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Edwin Rutto FeaturePublished by
Photo By John Nepolitan
Words By ELLIOTT DENMAN HOLMDEL, N.J. - Is Edwin (Rutto) destined to emulate Edward (Cheserek) ?
"Sure would be nice," say friends and fans of the St. Benedict's Prep Gray
Bees. "But we're not counting on it, either," they quickly add.
Their hesitancy is perfectly understandable.
After all, Cheserek, the celebrated 2013 graduate of the Newark school
out of Kenya, won virtually everything in sight (including two Foootlocker national high school cross country titles), set an array of national
records (among them his indoor 8:39.15 two-mile and 13:57.04 5000 meters) and recorded such dazzling clockings as a 1:49.98 800, 4:02.21 mile, 9:00.11
steeplechase, and 29:42.31 10,000 meters.
Just as predicted, Cheserek continued "winning big" soon as he reached the
University of Oregon and, with just a single year of college competition under his belt, already owns four NCAA titles - cross country, the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters, and the outdoor 10,000 meters. And he's expected to do even
more lustrous things now that he's a sophomore Oregon Duck.
All that, of course, puts Cheserek into a class all of his own, and makes Rutto very-very-very reluctant to make any comparisons with his St. Benedict's
predecessor.
The seven words he used, after scoring the biggest win thus far of his junior
cross country season, at the adidas Boys Invitation race at the annual
Shore Track Coaches Invitational Meet Saturday (Oct. 4) at Holmdel Park.
said it all - "I just want to be like Edward."
Typically, Rutto has been soft-spoken every since he arrived from Kenya
in late summer 2012. His "American English" needed a bit of refining and he
much preferred to have his running deeds speak for themselves.
But - just as Cheserek did - he's made major strides, on and off the track,
ever since checking into St. Benedict's.
Like Cheserek, Rutto hails from the talent-rich Rift Valley of Kenya.
They have both been "gifts from the Rift" to veteran St. Benedict's coach
Marty Hannon.
"Last year, he (Rutto) was kind of raw," said Hannon. "I mean, he really didn't run much over in Kenya. So, when he came here, he didn't know how to run, or even train.
"But now he's learning how to train and how to compete (his winning 15:56.46
performance over the tough, classic Holmdel 5K course, which was muddy after Saturday's morning rain, was by far the best of the day in the multi-section meet.)
"He was sick all week, too. For a while, we worried that he might be getting
appendicitis. We were very concerned. But he still ran a great race."
The 15:56.46 was the day's only clocking under 16 minutes and brought him
home with clear margins over closest pursuers Nikhil Pulimood of West
Windsor-Plainsboro South (16:01.25), Chris Thompson of Voorhees (16:10.91) and Mike Brannigan of Northport, N.Y. (16:23.00.)
The vaunted Christian Brothers Academy team, pointing to the Manhattan College Invitational this coming Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park, rested its top six men but still won the team title - as its reserves flocked over the line in the 8-9-10-11-13 places, just 10 seconds apart. Brian Dengler paced the winning CBA Colts (16:33), with Patrick Hiler (16:34), Sean Martinek (16:39), Greg Paugh (16:41) and Jon Dooling (16:43) hard on his his heels.
CBA netted 41 points with Voorhees (55), South Brunswick (94) and Chatham (137) its closest rivals.
"You know, I hate to make any comparisons (of Rutto with Cheserek)," added Hannon, who has been at the Gray Bees helm the past 16 years.
"That's because Cheserek might be the greatest distance runner ever in high school. I'd hate to do that to anyone. I don't ever want to compare Edwin with Edward. It's unfair.
"All I can say about Edwin right now is that he'd doing very well.
"They're good friends. Edward, kidding around, once told Edwin, 'if you break one of my records, I'll buy you a cow.'
"Edwin is from the same region (the Rift Valley) of Kenya as Edward. But they went to different (middle) schools over there. Edwin went to St. Paul's;
the people that knew Edward knew Edwin.
"The headmaster over there asked "are you interested in getting another
kid, to get a good education, and so forth? This kid had nothing, just like Edward, not a penny, when he got here. All he had was an empty backpack.
"So naturally, we're very-very pleased to have him with us. And best of all, he's doing very well in school, too.
"At this stage, I can't tell you how good he's going to be. He's only a junior (who was New Jersey's fastest miler last spring at 4:13.8) and he's still learning - about everything.
"This was Edwin's first time at Holmdel Park. He didn't run here at all last year.
Under good conditions, he's definitely capable of running under 15:30.
"And beyond that, who knows?
"Let's just wait and see. It's going to be interesting."
The co-featured adidas Girls Invitation race went to Holmdel High School
senior Marin Warner in 18:55.98 over West Windsor-Plainsboro South's
Christina Rancan (19:09.65), and the Ridgewood pair of Sam Halvorsen (19:10.69) and Carleen Jeffers (19:16.91.)
It was Red Bank Catholic, though, that swept to the girls team title with 50 points, besting Ridgewood (71), Princeton (72) and four others.
However, it was Catherine Pagano of Northern Highlands, running in the separate Varsity B section, who posted the fastest girls time of the day, 18:27.48. Just off that pace was Varsity A winner Eve Glasergreen of North Hunterdon at 18:32.91.
Other boys divisional team titles went to Kingsway (Varsity A), Ridgewood (Varsity B), Indian Hills (Varsity C), River Dell (Varsity D), Robbinsville
(Varsity E) and Haddon Township (Varsity F.)
Additional girls team titlists were Ridge (Varsity A), West Morris-Mendham (Varsity B), Moorestown (Varsity C), Voorhees (Varsity D), Robbinsville
(Varsity E) and Notre Dame Academy, N.Y. (Varsity F.) More news |
