It’s been quite a trip this season for Graysen Ruch. After a solid freshman season on the cross country circuit, the West Noble sophomore has ascended to the brightest stage at the high school level, the IHSAA State Finals. This Saturday afternoon at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ruch will run amongst the best, where he truly believes he belongs.
“I think I’ve done fine this season,” Ruch said earlier this week. “Sure, I’ve had some bad times, but I’ve had some good times. I just want to do better than I did at regionals. I was happy how I came out of the race and happy to make the state finals.”
Ruch knows he has a lot of work to do to keep up with the racing elite this weekend, offering specific names he is aiming to try to track down on the course. But he’s also keeping a realistic mindset, that if he doesn’t find himself coming down the chute with a lot of winded individuals chasing him down, he’s got a continuous series of numbers on a watch to chase after.
“I want to get into the 15s at state on the watch, and make top 15 if I can,” Ruch noted.
Ruch has eclipsed the 16-minute mark once this year, a personal record time of 15:56 at the Marion Invite in early September. The tournament ladder had Ruch clock a 16:21 at the NECC and 16:39 at the West Noble Sectional, both run on his home course, and then a 16:20 at the New Haven Regional last weekend to finish 16th overall, the regional held at the same course where Ruch ran his PR this season.
“Definitely, this summer Graysen worked extra to make himself better,” said West Noble boys cross country head coach Mike Flora. “He was always at practice early and eager to do more work to help himself be a better runner. He also took coaching advice from coach Weaver and I well and used that to race better.”
Ruch noted the patterns to which the recent races have formed, where he got out with the frontrunners in the past three tournaments, had him worrying less and less about teammate packs. While he wouldn’t have minded his team also make state - the Chargers finishing a distant 14th at the New Haven Regional - Ruch is OK with running by himself.
“I’m usually in the front and used to not having a lot of my teammates around me,” Ruch stated. “It’s not like I’ll be alone, they will all be down there cheering me on. So they will be there in that aspect.”
Added coach Flora about Ruch’s individual development, “The main thing that we have done the past month to help Graysen is to focus on workouts that help him start his races faster so that he can be up closer to the front where he needs to finish. The racing in the postseason is much faster and he needs to be ready for that speed. The State meet is the same, getting a good fast start and working hard during the middle miles and still having a kick at the end of the race. Also, being able to race through A pack at state is very important. He will never be alone in the race at State.”
The IHSAA Cross Country State Finals boys race is scheduled to begin at noon at the famed Gibson Championship course on Saturday. Results will be available on the IHSAA site following the completion of the boys and girls contests.