Cole Dowdy didn’t run as well as he would have liked during Saturday’s Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships in San Diego, but he’ll remember much more about the trip than just his final time.
“I’d never been west of the Mississippi River and had never flown before,” said Dowdy, a senior at South Oldham High School. “This was new territory for me. … I really enjoyed it. Some people get freaked out by flying, but I really liked it. It was peaceful.”
Dowdy finished 38th out of 40 runners in the event at Balboa Park, covering the 5 kilometers in 16 minutes, 25.6 seconds.
Drew Hunter of Louden Valley High School in Purcellville, Va., won the race with a time of 14:55.7. Dowdy was the lone Kentuckian in the event.
Dowdy won Kentucky’s Class 3-A state meet on Nov. 7 and said he trained all fall in order to peak for that event. He finished seventh in the Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 28 to qualify for Saturday’s national meet.
“I’m just not used to the challenge of training like this, and I’m sure my legs were a little flat today,” Dowdy said. “To stay fresh for six weeks is impossible to do. Some of the guys that were here were probably expecting to be here and trained to peak for this. I wasn’t sure I’d qualify for this.”
Dowdy said he was pleased with his first mile Saturday and then began to realize it wouldn’t be his day.
“I slowly got the feeling during the race that people weren’t coming back to me,” he said. “I just didn’t have it in my legs. In the regional and state meets I was able to respond to the moves of others. Today I didn’t have it. I don’t know if it was because it was a tough course or my first time being out west and flying. …
“It was a bummer because I wanted to get close to a top-20 spot. With 40 guys, somebody has to be toward the back and today it was me.”
Dowdy, who has signed with the University of Kentucky, said he’ll take off the next two weeks before he starts training for the track and field season.
Weini Kelati of Heritage High School in Leesburg, Va., won the girls race with a time of 17:09.7. There were no Kentuckians in the field.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.