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Going the distance
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| Back row, from left, Kevin Pellegrino, Jacob Gomez, Ian Dobson and Lauren Jespersen, front, are all Klamath Union graduates who now are distance runners at Stanford University. |
Published October 12, 2004
Story and photos by Regional Editor Lee Juillerat
TANFORD, Calif. - Four fast friends who lived within a mile of each other in Klamath Falls are back together as members of Stanford University's national championship cross country and track teams.
Ian Dobson, Lauren Jespersen and Kevin Pellegrino all attended Roosevelt Elementary School while Jacob Gomez went to Fairview. All four later attended Ponderosa Junior High and Klamath Union High schools.
Although they were never teammates at the same time at KU - in 2000 Dobson was a senior, Gomez a sophomore and Jespersen a freshman while Pellegrino was in his final year at Ponderosa - all four have long been fast friends, both on and off the track.
"We definitely stay in touch and hang out together," Pellegrino says. "It's really the same, like we were in high school."
"It was really cool when Jake came," Dobson says of the cycle of Pelicans at Stanford. "It was a lot of fun when Lauren came. It was almost absurd when Kevin came. I've never heard of four guys from one high school getting scholarships and being on the same college team."
Stanford, of course, isn't just any college.
Academically, it's often called the "Harvard of the West" because of its rigorous standards. Athletically, Stanford's cross country team has few peers. Cardinal runners have won two consecutive national championships, with the 2003 squad regarded one of the best-ever teams in NCAA history. Although it lost six of its top seven runners, the team is ranked second in this year's preseason polls.
Not competing in cross country this year is Dobson. A fifth year senior - most student-athletes are on five year programs - he won three All-American honors in four years in cross country. Dobson still has another year of eligibility for both indoor and outdoor track, where he has also earned All-American honors in the 10,000 meters and steeplechase outdoors and 3000 and 5000 meters indoors.
Gomez and Jespersen are expected to play key roles as Stanford tries to defend its title while Pellegrino, like most freshmen, is expected to redshirt.
All four were recruited by legendary Stanford coach Vin Lananna, who has since become director of athletics at Oberlin College in Ohio. A five-time national coach of the year, Lananna was president and co-founder of the Nike Farm Team, a post-collegiate program for professional middle and distance athletes, and was Team USA's middle distance coach at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
"They're all fabulous kids," Lananna says of Dobson, Gomez, Jespersen and Pellegrino. "They're great kids and they come from great families. I think fondly of those guys."
Their current coach, Andrew Gerard, who succeeded Lananna last year, concurs.
"They're all unique - different personalities, different individuals," Gerard says. "They are great young men with good values, great work ethics. They all want to be successful academically and athletically."
Gerard and Lananna, like the four runners, gives much of the credit to Marnie Mason. A national class runner while a student at KU, Mason later returned as the Pels coach. She is now the women's coach at the University of Oregon.
"Obviously, it speaks very highly of Klamath Falls tradition and the coaching they got in high school," Gerard says.
Along with crediting Mason, Gerard credits KU, the four runners and their parents for creating a situation where all succeeded in the classroom - "Stanford obviously wouldn't be lucky enough to have all four if they hadn't done well academically. We're the lucky benefactors of that."
Lananna echoes Gerard.
"I wanted kids who had been appropriately challenged in high school. It's much better to have a good challenge coming in. There are not very many high schools that produce athletes who can step in to the No. 1 cross country program in the country and contribute. Marnie," Lananna believes, "did a great job."
Lananna says he also sought out runners from successful programs.
"I looked at the tradition and history (at KU). Ian came to our program and did a good job, and I felt the Klamath Falls kids were good bets. When Ian was a freshman he told me about Jacob. Jacob and Ian told me about Lauren. I knew Kevin because he had also visited campus."
The Stanford connection began when Dobson, a June 2000 KU graduate, accepted a scholarship to Stanford after being aggressively courted by several other colleges, including Wisconsin and the University of Oregon.
"Growing up it was not some sort of dream, going to Stanford," Dobson says. But, by his junior year at KU, "I knew that the good teams were. In all honesty, I came to Stanford for the running, not the school," although he has maintained a high grade point average.
What helped seal Dobson's decision, and created a lasting impression on Gomez and Jespersen, was a recruiting trick at the 2000 Stanford Cross Country Invitational. After winning the prestigious, highly competitive high school race, Dobson was driven around the course in a golf cart by Lananna.
