Varsity 541

PREP CROSS COUNTRY

Running under the Radar

Defending Class 6A champion Drew Jordan isn't considered an odds-on favorite to repeat

Mail Tribune
November 06, 2009

Drew Jordan can run as fast and as far as his considerable ability will allow.

No matter.

He still has trouble catching up to the limelight.

It was that way as a child growing up in a household of accomplished runners.

It's that way now as he gears up to defend — yes, defend — the Class 6A cross country state championship he captured as a junior last season for North Medford High.

The state meet for all classifications is Saturday at Lane Community College in Eugene.

"He's in the mix, which is nice," says Black Tornado coach Piet Voskes in what seems a good-sized understatement. "I still think the limelight isn't directly on him, even being the defending champion. Part of that is proximity and where he's running. He's not a Portland kid, so he's still overlooked to a degree."

Never was that more true than last year, when Jordan entered state with a time ranked only 26th in Class 6A.

Confidence in his fitness and training regimen, awareness of how others around him were holding up and his acumen for the sport fueled Jordan to a 71/2-second victory.

Few saw it coming, and relatively few may expect a repeat.

"I still think I'm a little bit of an underdog," says Jordan, who won the SWC meet Saturday with a season-best time of 15 minutes, 42 seconds for 5,000 meters. "I could do anything in Southern Oregon and no one seems to notice."

Part of it, too, is that his time ranks fourth in the state and is well off state-leader Ben Demaree of Jesuit, who has run 15:05.

But Jordan has a history of being overshadowed.

He grew up tagging along with his parents, David and Donna, to road races. He'd run in sprints for kids or fun runs while others in the family entered the big races.

His parents were successful runners for Roseburg High in the early 1980s, and his sister, Danielle, developed into one of Oregon's best girl distance runners in the early 2000s, first at Baker High, then at North Medford after David took a job here.

Drew remembers going to the Junior Olympics state meet as a fifth-grader only because his sister competed. She trained hard and excelled; he wasn't allowed to train but entered for fun.

"I just warmed up and ran the race," he says.

Danielle easily qualified for regionals, and Drew had enough natural ability to also advance.

At the next stop, Danielle again finished well and made it to nationals.

"Dad said if I qualified, he'd take me because he was going anyway," says Drew.

The boy did qualify. Then he did so again the next year, and the year after.

"Dad kept me on a short leash," says Drew. "I had very little training. He wanted to keep it more fun, and that's exactly what it was. Dad always said, 'When you're in high school, you can run as hard as you want.' Looking back on it, that's the best thing he could have done for me."

And it's been in high school that the son has eclipsed many of the father's prep times.

"Dad was really a good runner in high school," says Drew. "I still have yet to break a few of his records. We have a little feud going."

Drew has most of them, however, if only by a couple tenths of a second in some cases.

Voskes himself comes from a running family and has insight into Drew Jordan's background.

"There's a unique motivation to be known not just as Danielle's brother or David's son," says Voskes. "Drew's motivation is to be known as Drew Jordan and not just as a member of a running family. He may not admit that, but that might be one of his driving forces. Then you complement that with the fact he might be the toughest kid I've ever coached."

Trevor Palmer, a former All-American at Southern Oregon University and now a North Medford assistant, recently marveled that Jordan is one of the toughest runners he's trained with.

"When you get a 23-, 24-year-old guy saying that about a 17-year-old, that's quite a compliment," says Voskes.

It should concern Jordan's opponents.

Cross country is largely a game of adversity. Pain and hardship increase with each stride, and not everyone has the fortitude to fight through.

"Most kids back down at a certain point," says Voskes. "Drew refuses to do that. He may not win every race, but if you're gonna beat him, you're gonna have to hurt pretty hard."

Still, Jordan won't be favored Saturday.

Demaree of Jesuit and Ian Burgess of Franklin moved to the fore with fast times back in September. In the same meet and on the same fast course that Demaree ran his 15:05, Burgess did 15:12.

"That's when a lot of people got their eyes on those two," says Jordan.

Then, in the Black Tornado's only race in Portland, Jordan placed third at the Concordia/Puma Classic with a then-school record of 15:46. Finishing ahead of him were Matthew Melancon, a SWC rival from Sheldon, and Crater's Josh Elliott, the defending 5A state champion.

Despite the solid showing, Jordan viewed it as a wake-up call because he lost to a 6A runner who happened to be from his own conference and who had never beaten him before.

"I had no choice but to find another gear," says Jordan.

Voskes, too, thought his star let one slip away. But in a scenario similar to late last season, it "brought some focus back to his practice."

There is no question in Jordan's mind that he's fitter than ever and is peaking at the right time.

He is not concerned about the fast times of Demaree and Burgess. He's had great success against each over the years.

"Track is one thing where you can compare times to an extent," says Jordan. "In cross country, you can't unless they're on the same course on the same day. People are expecting him (Demaree) to be way out in front of me because of the times he ran. I'm not expecting that at all."

Jordan foresees himself, Demaree, Burgess, Melancon and a Beaverton freshman, Kevin Kavanaugh, battling it out after two miles in the 3.1-mile race.

Oh, and at least one other could be up there, an intriguing fellow no one expected to make a charge.

"There is going to be a Drew Jordan in that race," says Voskes, recalling his own runner's breakout last year. "We remind Drew of that. There will be some kid with the 30th-best time sitting back there. He's put in all the work and has been overlooked. He's the Drew Jordan this year.

"That's the beauty of the sport. It's not raced on paper."

The real Jordan gets it and simply says, "I fully expect him to be there."

But if the mystery Jordan — or anyone else — is going to elbow the Black Tornado ace out of the limelight, it's gonna hurt pretty hard.

Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail ttrower@mailtribune.com