity boys (James Post, Erik Fagan, Dillon McGee, Mark Gold, Jacob Stewart, Callum Wilson, Luke Tweedale, Bobby Simon and Amu Brewer) all have a work ethic that is contagious, and without their accountability to do my best I would not be at the level I am now. James Post has been making my kick stronger by dominating me in 200- and 300- repeat workouts; Erik is a distance man like myself and he has helped me win many arguments as to why XC is better than track; Dillon "Birdman" McGee has made us all laugh and has surprised almost everyone with how fast he got; Mark is the wittiest guy on earth and his one liners have made us all have to stop in the middle of a run; Jacob is the nice guy who pipes in every once in awhile with a great joke, Callum is the British kid but we love him anyways; Luke is the surfer dude of the group and he's always 'stoked'; Bobby is a lot like Brian from Family Guy but without the drinking problem; and Amu is the cool guy of the group who kind of just showed up and was awesome from the get go. There are a ton of other guys on JV who are just as cool but this response is too long as it is…
DB: As defending State Champions from the 2007 season, was your team confident in their ability to repeat in 2008 after Regions ?
We were confident that we had a shot. Everything has to come together perfectly on that special day to come home with a state title, regardless of how good you are. We knew we had the parts to be better than we were in 2007, and I believe we were better in 2008 than in 2007.
DB: As it turned out, you finished 2nd to Columbus, 86-119. Any reflections on the team aspect of State this year?
As stated above, everything has to come together perfectly to win, and that didn't happen this year. And I am not trying to take away from Columbus – they beat us fair and square. They had a great day and they won by a comfortable margin. We did everything possible to prepare for that day, but it just wasn't in the cards.
DB: Last year at Little Everglades, you ran 15:43 for the win at State. What were your thoughts when Mizereck posted a 15:16 in the 3A race prior to your race?
I knew the times were going to be much better than they were last year, and I was ready for Matt, Will and Mike to run spectacular times. Going into the race, I wanted to prove I was just as good as those guys, so they really pushed me to run fast as well.
DB: You ran one heck of a State Final. Did you have a race plan prior to the race? At what point in the race did you decide to drop the hammer?
I didn't have an exact plan going in, but I knew I wanted the pace to be quick, because I did not want any kickers to be next to me in the last 200. I can't say I ever really dropped the hammer, I just held pace.
DB: Your team opted to run Nike Cross Southeast Regionals on a very hilly course in Cary, North Carolina. Was that a tough decision seeing you had run Footllocker in previous years?
It wasn't a real tough decision because the team always comes first, and we all thought we could do really great. It was more of a disappointment that we can't have one national championship. If only Nike and Footlocker could combine, then no one would be faced with an individual vs. team decision, and ALL the top individuals in the nation could be in one race.
DB: You posted a 15:11 winning the race against some top flight competition. On a scale of 1 to 10, effort wise, how did that race compare to all previous races in your career?
I would say it was a 9. That day was one of those days you feel really smooth, and when the front pack went through the mile at 4:40, I felt great (which was surprising). It was very different from most other races I've run in because even though we had gone through in 4:40, there were still 10 or 15 guys ahead of me. I really enjoyed the pack racing because having a bunch of guys all around me made me forget about the pain a bit.
DB: You qualified for Nike Cross Nationals with your first place visit. Can you take us through that experience with some highlights from the time you boarded your flight until you returned home?
The whole experience was awesome. I jumped on the plane at Melbourne Airport and flew by myself for the first time to Oregon (my dad and godfather were coming the next day). All the free stuff was great, the food was great, but two things really stuck out as awesome to me.
The first thing that was awesome was meeting the Kenyan Teams. There were 5 boys and 5 girls, and they were super nice and spoke enough English for us to communicate. They were all of course ridiculously fast – one guy ran the Steeplechase faster than I can run a 3k! But one girl named Cynthia sat next to me on the bus and after talking for a while, I found out that her track 5k PR is 15:09. She is 15 years old. Talk about humbling…
My favorite part of the trip was meeting the pros. I got to talk to/get autographs from Shalane Flanagan, Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan Webb, Kara Goucher, Adam Goucher, Abdi Abdirahman, Chris Solinsky, Bernard Lagat, Matt Tegenkamp, and Shannon Rowbury! Each autograph is now hung proudly on the walls of my room.
DB: Track season is right around the corner. What are your goals for the 1600 and the 3200?
I want to at least PR in both, but I can't say exactly what times I am shooting for. If the Winter Base training keeps going well, then I am hoping for dramatic improvement – specifically in the 3200. The ultimate goal is to defend my 3200 state title but I have a lot of races to get through before I can say I even have a shot at that!
DB: Have you started to think about running in college yet? Do you have a particular career in mind?
I have started thinking about it, but I haven't actually done much of anything in terms of visits and things of that nature. I am also undecided in my career, but I have always liked Science and Math more than English and such – whatever that means.
