This Saturday at Balboa Park in San Diego, Flagstaff High School sophomore Yohanes Van Meerten will square off against 40 of the best prep boys runners in the Foot Locker Nationals.
Van Meerten, who transferred from Northland Prep to Flagstaff after the school year started, was ruled ineligible by the AIA to participate in the high school season. But he’s had sort of a mini-season of his own. Three weeks ago, he finished 10th at the Nike Cross Regionals in Mesa, barely missing an individual spot in the nationals. Two weeks ago, he won the Arizona Open 5K on the track.
And last Saturday, he placed third at the Foot Locker West regionals to easily qualify for the nationals.
Van Meerten’s third-place finish in 15:34.5 on the hilly and difficult Mt. San Antonio College course in Walnut, Calif., reportedly makes him the first male from Arizona to qualify for the Foot Locker Nationals in a decade. He finished behind only winner Tyler Daillak, a senior from California who has signed with Cal Poly SLO, and Kade Brownell, a senior from Washington who has signed with Washington State.
After a slow start, Van Meerten made up ground on the downhill sections and nipped California senior Trey Caldwell, who has signed with the University of Colorado, at the finish line for third.
We talked with Van Meerten about his season, his Foot Locker West race and his hopes for Nationals this Saturday (11 a.m., Arizona time, live streamed on RunnerSpace).
Q: Walk us through your race last weekend. How’d you feel and what type of strategy did you use?
Van Meerten: At the beginning of the race, I had some problems. I got pushed to the back for the first two laps. I was trying to make my way back up to the front pack. It was the first hill where I started (to make a move). It wasn’t too bad. When we came back down on the pavement to go up the next hill, I still felt not too bad.
You know Trey Caldwell? I was just trying to race with him because I’ve watched him run a lot. To run with him was so cool. I was trying to catch him on the big hill, but I wasn’t able to. On Poop Out Hill, I was kind of dying but a lot of people were dying too. The guy in front, he took off. I just watched him take off. At that point, I just thought if I could stay with those other guys (in the chase pack). I was thinking that in the last 200 or something I could take off. I felt a lot of those guys didn’t have a kick left.
Going into the last like 150 meters, I think I was fifth, and I was just trying to catch guys. I caught a couple of guys and beat Trey by less than a second (for third place).
Q: Was that the toughest course you’ve run in high school? Mt. SAC is known to be difficult.
Van Meerten: That definitely was the toughest course I’ve ever run.
Q: Do you consider yourself really good on hills?
Van Meerten: No. I’m just average on hills. Not great. The guy who won was definitely great. I was mostly trying to push it on the downhills.
Q: In training, had you done much hill work training with Flagstaff High?
Van Meerten: We did some, but not too much hills. But going into it (Footlocker West), I had trained at altitude, so I had that advantage. But there were too much hills in that race.
Q: Did you have advance notice, know what to expect from that course?
Van Meerten: Not really. I was kind of going in blind. We did walk (the course) and had a pre-shake out before the race . But I didn’t know what it was going to be like, where to push and that stuff. I just decided to go with all the guys. That’s probably what I’ll do this Saturday (in the nationals), too.
Q: Let’s talk about Saturday. I understand it’s more of a rolling course, not as tough as Mt. SAC. So what are your plans going into this race? Are you just happy to be there or do you want to win the thing?
Van Meerten: My mindset is to just go out there and enjoy it. It’s amazing. I get to go and stay with all those guys I’ve seen on MileSplit and all over social media. I’m just going to go and have fun, see if I can stay with those guys.
Q: I was thinking after watching last weekend’s race that you might have had fresher legs than most of those guys because you weren’t allowed to race during the high school season. I know you ran the week before at the Arizona Open 5K on the track, but did you feel fresh?
Van Meerten: Actually, my legs left good for NXR (two weeks about in Mesa), but then I had that track race and then after that, this (Footlocker). Now, I still kind of feel it in my legs. They don’t feel that fresh.
Q: So it was three races in three weeks after not racing most of the season.
Van Meerten: The two races (before Footlocker West) I ran sub-15. On a normal course, I might have gone sub-15 there. But I do feel it in my legs.
Q: When the Flagstaff High team was training, were you training alongside them, or were you doing more training on your own because you weren’t allowed to race?
Van Meerten: I was running with those guys a lot of the time, but sometimes on workouts I’d go ahead of those guys and go with the coach on the bike. But I did all my easy runs with those guys.
Q: It’s interesting, because you couldn’t race most of the fall, it’s almost like you have your own season now. Is it weird to still be racing when your teammates are done? Do you feel you’ve had a long season or a short season?
Van Meerten: I don’t know, maybe a medium season. Because I have ended up racing. And I’m waiting for track to start, too.
Q: Looking back, do you think it was the right decision to transfer from Northland Prep to Flagstaff High, even though you weren’t able to run during the high school season and compete at the state meet?
Van Meerten: I never had a feeling, well, I wasn’t really psyched up for the state meet. I know I can run it my junior year and senior year. For me, I don’t think (state) is like a big accomplishment. I’d much rather win a national event.
Q: So going to NXN next year?
Van Meerten: Yeah, that and Foot Locker.
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