Running: Zutz is looking to finish unfinished business

By Troy Misko
SportsPrepZone

Adam Zutz has put in all of the hard work. 

He has run all of his base training miles. He has completed his specialized workouts.  He has performed well in all of his cross-country meets this season. There is, however,  just one bit of unfinished business remaining on his schedule this season.

Zutz, a St. Francis junior, will put the wraps on a breakout running season at the Minnesota State High School League's class AA championships race this Saturday (Nov. 7) at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

It has been something of a dream season for Zutz, who nearly doubled his summer running mileage this year -- he logged more than 450 summertime miles, up from approximately 250 last summer and 150 the summer before that -- in preparation for what he hoped would be his best season as a prep runner.

"I just kind of wanted to improve my performances and be the best I could," said Zutz, who has been a varsity runner for St. Francis since his seventh-grade season.  "I thought the best way to do that would be an increase in volume."

His plan worked to perfection.  Before the season's first meet he could feel he was in much better shape than in previous years.

"I could tell that my fitness was a lot stronger during the weeks of practice before the first meet," he added.  "I didn't have the leg strength yet, but I could tell that aerobically I was really there. The first meet I ran a 16-(minutes) flat (for 5 kilometers) with hardly any speed work. I thought once I got a little speed work in, I should be sitting pretty good."

Zutz is doing just that now as he prepares for his third consecutive trip to the state cross country meet.

He lopped more than half a minute off his times from a year ago to establish new personal records this season.  He proved himself capable of racing with the state's best, having repeated as both the North Suburban Conference and Section 7AA champion.  He also grabbed some regional attention when he finished as the top Minnesotan in the gold division at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota in late September.

 Zutz, whose name  did not appear in the rankings of the state's top runners throughout the first month of the season, traversed the hilly U of M 5K course in 16:00.31 to set a personal record and finish second overall among more than 450 runners in the high school gold division.

"That course is a lot different than what our team is used to," he said.  "Most of the courses up around here are fairly flat.  Even our conference and section courses, there are a few hills, but it's not like Griak. At Griak, I can't even really remember a flat stretch there.

"I know that the hills are more of my strength because I don't exactly have the best leg speed, but I know that I can really hang on when it comes to hills and it is more of a strength race. I knew that going into the race. So I just tried to stick with my strategy of not going out with the leaders right away. I was actually pretty far back at the 800 mark, at the very beginning, and I really had to work way up. I was about maybe 10 seconds back of the leaders at the mile mark, I think. I just felt strong, but I wasn't really sure what the other runners would do. So I was cautious at first. But then everybody was just dying so I just kept moving up and up."

So did his stock in the eyes of the state's high school running community. A week later his name appeared atop the list of the rankings of AA runners.

Zutz did not maintain the state's top ranking for long. Unlike previous season, no one has had a stranglehold on No. 1 for long this season. But he has remained in the top 10. He was sixth in the final poll of the season.

The only ranking Zutz really cares about is the one he will have at the conclusion of the state meet. It is that way every year for him, but perhaps even more so this year as he looks to exorcise his memories of his 49th-place finish at last year's state meet.

Last year Zutz made a return to state intent on significantly improving his 58th-place showing as a freshman.  Like this year, he was ready. He had won the North Suburban and section titles and was stronger than ever. A much, much higher finish at state seemed like a certainty.

Then Zutz experienced a nightmarish brush with bad luck at the state meet. Barely a half-mile into the race a fellow runner nearly decleated Zutz. Goodbye certainty, hello misfortune.

"The course starts off and goes about a half mile and then it does two loops around a pond," Zutz explained.  "Right as I was making that turn to start going around the pond the first time someone stepped on the top of my heel on the back of my shoe. His spike latched onto it so my shoe stayed on the ground but my heel came up.  Then when I stepped down again with my heel, it folded the heel cup underneath.

"It was really difficult to run. I didn't fall, but I had to stop to adjust my shoe a couple of times. I tried to deal with it the best I could. At the time stopping seemed like the best idea.  I think I had to stop three times to get things raceable.  I would say I was in the top 25 percent or top third of runners (when the mishap occurred).  Then, suddenly, I was pretty darn close to dead last."

Zutz persevered and recovered nicely. 

He still managed to shave nearly four seconds off his time at state the previous season, running a 16:37.5 to finish just outside the top third of the 160-runner field.  But that was not the kind of finish for which he was looking.

"I just felt like my training had been going really well. I was mostly hoping for a good time. I wasn't too concerned about place because I hadn't been ranked at all and there really wasn't any outside pressure. But I really felt like if conditions were good I could've done quite well last year."

It did not happen at all like Zutz hoped and he was forced to deal with the disappointment of having a single untimely moment of unfortunate contact from another runner derail his hopes.

"At first it was pretty devastating because I had really been looking forward to doing well at state," he said.  "But then I kind of realized that things happen to everyone. There was another guy who was ranked and he finished like second-to-last.  I kind of realized that I will have other races and it could've been a lot worse."

"That was very disappointing for him," said St. Francis coach Becki Hanson. "He worked so hard all season and then to have that happen.  What can you do about it?  Nothing."

Perhaps nothing at the time, other than go into survival mode. 

But Zutz found plenty to do between last season and this season. He excelled on the track for St. Francis in the spring and made a return trip to state in both the 1600 and 3200 meters. He improved his times and finishes at the state track meet in both events, improving to 4:31.19 (12th place from 16th place as a freshman) in the 1600 and 9:48.19 (11th from 12th in 2008) in the 3200.

And then he hit the roads, trails and track for his summer workouts. His 450-plus miles were the most logged by any St. Francis runner over the summer, Hanson noted.

"I did pretty well in the spring, so I wanted to continue that base and aim for November," Zutz said. "My times have pretty much been about 30 seconds better than last season. I've run 16-flat three times this season and 16:02 another time. I'm hoping to really, after all this training, break that barrier and really throw down a good time."

Zutz hopes that happens at this year's state meet. Having been there twice previously -- and especially after last year -- he knows exactly what to expect: 

The unexpected. So he is not about to make any predictions.

"I would like to do quite well because I really feel like my training has been going pretty well and my fitness is at a whole different level from last year. I hope I can run a pretty fast time."

Really, though, Zutz hopes for more than that. He hopes -- and hoping is just about all he can do now -- to avoid any bad luck similar to that which beset him at last year's state meet.

"I would really appreciate that," he said...