Bonds of friendship strengthen West boys

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

On the starting line at the Foot Locker West Regional on Saturday, the six returning national finalists greeted each other and offered encouragement.

They all wanted to secure their spot in San Diego. But they also wanted to put the band back together.

"On the line we were talking about how we need to bring back the West team," Elijah Armstrong said.

The West team last year scored 23 points at Foot Locker Nationals. Eight athletes from the West finished in the top 16, including all six of the juniors eligible to return in 2014.

On Saturday, all six earned their return trips to the Hotel Del Coronado and Balboa Park.

Yet beyond that, the camaraderie of the core group -- Armstrong (Idaho), Matthew Maton (Oregon), John Dressel (Washington), Conner Mantz (Utah), Levi Thomet (Alaska) and Trevor Reinhart (California) -- goes much deeper than last year's race.

Four of them were at Nike Elite Camp together. Maton and Mantz were at the adidas Dream Mile together. Maton and Dressel were on a U.S. junior cross country team in Scotland last winter. Dressel and Mantz, who will be West teammates for a third straight year, spent several days running in the Idaho mountains at Armstrong's cabin during the summer.

Next spring, Thomet has initiated plans to bring Maton and Armstrong up to Alaska for a special mile race during the spring track season. Fellow Alaskan Trevor Dunbar has been contacted about rabbiting.

"Once you cross the starting line, that's the individual side of it," Armstrong said. "But the team part of it that we've built, that's awesome."

They are all friendly with Reinhart, but his location and the fact that he didn't have a track season to follow, put him a little further on the fringe.

"He's a close friend of ours," Maton said.

They are also friendly with Grant Fisher, Alex Ostberg and Thomas Pollard. All three were part of the huge junior class effort at Foot Locker last year (9 of the top 16) and all three were at Nike Elite Camp, along with Austin Tamagno (qualified for Foot Locker this year), Tanner Anderson (NXN champion) and Mikey Brannigan, the lone non-qualifier for one of the nationals meets.

"Myself, John, Elijah and Conner, we all started getting good at about the same time," Maton said. "So we started to get to know each other and got each other's phone numbers."

Thomet has come down to race Maton in Oregon after his state meet the past two years. The two of them did not go home after Saturday's regional at Walnut, Calif. Instead, they are renting a place in San Diego this week together while they wait to check in at the hotel.

"We all know what our life is like and so we respect how hard each of the other guys works," said Armstrong, who won the West regional in 15:24. "The bottom line, why would you hold grudges and be enemies when you can have fun and make the experience worthwhile?"

The potential for a grudge to exist between Maton and Dressel surfaced at BorderClash. Maton and Anderson thought they had an agreement with Dressel to come in together as one, but Dressel used that plan against them and sprinted away to the win.

Maton admits that after the race was over he was angry. But it didn't last.

"I'm over it now," Maton said. "We're good."

There's no use in staying hurt over the outcome of a race, not when there's another weekend of fun and hanging out in San Diego to be had.

Last year, the juniors on the West team talked about coming back for an encore if everyone could stay injury-free.

That prospect was in jeopardy when Mantz developed a stress reaction in his thigh and barely finished his state meet. He went straight to resting and rehabbing the injury with hopes that he could return to the starting line at Foot Locker West. As recently as three weeks ago his doctor was advising him not to run down hills for fear of aggravating the injury.

But Mantz made it back, navigated the hills at Mt. SAC without any pain, and qualified for his third national finals.

The West is back, intact.

How The West Was Won At Foot Locker in 2013:

1 15:07 71 Grant Fisher 11 Midwest Grand Blanc H.S. Grand Blanc MI

2 15:10 82 John Dressel 11 West Mt. Spokane H.S. Colbert WA

3 15:19 81 Matthew Maton 11 West Summit H.S. Bend OR

4 15:20 51 Mickey Burke 12 Northeast Rush Henrietta H.S. Henrietta NY

5 15:22 90 Joseph Hardy 12 West Seattle Prepartory H.S. Seattle WA

6 15:22 83 Elijah Armstrong 11 West Pocatello H.S. Pocatello ID

7 15:23 84 Conner Mantz 11 West Sky View H.S. Smithfield UT

8 15:24 88 Blair Hurlock 12 West De La Salle H.S. Tracy CA

9 15:29 61 Aaron Templeton 12 South Hardin Valley Academy Knoxville TN

10 15:30 55 Josef Holt-Andrews 12 Northeast Telstar Regional H.S. Bethel ME

11 15:31 53 Alex Ostberg 11 Northeast Darien H.S. Darien CT

12 15:34 85 Trevor Reinhart 11 West Marin Academy Ross CA

13 15:34 77 Thomas Pollard 11 Midwest Gilbert Junior-Senior H.S. Ames IA

14 15:34 89 Garrett Corcoran 12 West Villa Park H.S. Villa Park CA

15 15:36 54 Liam Mullett 12 Northeast Pingry School Madison NJ

16 15:41 86 Levi Thomet 11 West Kodiak H.S. Kodiak AK