During my sophomore year I was beating kids who had beaten me by half a lap a year before and I was getting, how do I say it, cocky. Around my friends I was the shit, but I knew that there were guys who could still beat me by half a lap or even more. But I just loved racing!

Training was going smoothly and I was running low mileage at the time, but did not know it then. I have kept a training log since the begining of sophomore year of track and looking back at I was running around 20-35 miles a week. Compared to the other guys in the state, it was insignificant. But I knew that my coach has had experience and I would trust him. 

During the season I had PR 39 seconds from last year and was getting ready for districts which were held at Oregon City High School. Going into the race I don't remember what I was seeded but there good runners who were ahead of me. Such as Ben Frisbee, Kevin Elder, Brandon Snook, Brian Saxe, Grant Eldridge, Will Gordon, and Scott Ward. 

Warming up I wasn't nervous, and I still claim that I do not get nervous for races, but I was getting focused. The gun went off and from the start Will Gordon of Clackamas High School took the lead and the rest followed. I put myself around 7th or 8th place and sat there. After Gordon had slowed down the race really started to get going. Ben Frisbee took the lead and Kevin Elder followed and the rest of the guys stayed at the same pace.

With a lap to go was in 4th. Frisbee still 1st followed by Elder and Snook stuck in no mans-land. The Eldridge and myself behind him a ways. Coming around the corner onto the back stretch I passed Eldridge and I was gone! I felt good! I remember looking ahead on the final turn and seeing Snook dying and I knew that I can get 3rd. With 50 meters left I passed him and as I finish I slowly come to a stop and catch my breath and I look up and see 9:05 on the clock as it changes to 9:06 and I think that I could have ran sub 9 ! I was really happy with my race.

However, only the top 2 qualified for state, but I was only a sophomore and I knew that the next two years were mine. Two days later it was Saturday and my family had gone to dinner at Chez Jose's. We are all enjoying the company of my older brothers who had flown into town, getting back from college when I get a call from my coach. I answer the phone and he tells me that I was going to state because Ben Frisbee dropped out to focus on the 1500 which he had also qualified for. I was shocked! I was going to state!!!

The next week of training was easy! Even easier than my 20-35 miles. My coach said that all the hard work had been done, it was just time for resting and staying healthy. 

The trip down to state was very fun. It was myself, my coach, Brandon Collier (other male state qualifier), and the other coaches rode the short bus down to Eugene. 3 and half hours later and a new tire we had made it. I was running later that afternoon, so I put my stuff down on the wooden stands of Hayward Field and started my warmup. I had no idea where to go so I ran around the campus site seeing. It was the best warm-up because it was so cool being in Eugene and knowing that I was racing against the best runners in the state. 

I continue my warm up and get onto the practice field and do my strides and I see the other guys doing there strides and I feel accepted, finally! :) I remember doing a few more laps and seeing Kenny Klotz was like seeing Jesus. It was pretty sweet to say the least. After I finish my strides I move into clerks tent and sign it, but there was one minor mistake. I didn't have the right number! My coach had given the other qualifier my number and me his number, so they would not sign me in. The people at the table gave me numbers that I had to stick onto my wrong number. (If you ever see a picture of me in that race my numbers are black and weird, not like everyone else who have red numbers. Just nice fun fact) 

After all that was taken care of, and we were led onto the track for introductions and some final strides. We line up and I was in between Jake Keyser and Kenny Klotz, it was intense! 

The gun went off and we were off! But then another gun went off, and we were not off! We line up again and this time we got a clean start.

1st-68 I got out very fast. Faster than what I have ever done before, but I was so jacked up on hormones I didn't care. 

2nd-70 I was in a good spot ready to start passing people.

3rd-68 Passed two people while running with 3 other guys. 

4th-72 Drop one guy and the other two start moving forward.

5th-72  Some more guys start moving back and stick with them until they fall more behind.        

6th-74 Joseph Carpenter and Bryce Burgess start moving up and I stick with them. 

7th-76 Still moving with Carpenter and Burgess.

200m :28 I pass Burgess with 250 to go and we both start going at it. We both pass Dylan Coleman on the final turn into the last 100 and I swing out pretty wide. I think about lane 3 or 4. I was looking over my shoulder alot during that last 100 meters but I was going so hard I didn't know what happened when I finished.

I had finished 6th place in 4A state with a time of 8:51.48. That is 10 seconds faster than my district time and 22 seconds faster than my next fastest time. It was a crazy race and I still remember to this day how much that race changed my life. It was that race that made me convince that I was a runner.