The fastest high school runner in Flagstaff, and perhaps among the fastest in the state, will not be on the starting line on Wednesday afternoon for the annual City of Flagstaff cross country meet at Buffalo Park.
Nor will he race at regionals or the state championships this fall.
Yohanes van Meerten, who just turned 16, is living through what is essentially a high school version of a college “redshirt” season – the difference being that van Meerten, a sophomore, won’t get his lost cross country season back.
In late August, well after school had already began at Northland Preparatory Academy, where van Meerten matriculated as a freshman, he made the decision to transfer to Flagstaff High School. Arizona Athletic Association rules dictate that district transfers during the school year must sit out a semester.
So van Meerten, born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before being adopted at 1-year-old and moving to the U.S., won’t don the green singlet of Flagstaff High until track season. He practices with the Eagles’ team and goes to meets to cheer on his future teammates, which he said is both difficult and enjoyable.
But that doesn’t mean van Meerten hasn’t been racing. He’s run twice this season, unattached, and had highly impressive showings.
On Aug. 31, after hanging around in the morning watching the high schoolers at The Peaks Invitational, van Meerten put on a dark blue singlet and finished 12th in the NAU-hosted George Kyte Classic, covering the 4.5-mile Buffalo Park course in 22:54 (a brisk 5:05 minute pace) while competing against top college and a few professional runners.
Compare that with Page High’s Symond Martin, who ran 16:35 (5:21 pace) to easily win the Peaks 5K earlier in the morning, and it’s fair to say van Meerten would have captured the victory.
Then, on Sept. 27 at the huge Desert Twilight Invitational, a top prep meet, van Meerten didn’t sit idlily by and watch his teammates.
He jumped in the “community” race for the public and ripped off a victory in 15:00.07 on a fast, flat golf course in Mesa. Later that night, in the boys sweepstakes race featuring several of the nation’s top runners and a dominant team, Niwot (Colo.), only six other runners beat van Meerten’s time. And he ran alone that night – the second finisher was 17 seconds behind – so who knows how fast van Meerten could have run if pushed.
Sub-15, perhaps?
Van Meerten, himself, doesn’t know.
In an interview before a recent Flagstaff High cross country practice, he sat on the steps just outside the school gym and sort of shrugged when asked that question, before finally answering.
“That was my goal,” he said. “Throughout the first mile and the second mile, I was feeling good. At 1K, I looked behind me and no one was around. If I was in the (Desert Twilight) sweepstakes (race), I feel I definitely could have gone 14:50 or 14:55.”
In late November, perhaps, van Meerten might get to test himself against the best. Even though the AIA has prohibited him from competing for Flag High this fall, there are no restrictions for van Meerten running in the Nov. 23 Nike Cross Regionals (NXR) Southwest, which determines the runners who’ll advance to the NXN, the nationals. (NXR and NXN are not affiliated with official, sanctioned high school races.)
“I might try another college meet,” van Meerten said, “or just wait until NXR and see what happens there. Like, it’s hard (to sit on the sidelines for Flag High), but not really too tough to watch those guys run. It’s great to watch them run because the team’s winning, and that’s great.”
Arizona Division 2 teams already have their work cut out for them against Flagstaff’s boys squad – picked by many to be the favorite for the state title after placing second last year – so imagine having van Meerten in the lineup.
Some have wondered why van Meerten chose to wait until after the school year started to transfer from NPA to Flagstaff. His separation from NPA actually began last spring when he and several other of the top distance runners chose not to compete for the Spartans’ track team and instead run unattached in (mostly) college meets under the guidance of former NPA coach Xavier Rodriguez.
Van Meerten returned to NPA in early August for the start of his sophomore year, and Spartans coach Pam Hanson said she was expecting him to be on the team. But a week before The Peaks Invitational, van Meerten chose to transfer, making him ineligible to run this cross country season (he will run track this spring).
Why didn’t van Meerten choose to transfer in the spring, or over the summer, to avoid ineligibility? Asked directly, he said:
“If I’m honest with you, I can’t think of the past and what ifs,” he said. “It all came down to God’s plan, and God directing me to transfer this year. I don’t know what next year holds or the year after that. But I know it’s going to be good.”
Van Meerten also credited his religious faith for his reason for skipping NPA’s track season to run against stiffer competition in national high school and college meets.
“For track last spring, it was nothing against the school,” he explained. “They had a great track team, but I think it was just that God wanted to take me and couple of other guys out of that situation and try something more. … I can’t speak for the other (NPA) guys, but I think God just wanted to take me out of that (track) season and have me develop as a person before running this season.”
What van Meerten learned running unattached last spring was that he needed to level up his running game and put more effort into it. He spoke about being humbled last March at the Texas Distance Festival, where, as a freshman, he ran his first race ever on the track and clocked 4:28 for the 1,600 meters against upper classmen from throughout the Southwest.
“If I had run, like, at NPA (last spring), I would’ve done well,” he said. “But (instead) I ran a Texas meet that taught me something. Like, I was cooked in that meet. I think I finished seven or eight seconds behind those guys. I think it was God’s plan to show me that if I want to actually go far in this sport, I need to invest more into it.”
Which he set out to do. Van Meerten said he was inspired by watching 16-year-old Maryland high schooler Quincy Wilson make the Olympic team as an alternate for the 400-meter relay.
He said joining Flagstaff’s traditionally strong program, led by coach Trina Painter, will help his growth as a runner.
“Here,” he said, meaning Flagstaff High, “it’s an amazing program. Last year, I wasn’t running as competitively as I am now. After the Olympic Trials, that’s when I stepped up my training a bunch, because I saw what Quincy Wilson was doing. He’s the same age as me, almost. So I did a lot more — more training, just trusting the process.
“It’s mostly just more mileage. My body has been able to handle it. I need to get in the gym more, because my body’s not used to this (level of training).”
Van Meerten runs with Alex Bland, the defending state champ and senior Cole Troxler and other Eagles varsity boys, and says they have accepted him graciously. He also said there wasn’t much of a transition, academically, switching from a small, college-prep charter school to a large public school.
“Yeah, it’s a lot bigger,” he said. “I feel Flag High is a pretty good academic school, too. I think I’m getting all the resources I need. And socially, I already knew a lot of people here before I got here.”
He said he still interacts regularly with many of his former NPA teammates, most notably David Hayes and Aaron Nicol.
It’s just that, come spring, he’ll be running against them, not with them.
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