Vogel becoming a running mogul (11/02/06)

FORT RECOVERY - The city of Columbus should consider keeping a standing reservation for Mindy Vogel. She's well on her way to becoming a regular visitor.

After competing in the state track meet in June, the Fort Recovery junior will return to the capital Saturday to run in the OHSAA Division III Girls Cross Country State Finals at Scioto Downs.

"It's exciting," said Vogel, whose state race will come 10 years after Fort Recovery won the Division III state title in boys cross country, after practice Wednesday. "You think you've lived the experience and then you do it again and it's completely different."

Vogel is a completely different runner from even just last season, when she finished 21st at Troy's regional meet in 20-minutes, 40 seconds. Despite consistent 30-plus-mph winds and a soggy course Saturday, she ran 34 seconds faster and easily earned a state berth with a sixth-place finish.

The top four teams and top 15 runners in each region earned state berths.

The junior, who didn't start running cross country until last season, said there is no way she ever thought she'd be where she is today. She has gone from never running cross country two years ago, to sharing the top spot in the team last season to being one of the top runners in the state in 2006.

"It's just all the miles we put in over the summer," said Vogel of her constant running with sophomore teammate Tina Roessner. "We didn't stop from track really. It's just been non-stop and running hard."

Vogel ran track as a freshman, starting in the 100- and 200-meter dashes before moving to longer distances, and was encouraged by coach Jason Grieshop to try cross country the following fall. She was on the fence about joining the sport in which you run 3.1-mile (5K) races before being pushed by Grieshop and her parents.

"But," she admits, "I enjoyed it. That's another reason I think I cut time off, just enjoying it more."

"She's worked harder in the past year than she's ever worked in her life," said Grieshop. "Her time definitely dropped because of that. The other thing is, she's just a smarter runner than she was a year ago. She knows that she can push herself to a different level."

Vogel showed that intelligent running in the nasty conditions at Troy Saturday, allowing other runners to form a wall in front of her and cut down much of the force of the wind. And still, her time there was nothing compared to what she can do on a clean course.

Her best of the season came at the Eaton Invitational in mid-September, where she finished in 19:22.03, and she has been in the 19:20s twice since then.

Even so, Vogel's regional time was No. 8 in the state and would have been good enough to win one regional and finish second in the remaining two.

"The conditions were bad all over the state," said Grieshop. "At Troy the course was changed, there was water all over the place and there was a driving wind. I'm sure they weren't good other places, but I don't know how they could have been a whole lot worse.

"If you can be seeded eighth going into the state meet, regardless of conditions, that's pretty cool."

Following that regional race Vogel said she'd like to finish in the top 30 at the state meet. But after further review, those goals have shifted.

"Just looking at the overall times from all the other regions and seeing that I was seeded eighth, I was like, 'OK, podium definitely,'" said Vogel of her new goal of at least a top-15 finish and the spot on the state medal podium that would go along with it. "It would have been awesome just to think about it, but now ... I realize I actually have a chance."

Vogel, who finished 12th in the state in the 800-meter run in June, knows exactly what it will take to turn that chance into reality.

She ran at the toughest regional in the state at Troy City Park on the banks of the Miami River. That group produced eight of the top 10 regional times in the state. It also included defending Division III state champion and No. 1 Minster as well as fourth-ranked Versailles, a pair of Midwest Athletic Conference rivals.

Vogel said running against those familiar teams can only help her Saturday.

"It always does," said Vogel, who will run out of lane U along with Kara Gasson of Fort Loramie and Erin Calvelage from Delphos St. John's. "The Minster girls are just fast, and I've been running with Versailles and some of the Minster girls and they're right where I am, so it helps to pace myself."

The last Tribe runner to make it to the state met was Val Roessner, Tina's older sister, who finished 37th in 1999.

"She's just got to realize all she has to do is run with the people she's used to running with," said Grieshop of Vogel's chance at a state medal. "She always gets out fast ... so there's no doubt in my mind she'll be towards the front at the beginning. She just has to stay calm, relax and hang with some individuals."[[In-content Ad]]