Sep. 6 -- TULSA -- Claremore's Gabriel Rodriguez wasted no time making his mark this cross country season.
The junior smashed his 5K personal best Thursday night at the Rogers State University Distance After Dark Meet at Mohawk Sports Complex in Tulsa, clocking a time of 16 minutes, 47.43 seconds to shave seven seconds off his previous best.
Rodriguez's strong performance earned him 39th place out of 279 runners and helped the Zebras secure a 15th-place team finish with 399 points. Piedmont won the team title with 36 points, while Jenks' Brody Maasen claimed the individual title in 15:26.14.
"I feel really good," Rodriguez said. "I was just keeping up with Landon Holdman from Coweta, and he really pushed me. He is coming off having a cold, so props to him for a PR. It was a fun race. It was kind of hot, but I liked it. I enjoyed it a lot."
The breakout race was the culmination of an offseason filled with careful planning and perseverance for Rodriguez, who battled an injury earlier in the year.
After a challenging track season, he gradually increased his mileage from 25 to 40 miles per week over the summer and implemented a structured training routine. His goal now is to consistently break 17 minutes in future races.
"Mileage got me to this point, for sure," Rodriguez said. "I was doing 25 during track, but then I bumped up to 30, 35, 40. I did it gradually, instead of shooting up and getting injured and all that again. I did my own workout structures, with a workout day, a long run day and an easy day and all that.
"This is a good point to build off, keep going and keep getting my time goals."
Claremore coach Eric Wiens praised Rodriguez's commitment, believing that with further tweaks to his running form, Rodriguez can continue to chip away at his times and potentially chase the Claremore school record of 15:53, set by Jack Vincent.
As a junior, Rodriguez has time on his side, and his coach is eager to see where his hard work will take him.
"Gabe ran really well -- he's been putting in the mileage this summer," Wiens said. "I don't know what he can do, either. There's a little bit of running form things that we can improve on, but I think he's just going to keep getting better and better. He's a junior, so who knows what he's going to be next year. I want to see him break into that school record and have a chance to get that."
Claremore's team effort saw several runners set personal records, including Patrick Mitchell, who ran his first sub-19-minute 5K.
The team's other point earners were Sawyer Beller (18:26.78), Levi Craig (18:41.24), Mitchell (18:53.00), and Brayden Frederick (19:03.96).
"Sawyer ran way better today, and he's going to get a sub-18 next week, I think," Wiens said. "It was a nice race for us. We have a lot of kids who came in and hadn't done any training during the summer, and you can tell the dramatic difference between the ones that have worked hard during the summer and the ones that haven't. But I know they're going to come around, and those lower fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-place kids on the team will be three or four minutes faster by the end of the year, maybe even five."