At its heart, cross country is about competition.  Grit, determination, a tolerance for pain – these are the characteristics of the runner who can race hard from the crack of the starting gun to the end of the finish chute, pushing to the edge every step of the way.  True cross country forgets the stopwatch as hills, mud, and nature itself diminish the importance of finishing times.  That’s not to say that time isn’t important, but the one thing that matters above all else is the satisfaction of pushing oneself to the extreme limits of one’s abilities.  When Ryan DelGrosso lined up for the Junior Olympics Nationals in Rhode Island last year, he understood.  In the frozen slush and biting cold, he knew that it was time to run.  That’s all there was to it.
    “It was like I had nothing to lose because I had already come so far and nothing was at stake,” he says, looking back at his breakthrough race.  To get to Rhode Island, Ryan had run the Junior Olympic Regional in West Virginia, pushing his way through a hilly course to reach the finish in a qualifying place for the national event.  At Nationals, everything clicked.  “I felt great about running and I was just in the right state of mind and everything…I came from behind and passed runners the whole race.”     Ryan flew home from Rhode Island with experience he hopes to put to good use during his junior cross country season at Marysville High School.  “Having to run in the aftermath of a blizzard in Rhode Island will definitely make a course like last year’s District seem like nothing,” he says, referring to the mud bath that was 2005’s Central District Championships.   

Ryan, in the shades, competes in the 2005 USATF XC Junior Olympic Nationals. Ryan PR'd with a 16:17 despite the snowy conditions.

At that meet last year, Ryan’s season ended, fueling the fire that carried him through the impressive post-season at the Junior Olympic meets.  While most others hung their spikes up for the winter, Ryan remained dedicated to his sport in an all-out effort to prove himself.  Placing 38^th in a field of almost 200 runners from across the country, he ended the 2005 cross country season on a high note. Even in a sport where one-on-one competitiveness is central, a runner can't help but feel elated when

SIDEBAR-
    Ryan’s brother, Nick, is about to start his freshman season of collegiate cross country.  Running for Wittenberg, in Springfield, Nick is providing a strong example for his younger brother.  “I would love to run in college,” Ryan says.  He’s eyeing some schools out West, in fact.  “After a trip out to Nevada and Arizona, I was sold.  It is amazingly beautiful and the way of life is much more active there.” 
    Wherever he ends up, Ryan will most likely find himself in the center of things.  He has an easy way with people and enjoys getting to know others through his running.  “I had a blast meeting new people and it was a great time,” he says of his time at the Junior Olympic Nationals.  Active beyond just making a habit of wearing out running shoes, Ryan picked up biking this past summer while rehabbing an injury.  “I got into cycling a lot and I did a lot of riding with my cycling buds,” he says of the 30 to 60 mile rides they completed.
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coming into the final stretch and seeing the finish clock ticking towards a PR.  When Ryan crossed the line after the strongest race of his running career, thus far, the clock read 16:17.  His perseverance had paid off with a PR to boot.
          “I feel like when I am running I am in my niche,” he says now as the 2006 season begins.  “Like nothing can hurt me.  It’s a great feeling.”  The current season is something that Ryan has built towards over his two previous years at Marysville, where he began high school as a football player.  Former Monarch teammate Jake Reed convinced a freshman Ryan that cross country was the sport to follow.  “I had a great friend in Jake who told me that if I were to train during the winter I would be able to improve upon my 8th grade success” of a 5:10 mile.  After debating between track and wrestling, Ryan eventually left the gridiron and the wrestling mats behind.  Running year round, through winters of preparation for track and across summers in anticipation of each new cross season, Ryan became stronger.  It didn’t matter how he felt, Ryan was going to put in the extra effort to prove himself.  “When I start hurting during a workout I just think about how many Kenyans would slow down if it started to hurt a little.  After all, hard work makes hard runners.”  The do-or-die attitude has helped him drop his 1600m time to a 4:40 and his 3200m to 10:15.  He has bigger goals for those track times on the horizon.  First, though, he’s excited for his team’s chances this coming cross season. 
            “Our team goal is to have a better showing at Districts this year and make it to Regionals,” he notes of the team goals.  His own personal goals are dependent on the team as well.  “I usually get up for a race by rallying around my teammates and getting them excited.  That really makes me want to run.  It really makes it easier to run when you know that your whole team is behind no matter what and that they are going to work as hard as they can.”  Ryan’s goals are further cemented when he looks to his running heroes, “Guys like the badass Anthony Familigietti and Adam Goucher, ever since reading the book Running with the Buffaloes.” 

The CRC wishes the best of luck to Ryan, the Marysville Monarchs, and the rest of the harriers in and around central Ohio as the ’06 season gets underway! 

Left: Ryan searches for footing in the mud fest that was the 2005 Central District Championships.

 

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