State Feature: Mental toughness, hard work lead Whiteoak’s Landen Eyre back to state cross-country meet
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — One year after being a part of the Whiteoak Wildcats boys team that qualified for state cross-country, sophomore Landen Eyre will run at the 2022 OHSAA Division III State Cross-Country Championships as an individual, and he has his eyes on adding to an already impressive season.
Eyre was a regional runner-up this season in a race that made him a state qualifier, as his time saw him 15:55.05 in the Pickerington North meet that’s just over three miles. Eyre was also a district champion following the race at the University of Rio Grande, and he was a Southern Hills Athletic Conference champion this season at Ripley.
So one can say all of his wins and accomplishments this season have led up to the biggest moment of the ’22 season, and that will be this Saturday, Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park.
Going into this season, the goal for Eyre was to return to state, and to make it on his own time, as he qualified as a member of the team, but not as an individual, as a freshman. At the 2021 state meet, Eyre finished 50th overall with a time of 16:54.9.
The sophomore distance runner talked about what it is like going back to the state championships and about all the work it took to return to the top race of the season.
“It feels good, obviously. I’m going to state, so it feels good,” Eyre said. “I put in 600, 700 miles over the summer. I knew that I was going be a lot faster than last year. I worked three days a week, so I would go to work first and then run at night, mostly. The days I didn't have work, I'd come to practice because we had summer practices and run at like 10 in the morning to 11.
“I ran 60 miles over the summer, per week, roughly. And then, once the season got here, I’ve been holding 50 miles a week.”
Whiteoak head coach Doug Hughes said Eyre is “stronger mentally” this season compared to last year, and that has made a big difference.
“He's so much stronger mentally this year than he was last year. That's where he's improved the most. This sport’s grueling, and it's just kind of a battle of attrition all through these races. It's often very hot. It's 3.1 miles, and we've raced against the best of the best,” Hughes said. “I’ve taken these kids all around. We went to the preseason state meet, we went to Pickerington, we've run against some of the best kids in Ohio a lot of the year, and that gets him ready.
“Last year, he was just very, very good, and he wouldn't quit, but he just didn't quite have that drive and toughness at the end that he has now. He just kind of has almost like a little bit of a chip on the shoulder, but he just knows that he's worked so hard. He's not letting up. He's worked too hard to let go and to let up any and just to give in. If you're going to beat him, you had better be ready to go because he's going to go, too. He’s just been really solid all year.”
Eyre’s beginnings in the sport started by running some small races in elementary school, and from there he competed at a very high level in middle school, including a fourth-place finish at the state meet as an eighth-grader.
Now, for the past two seasons, he’s been a standout for the Wildcats on the varsity team.
“In elementary school, we had these little races, like the half-mile and mile and two-mile runs. I always got beat in the two-mile, but I was pretty tough in the one-mile at sixth grade,” Eyre said.
He then spoke about when he realized he wanted to be competitive at cross-country.
“Probably the first practice in seventh grade. I came and I didn't think I’d like it, but after the first practice, I wanted to keep coming back,” Eyre said.
Qualifying for the state cross-country meet isn’t an easy feat as an individual. A runner has to be motivated and be at their best for an entire season, and even more than that, they have to perform while they are in competition. That said, Eyre spoke about what motivates him to be at his best when running and putting in all the work.
“What motivates me is that I just want to be good at the sport,” Eyre said. “If you're not going to put the work in, someone else will.”
When asked when he was most excited for Eyre this season, Hughes said it was a race at Jackson when he competed against one of the best runners in Division II during the race.
“We went to Jackson and we raced against [Charles] Putnam, whose dad is the the cross-country coach at Shawnee State, and they have a very high-end program. The Putnam kid was eighth place in Division II of the state last year. This is the kid we want to run against. He's one of the best in the Southeast District for the bigger schools, and they ran at Jackson on a very, very hilly course. Landen went out, and he wanted to beat him, so he went out ahead of him,” Hughes said when recalling the race.
“The Putnam kid passed him about halfway through the race. The old Landen would have come back a step, head down a little bit. He would have done great still, but he would have fallen back some. He didn't fall back. He didn't beat the Putnam kid at the end — he got beat by a second — and they ran incredibly low times at an incredibly hard course. That last half of the race, he just stayed right on him, whereas he would have gave up I think, last year, a little bit more. He just was like, ‘I’ve worked too hard. I'm going to stay with him,’ and he did. When he does that, he just benefits so much from facing those level of athletes, and he's just gotten so much better this year.”