"I got to see Ian ride around in the golf cart and I said, 'Man, I want the coach to do that with me,' " recalls Jespersen, who was a freshman. "Seeing Ian go off to Stanford, I decided I was going to try and do the same. I set my goal then and tried to work for it."
"Ian was being recruited by Stanford and we were excited for him," remembers Gomez, then a KU sophomore. "The school - the academic part, and the history - has always been an appeal. With Ian being here, that was another appeal, knowing that Ian was fitting in well with the team. A lot of people ask me, 'Was Ian the reason you came here?' It wasn't exactly that, but Ian showed us Stanford. Then we started joking, how about all four of us?"
"Pretty much from the beginning of my freshman year (at KU) it was an unspoken goal," Pellegrino says of wanting to attend Stanford.
Pellegrino was an eighth grader at Ponderosa when Dobson was being recruited by Stanford. At the time, he was eager to be part of KU's team, eager to carry on traditions established by Dobson, Gomez and Jespersen. Now he's excited to be reunited with his friends at Stanford.
Because of Stanford's incredible depth, and because he's recovering from foot injuries, Pellegrino will probably red-shirt the upcoming cross country season. Jespersen and Gomez hope to help Stanford go for a three-peat.
"I don't think a lot of people know how deep we are," Gomez says.
"Running-wise, I can't wait to be in the top seven on our team," says Pellegrino, who thinks Stanford will surprise other schools. "If we can get by this year we can have a long streak of national championships."
All four former Pels credit Mason for helping them excel.
"I was really lucky to have someone like Marnie challenge me," Dobson says. "She is one of the rare people who will tell you to do more. She is the type of person who brings out a person's potential."
Dobson says he was spurred by Jeremy Park, who won a state title while Dobson was a freshman and later had a successful running career at the University of Washington.
"All four of us have had somebody ahead of us to look up to. It became normal that we had good runners," Dobson says. Most of all, he credits Mason for developing a generation of runners. "There's no question the four of us are talented, but I refuse to believe there are not others who are just as talented."
"Overall, she's just a good coach, a good motivator," Gomez agrees of Mason's influence. "She made sure we did the little things. We worked hard. We were pretty focused."
"Marnie helped all of us develop goals," believes Pellegrino. "She always knew how to get the best of us."
"She was the biggest inspiration for all of us coming," echoes Jespersen. "She coached us to do well in school, to do well as a team, and to have fun as a team."
The team aspect figured in individual decisions to attend Stanford. Jespersen says several coaches promised to only coach him, while others said they would developing running programs with him as their focus.
"But you want to share the successes, the team championships," says Jespersen, who won a state team championship in 2000, when the Pels were ranked fifth nationally, and won the 2002 state title in the 1500 meters.
"It wasn't nearly as rewarding (winning the individual honors) as winning the team championship because I didn't have anybody to share it with," Jespersen remembers.
That team attitude is something Lananna was searching for.
"Vin said he always looked for guys from good high school teams because they know how to work as part of a team, not necessarily as individuals," Dobson says.
"Having a good program is not just winning. It's a tradition, an atmosphere, a sense of loyalty. We wanted to be a national powerhouse," Lananna says of the atmosphere he created at Stanford, which previously had only a mediocre running program. "I'm guessing that Ian was a kind of role model or pioneer for the others coming to Stanford. The kids who have come from Klamath to Stanford have done a great job."
It's uncertain if all four will wear Cardinal uniforms in a single meet. Dobson and, probably, Pellegrino, are not running cross country.
It's possible that Pellegrino, because of Stanford's depth, may also redshirt the outdoor track season, although he may run indoors. If it happens, the four would likely run different events.
And, if it happens, four fast friends - Kevin Pellegrino, Lauren Jespersen, Jacob Gomez and Ian Dobson - will probably turn in four fast times.
Runners at a glance
IAN DOBSON
Ian Dobson, 22, is a fifth year senior with eligibility remaining in indoor and outdoor track. The son of Marita Kunkel of Klamath Falls and Ted Dobson of Eugene, he is majoring in political science but hopes to turn professional after graduation.
"A year from now my life is going to be very different," says Dobson. "My plans are to run very fast."
He plans to focus on "running flat," not the steeplechase. An immediate goal is placing in the top six at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in February and qualifying for the World Cross Country Championships in March before the outdoor track season. His desire is "to be able to compete at the world class level" in the distance events, the 5000 and 10,000 meters.
