High School Spotlight

Yoshi Shimizu
Hilliard Davidson Senior

Post State Meet special! Enjoy.

Q&A with Yoshi Shimizu, Hilliard Davidson’s All State and IU bound senior

CRC: Congrats on the track state meet.  Finishing your high school career with an all state run in the 3200m had to feel great.  How did this compare to your XC finish?
Yoshi: Cross country was a huge surprise for me because my whole goal for that season was to get on that podium.  But going into the state track meet, most of the big guns (Kevin Yarnell, Stu Edmonds, Neff and Alexander) opted for the mile, so place-wise I knew top 4 was reasonable behind Roys, Wills and Meyer.
Time-wise, it is romantic really.  For the whole track season since last year, I was going for the school record (9:24.50 set by Alex Bailey in 2003) and in the final race of my senior track season running for Davidson I finally break it and ran 9:22.98.  I had to laugh when I found out cause it just seemed like a storybook ending and I'm not a storybook ending kind of guy. 

CRC: That’s an incredible way to cap off a high school career, but it seems like it’s been a storybook kind of year all around.  Watching the races, it looked as though this past XC season was really your big breakthrough – I mean, 4^th at state is a great finish.  Mentally & physically, how did you prepare for such a big jump?
Yoshi: I felt as though my big jump came last year during the indoor state meet when I ran 9:36, finishing third.  Granted, not all the top guys run it, but it was a 20 second breakthough.  But after that every meet I would just get slower and slower cause I expected more than I could handle and I would train 110% during intervals and that just wore on me.  I ended up running a season worst at regionals, not qualifying to the state meet.  When this happened I realized I needed to mentally grow up and during XC season I feel as though I did.  I was probably more fit during my junior year of track but I realized I did not have to blast every workout if I was having a bad day.  I was more laid back with everything and it helped me the team aspect of the whole cross country experience and that really helped during the post season.

CRC: Patience is a big part of distance running, and you have to learn from your experiences like you did.  Compared to a lot of others who begin running in middle school or as freshmen, you got into running relatively late in the game, so those lessons had to come a little later for you.  What drew you to the sport after not running at the start of high school? 
Yoshi: Well, I started running my sophomore year in cross country.  This happened because my freshman world studies teacher was Mr. Schlecht, the cross country coach.  He was particularly interested in me because I was the brother of the middle school legend who broke the five minute barrier.  He kept on telling me I would be a great runner.  As an all-knowing freshman, I told him ‘you must be joking.’  I was a marching bandie in the fall and tennis player in the spring.  The most we ran was around the court as our “warm up,” so this running just for running was complete blasphemy.  But during the spring I realized that being a bandie was not too “socially accepted,” so I decided to run.  That was the beginning of all that.  But before it all began I ran a mile just as a time trial.  I ran 6:54.   

CRC: 6:54?  It’s quite a jump from a sub 7 minute mile to where you are now!  Obviously, something at Davidson is working for you.  Over the past few years, your team has had some great success.  What keeps the Davidson guys team on the map?  What makes you guys stand out?
Yoshi: I think it all is in the coaching.  Coach Schlecht’s training philosophy, to make us both better runners and better men, has kept this team strong for the past decade.  He teaches the seniors each year how to lead and be a better person and this trickles down to juniors then sophomores and then freshman.  And it has just become a cycle of when the juniors become seniors they know what to do.  It has become a tradition to do well during the season.  Every year, alumni come back and ask how the team is doing and this constant support from years past makes a huge difference because even after graduating and moving on, people still come back.  The experience we have at Davidson is unforgettable and just being a part of that adds to the success.

 CRC: Is there a favorite workout that you do?
Yoshi: My favorites are the workouts that you have to fight against yourself every moment you are running not to slow down and when you are recovering in between intervals, in the words of Quenton Cassidy, “the air is sweeter than life itself.”  During cross country, we have an 800m loop at The River (Scioto River) where we do all our interval workouts on Wednesdays.  It is a course filled with 3 nasty hills and we have 5 all-out repeat miles with 5 minutes recovery.  We have done this workout every year from the day Schlecht took over so you can compare your times with anyone.  Even the 2002 state champ team.  The feeling you get on 5xmile day is a mixture of horror and excitement.  But when we finish it, everyone is so close because we have endured it together and I will not trade that feeling for the world.  In track, it is the Canadian Workout (which has a weird story behind it) but it is a 4x5min cut down drill with an 800 after the first at mile pace.  After the second 5 min drill there is 6x400 at 800 pace on a min recovery. Then the next two five min drills are all out. With a 300 all out and then 200 all out.  By the time you are done you feel dead.  Just thinking about it makes me get the chills but just like the 5xmile day it creates unbreakable bonds with your teammates.  But don’t worry, it’s absolutely awful, but that is what makes them great.

 CRC: It’s already been said, but you've had a dream senior season.  What was it like to win the indoor state title in the 3200m?  How does that race compare to your XC and outdoor accomplishments?
Yoshi: The indoor state title was absolutely amazing.  Going into the last lap, I was sitting second and when the bell rang I knew I had it in the bag.  Coming down the home stretch, I was in disbelief that this was actually happening.  Granted some of the top runners did not run it, but a state title is a state title.  Indoor is always special to me because I always seem to run my best maybe because it is always perfect conditions to run fast.  But it is something about training in subzero temperatures and racing that all make sense and I love it.

CRC: Beyond high school, what are your running plans as you head into college? 
Yoshi: I am planning to go to Indiana University in Bloomington.  I chose it because there is some great running tradition there, Bob Kennedy (IU legend & Olympian) and Rudy Chapa (Hammond, IN native who ran for Oregon) to name a few.  Also because I just loved the team and we had so much in common.  Running-wise I am doing both cross country and track.  In track, I want to do the 1500 and up and maybe try the steeple for kicks, but I am not too coordinated so we will have to see how that goes.

CRC: Outside of running, what are your interests? 
Yoshi: Outside of running, I disc golf a lot with my friends and now that graduation parties are happening I found that I am pretty good at corn hole.  Besides that, I am a pretty normal high school graduate gearing up for college.  I do enjoy singing and dancing anywhere I have the space and time but I am guessing I am not the best at either.  Sometimes I do this before races to calm me down and this all started at the cross country state meet when our assistant coach suggested dancing to calm our nerves.  Now it has just become a prerace ritual.  I guess most people expect me to listen to pump up music before I go toe the line but that is a complete lie.  My prerace music consists of the new Taylor Swift album “Fearless” and singing this helps me focus on my race somehow.

CRC: We’ll keep an eye out for your world tour…  Anyway, what advice would you offer to a beginning runner on how to reach the highest levels of the sport in high school?
Yoshi: Have fun with it.  The easiest way to get better is to find a training partner who will keep you honest.  Literally, the thousand miles you run together will create an amazing bond and you will have probably the best conversations of your life thus far.  But do not expect that you will improve greatly each year because things happen and running may not be your thing but God has blessed you with another talent that is waiting to be revealed.  But going back to running, there is nothing too complicated involved.  The more you run the faster you get.  It is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other farther and faster than anyone else beside you.  It is just putting up with the pain, a lot easier said than done.

 CRC: Anything else that you would like to add?

Thanks to Yoshi for a great interview. Best of luck at IU next year.

Coaches/Parents - Do you have any standout athletes that go the extra mile?  Spotlight them at the Columbus Running Company!  During the season, we will periodically showcase one athlete in our high school section within the store and on this webpage.  Nominations can be taken through our Contact Us page, through info@columbusrunning.com, or by simply giving us a call.  We will then briefly interview you and the selected athlete before composing an article with pictures. 

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