Stanford Highlights - Dobson was a member of Stanford's NCAA Championship Cross Country Teams in 2003 and 2002 and second place team in 2001, placing fifth, ninth and 20th overall to win three All-American honors. He was the 2003 Pac-10 and Northwest Regional Cross Country Champion. As a freshman, Dobson made the U.S. World Junior Cross Country and Track teams and competed in Belgium.
In track and field, Dobson placed third in the 2004 NCAA Finals in the steeplechase to earn All-American honors and ran in the U.S. Olympic Trials. He won the Pac-10 championship in the steeplechase in 2003 and was second this year. Dobson was fifth in the 10,000 at the 2003 NCAA championships to earn All-American honors, and sixth at the 2003 U.S. Outdoor Championships. Indoors, at the 2004 NCAA Championships he was second in the 5000 and fifth in the 3000 to earn two more All-American honors.
Klamath Union - Two-time Oregon state cross country champion as a junior and senior. As team captain for two years, Dobson led KU to two state championships. Won several district championships. As a senior, he finished third in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in Florida and was seventh as a junior. In track he took second in state in the 1500 and 3000 meters.
JACOB GOMEZ
Jacob Gomez, 20, is a junior with three years of eligibility in cross country and track. A 2002 graduate from KU, he is the son of Gabriel and Sydne Gomez and is majoring in human biology with the possibility of going to medical school.
"If I can run at the professional level I think I will. At time same time, if I have academic things I can do, I think I'll do that. I don't live just to run. It's a huge part of my life, but I have to make room for other things. It's good to escape from running, and escape from other things by running."
He plans to run the 5000 and 1500 during the track season - "I like the length and the excitement and speed of the 1500."
Stanford Highlights - Gomez competed in the 5000 at the NCAA Championships and was sixth in the 5000 at the NCAA West Regionals. Finished eighth in the 1500 at the Pac-10 Championships in 2003 as a freshman. In cross country, he was 20th at the Pac-10 Championships to help Stanford win the conference title in 2003, runner-up at the Cal Poly Invitational and third at the Bronco Invitational.
KU - Two-time state champion in the 3000 meters. Golden West champion in the 3200 meters as a senior and state runner-up in the 1500 as a sophomore. State runner-up honors in cross country as a senior. Fourth at state as a junior and 10th at the Footlocker Regionals. Ran the third fastest 2-mile time in the nation as a senior. Three-time All-State and All-Conference. Placing member on the 2000 KU State Championship Cross Country team.
LAUREN JESPERSEN
Lauren Jespersen, 20, is a sophomore with four years of eligibility in cross country and track. He graduated from KU in 2003 and is the son of Larry and Maureen Jespersen. Jespersen is undeclared but he expects to major in psychology with an eye on law school or an MBA in business.
"I'm at Stanford to prepare myself for the work force. I'm going to try to position myself to have a well-paying job someday. After the 2008 Olympic Trials and Olympics it will depend on if I can get a (running) contract to be able to train without having to work too much."
Last year Jespersen ran the 800 meters indoors. He expects to concentrate on the 1500 this year but, "I feel the 5000 may be where I eventually hope to go in my career."
Stanford Highlights - Jespersen will debut for Stanford after redshirting last year. Placed fifth overall at the Stanford Invitational in September.
KU - Won the 2002 Oregon state title in the 1500 meters and second in the 800. Also second at state in the 800 as a sophomore. Oregon state cross country individual champion as a junior and second as a senior. Two-time Footlocker National cross country finalist. Second team All-America honors and first team All-West as a senior. Scoring member on 2000 KU State Championship Cross Country Championship Team.
KEVIN PELLEGRINO
Kevin Pellegrino, 18, a freshman who expects to red-shirt for cross country and outdoor track. A 2004 graduate from KU, he is the son of Laurie Pellegrino and Mike Pellegrino. Major is undecided.
"Coach (Andy) Gerard felt like the best coach for me. And having three other people from Klamath Falls here at Stanford made it feel like the place to be. They gave me a lot of advice, and I knew I could trust them."
He hopes to run for the indoor season, possibly the mile, 1500 and 3000 meters, and envisions running the 5000 outdoors.
KU - All-state performer in track and cross country during his sophomore through senior seasons. Named the conference outstanding athlete during the 2003 cross country season. District champion in the 1500 as a senior and 3000 during his junior and senior seasons.
Story and photos by Regional Editor Lee Juillerat
TANFORD, Calif. - Four fast friends who lived within a mile of each other in Klamath Falls are back together as members of Stanford University's national championship cross country and track teams.
Ian Dobson, Lauren Jespersen and Kevin Pellegrino all attended Roosevelt Elementary School while Jacob Gomez went to Fairview. All four later attended Ponderosa Junior High and Klamath Union High schools.
Although they were never teammates at the same time at KU - in 2000 Dobson was a senior, Gomez a sophomore and Jespersen a freshman while Pellegrino was in his final year at Ponderosa - all four have long been fast friends, both on and off the track.
"We definitely stay in touch and hang out together," Pellegrino says. "It's really the same, like we were in high school."
"It was really cool when Jake came," Dobson says of the cycle of Pelicans at Stanford. "It was a lot of fun when Lauren came. It was almost absurd when Kevin came. I've never heard of four guys from one high school getting scholarships and being on the same college team."
Stanford, of course, isn't just any college.
Academically, it's often called the "Harvard of the West" because of its rigorous standards. Athletically, Stanford's cross country team has few peers. Cardinal runners have won two consecutive national championships, with the 2003 squad regarded one of the best-ever teams in NCAA history. Although it lost six of its top seven runners, the team is ranked second in this year's preseason polls.
Not competing in cross country this year is Dobson. A fifth year senior - most student-athletes are on five year programs - he won three All-American honors in four years in cross country. Dobson still has another year of eligibility for both indoor and outdoor track, where he has also earned All-American honors in the 10,000 meters and steeplechase outdoors and 3000 and 5000 meters indoors.
Gomez and Jespersen are expected to play key roles as Stanford tries to defend its title while Pellegrino, like most freshmen, is expected to redshirt.
All four were recruited by legendary Stanford coach Vin Lananna, who has since become director of athletics at Oberlin College in Ohio. A five-time national coach of the year, Lananna was president and co-founder of the Nike Farm Team, a post-collegiate program for professional middle and distance athletes, and was Team USA's middle distance coach at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
"They're all fabulous kids," Lananna says of Dobson, Gomez, Jespersen and Pellegrino. "They're great kids and they come from great families. I think fondly of those guys."
Their current coach, Andrew Gerard, who succeeded Lananna last year, concurs.
"They're all unique - different personalities, different individuals," Gerard says. "They are great young men with good values, great work ethics. They all want to be successful academically and athletically."
Gerard and Lananna, like the four runners, gives much of the credit to Marnie Mason. A national class runner while a student at KU, Mason later returned as the Pels coach. She is now the women's coach at the University of Oregon.
"Obviously, it speaks very highly of Klamath Falls tradition and the coaching they got in high school," Gerard says.
Along with crediting Mason, Gerard credits KU, the four runners and their parents for creating a situation where all succeeded in the classroom - "Stanford obviously wouldn't be lucky enough to have all four if they hadn't done well academically. We're the lucky benefactors of that."
Lananna echoes Gerard.
"I wanted kids who had been appropriately challenged in high school. It's much better to have a good challenge coming in. There are not very many high schools that produce athletes who can step in to the No. 1 cross country program in the country and contribute. Marnie," Lananna believes, "did a great job."
Lananna says he also sought out runners from successful programs.
"I looked at the tradition and history (at KU). Ian came to our program and did a good job, and I felt the Klamath Falls kids were good bets. When Ian was a freshman he told me about Jacob. Jacob and Ian told me about Lauren. I knew Kevin because he had also visited campus."
The Stanford connection began when Dobson, a June 2000 KU graduate, accepted a scholarship to Stanford after being aggressively courted by several other colleges, including Wisconsin and the University of Oregon.
"Growing up it was not some sort of dream, going to Stanford," Dobson says. But, by his junior year at KU, "I knew that the good teams were. In all honesty, I came to Stanford for the running, not the school," although he has maintained a high grade point average.
What helped seal Dobson's decision, and created a lasting impression on Gomez and Jespersen, was a recruiting trick at the 2000 Stanford Cross Country Invitational. After winning the prestigious, highly competitive high school race, Dobson was driven around the course in a golf cart by Lananna.
"I got to see Ian ride around in the golf cart and I said, 'Man, I want the coach to do that with me,' " recalls Jespersen, who was a freshman. "Seeing Ian go off to Stanford, I decided I was going to try and do the same. I set my goal then and tried to work for it."
"Ian was being recruited by Stanford and we were excited for him," remembers Gomez, then a KU sophomore. "The school - the academic part, and the history - has always been an appeal. With Ian being here, that was another appeal, knowing that Ian was fitting in well with the team. A lot of people ask me, 'Was Ian the reason you came here?' It wasn't exactly that, but Ian showed us Stanford. Then we started joking, how about all four of us?"
"Pretty much from the beginning of my freshman year (at KU) it was an unspoken goal," Pellegrino says of wanting to attend Stanford.
Pellegrino was an eighth grader at Ponderosa when Dobson was being recruited by Stanford. At the time, he was eager to be part of KU's team, eager to carry on traditions established by Dobson, Gomez and Jespersen. Now he's excited to be reunited with his friends at Stanford.
Because of Stanford's incredible depth, and because he's recovering from foot injuries, Pellegrino will probably red-shirt the upcoming cross country season. Jespersen and Gomez hope to help Stanford go for a three-peat.
"I don't think a lot of people know how deep we are," Gomez says.
"Running-wise, I can't wait to be in the top seven on our team," says Pellegrino, who thinks Stanford will surprise other schools. "If we can get by this year we can have a long streak of national championships."
All four former Pels credit Mason for helping them excel.
"I was really lucky to have someone like Marnie challenge me," Dobson says. "She is one of the rare people who will tell you to do more. She is the type of person who brings out a person's potential."
Dobson says he was spurred by Jeremy Park, who won a state title while Dobson was a freshman and later had a successful running career at the University of Washington.
"All four of us have had somebody ahead of us to look up to. It became normal that we had good runners," Dobson says. Most of all, he credits Mason for developing a generation of runners. "There's no question the four of us are talented, but I refuse to believe there are not others who are just as talented."
"Overall, she's just a good coach, a good motivator," Gomez agrees of Mason's influence. "She made sure we did the little things. We worked hard. We were pretty focused."
"Marnie helped all of us develop goals," believes Pellegrino. "She always knew how to get the best of us."
"She was the biggest inspiration for all of us coming," echoes Jespersen. "She coached us to do well in school, to do well as a team, and to have fun as a team."
The team aspect figured in individual decisions to attend Stanford. Jespersen says several coaches promised to only coach him, while others said they would developing running programs with him as their focus.
"But you want to share the successes, the team championships," says Jespersen, who won a state team championship in 2000, when the Pels were ranked fifth nationally, and won the 2002 state title in the 1500 meters.
"It wasn't nearly as rewarding (winning the individual honors) as winning the team championship because I didn't have anybody to share it with," Jespersen remembers.
That team attitude is something Lananna was searching for.
"Vin said he always looked for guys from good high school teams because they know how to work as part of a team, not necessarily as individuals," Dobson says.
"Having a good program is not just winning. It's a tradition, an atmosphere, a sense of loyalty. We wanted to be a national powerhouse," Lananna says of the atmosphere he created at Stanford, which previously had only a mediocre running program. "I'm guessing that Ian was a kind of role model or pioneer for the others coming to Stanford. The kids who have come from Klamath to Stanford have done a great job."
It's uncertain if all four will wear Cardinal uniforms in a single meet. Dobson and, probably, Pellegrino, are not running cross country.
It's possible that Pellegrino, because of Stanford's depth, may also redshirt the outdoor track season, although he may run indoors. If it happens, the four would likely run different events.
And, if it happens, four fast friends - Kevin Pellegrino, Lauren Jespersen, Jacob Gomez and Ian Dobson - will probably turn in four fast times.
Runners at a glance
IAN DOBSON
Ian Dobson, 22, is a fifth year senior with eligibility remaining in indoor and outdoor track. The son of Marita Kunkel of Klamath Falls and Ted Dobson of Eugene, he is majoring in political science but hopes to turn professional after graduation.
"A year from now my life is going to be very different," says Dobson. "My plans are to run very fast."
He plans to focus on "running flat," not the steeplechase. An immediate goal is placing in the top six at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in February and qualifying for the World Cross Country Championships in March before the outdoor track season. His desire is "to be able to compete at the world class level" in the distance events, the 5000 and 10,000 meters.
Stanford Highlights - Dobson was a member of Stanford's NCAA Championship Cross Country Teams in 2003 and 2002 and second place team in 2001, placing fifth, ninth and 20th overall to win three All-American honors. He was the 2003 Pac-10 and Northwest Regional Cross Country Champion. As a freshman, Dobson made the U.S. World Junior Cross Country and Track teams and competed in Belgium.
In track and field, Dobson placed third in the 2004 NCAA Finals in the steeplechase to earn All-American honors and ran in the U.S. Olympic Trials. He won the Pac-10 championship in the steeplechase in 2003 and was second this year. Dobson was fifth in the 10,000 at the 2003 NCAA championships to earn All-American honors, and sixth at the 2003 U.S. Outdoor Championships. Indoors, at the 2004 NCAA Championships he was second in the 5000 and fifth in the 3000 to earn two more All-American honors.
Klamath Union - Two-time Oregon state cross country champion as a junior and senior. As team captain for two years, Dobson led KU to two state championships. Won several district championships. As a senior, he finished third in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in Florida and was seventh as a junior. In track he took second in state in the 1500 and 3000 meters.
JACOB GOMEZ
Jacob Gomez, 20, is a junior with three years of eligibility in cross country and track. A 2002 graduate from KU, he is the son of Gabriel and Sydne Gomez and is majoring in human biology with the possibility of going to medical school.
"If I can run at the professional level I think I will. At time same time, if I have academic things I can do, I think I'll do that. I don't live just to run. It's a huge part of my life, but I have to make room for other things. It's good to escape from running, and escape from other things by running."
He plans to run the 5000 and 1500 during the track season - "I like the length and the excitement and speed of the 1500."
Stanford Highlights - Gomez competed in the 5000 at the NCAA Championships and was sixth in the 5000 at the NCAA West Regionals. Finished eighth in the 1500 at the Pac-10 Championships in 2003 as a freshman. In cross country, he was 20th at the Pac-10 Championships to help Stanford win the conference title in 2003, runner-up at the Cal Poly Invitational and third at the Bronco Invitational.
KU - Two-time state champion in the 3000 meters. Golden West champion in the 3200 meters as a senior and state runner-up in the 1500 as a sophomore. State runner-up honors in cross country as a senior. Fourth at state as a junior and 10th at the Footlocker Regionals. Ran the third fastest 2-mile time in the nation as a senior. Three-time All-State and All-Conference. Placing member on the 2000 KU State Championship Cross Country team.
LAUREN JESPERSEN
Lauren Jespersen, 20, is a sophomore with four years of eligibility in cross country and track. He graduated from KU in 2003 and is the son of Larry and Maureen Jespersen. Jespersen is undeclared but he expects to major in psychology with an eye on law school or an MBA in business.
"I'm at Stanford to prepare myself for the work force. I'm going to try to position myself to have a well-paying job someday. After the 2008 Olympic Trials and Olympics it will depend on if I can get a (running) contract to be able to train without having to work too much."
Last year Jespersen ran the 800 meters indoors. He expects to concentrate on the 1500 this year but, "I feel the 5000 may be where I eventually hope to go in my career."
Stanford Highlights - Jespersen will debut for Stanford after redshirting last year. Placed fifth overall at the Stanford Invitational in September.
KU - Won the 2002 Oregon state title in the 1500 meters and second in the 800. Also second at state in the 800 as a sophomore. Oregon state cross country individual champion as a junior and second as a senior. Two-time Footlocker National cross country finalist. Second team All-America honors and first team All-West as a senior. Scoring member on 2000 KU State Championship Cross Country Championship Team.
KEVIN PELLEGRINO
Kevin Pellegrino, 18, a freshman who expects to red-shirt for cross country and outdoor track. A 2004 graduate from KU, he is the son of Laurie Pellegrino and Mike Pellegrino. Major is undecided.
"Coach (Andy) Gerard felt like the best coach for me. And having three other people from Klamath Falls here at Stanford made it feel like the place to be. They gave me a lot of advice, and I knew I could trust them."
He hopes to run for the indoor season, possibly the mile, 1500 and 3000 meters, and envisions running the 5000 outdoors.
KU - All-state performer in track and cross country during his sophomore through senior seasons. Named the conference outstanding athlete during the 2003 cross country season. District champion in the 1500 as a senior and 3000 during his junior and senior seasons.
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Bill Hoffman wrote on Apr 10, 2008 10:07 AM:
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Respectfully submitted,
Bill Hoffman
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