Being more disciplined as a runner is one of the biggest improvements for Eyre when comparing his sophomore season to his freshman year, as he said he feels more disciplined and it has helped him for the 2022 year, as the WHS runner gave his thoughts on what it was like running at regionals.
“That was the race I felt the best. I've never felt better in a race before, more comfortable. Me and Will Baker (a top-ranked runner and regional champion from Mount Gilead), we were side by side the whole race until we hit the last half-mile mark. We both sped up, and then he sped up a little more and then I lost control.
“Having someone to run with is always good, and someone just to motivate you, push you along.”
Hughes said Eyre isn’t overly concerned when he’s not in the lead, and that Eyre knows the pace he wants to run on Saturday.
“He doesn’t get too worried when someone's out in front of him that maybe shouldn't be. He just kind of does his race. He knows what he wants to run the first mile, and he kind of knows the pace he wants to go, and then he kind of feels it out from there,” Hughes said. “He's pretty scientific with his running, and he's very structured on how he goes through these races. Hopefully he just has one of these full outputs this Saturday, so he can go as high as possible.”
For Hughes, when thinking about what Eyre has accomplished, it all comes back to the work the sophomore has put in to help in achieving his success, while also making Hughes saying he has to “up his game” when it comes to coaching.
“It's a lot of fun to coach him. I always joke with the kids and always tell them I'm a pretty good coach until you get down to about 18 minutes, and then once you get faster than 18 minutes, you're way better than I am. He's been there for about three years now,” Hughes said. “I've had to up my game for sure. I've learned a lot from him. Some of the things he does at practices, it’s just like ‘how's he doing that?’
“How can he do that workout, and then it's time for everyone to leave, and he's still out there finishing up with sprints or something in the grass? He's happy to do it — he wants to be doing this — but he's not to the point where if he doesn't do it, that he psychs himself out. He's really improved himself mentally this year so much. I think it's really going to help him this coming Saturday.”
Eyre said he not only wants to be competitive at state, but his aspirations are to be standing on the podium following the Division III race.
“I want to accomplish standing up on the podium after the race ends,” Eyre said. “(To do that) I’ll have to run a very fast race, a smart race.”
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Eyre was a regional runner-up this season in a race that made him a state qualifier, as his time saw him 15:55.05 in the Pickerington North meet that’s just over three miles. Eyre was also a district champion following the race at the University of Rio Grande, and he was a Southern Hills Athletic Conference champion this season at Ripley.
So one can say all of his wins and accomplishments this season have led up to the biggest moment of the ’22 season, and that will be this Saturday, Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park.
Going into this season, the goal for Eyre was to return to state, and to make it on his own time, as he qualified as a member of the team, but not as an individual, as a freshman. At the 2021 state meet, Eyre finished 50th overall with a time of 16:54.9.
The sophomore distance runner talked about what it is like going back to the state championships and about all the work it took to return to the top race of the season.
“It feels good, obviously. I’m going to state, so it feels good,” Eyre said. “I put in 600, 700 miles over the summer. I knew that I was going be a lot faster than last year. I worked three days a week, so I would go to work first and then run at night, mostly. The days I didn't have work, I'd come to practice because we had summer practices and run at like 10 in the morning to 11.
“I ran 60 miles over the summer, per week, roughly. And then, once the season got here, I’ve been holding 50 miles a week.”
Whiteoak head coach Doug Hughes said Eyre is “stronger mentally” this season compared to last year, and that has made a big difference.
“He's so much stronger mentally this year than he was last year. That's where he's improved the most. This sport’s grueling, and it's just kind of a battle of attrition all through these races. It's often very hot. It's 3.1 miles, and we've raced against the best of the best,” Hughes said. “I’ve taken these kids all around. We went to the preseason state meet, we went to Pickerington, we've run against some of the best kids in Ohio a lot of the year, and that gets him ready.
“Last year, he was just very, very good, and he wouldn't quit, but he just didn't quite have that drive and toughness at the end that he has now. He just kind of has almost like a little bit of a chip on the shoulder, but he just knows that he's worked so hard. He's not letting up. He's worked too hard to let go and to let up any and just to give in. If you're going to beat him, you had better be ready to go because he's going to go, too. He’s just been really solid all year.”
Eyre’s beginnings in the sport started by running some small races in elementary school, and from there he competed at a very high level in middle school, including a fourth-place finish at the state meet as an eighth-grader.
Now, for the past two seasons, he’s been a standout for the Wildcats on the varsity team.
“In elementary school, we had these little races, like the half-mile and mile and two-mile runs. I always got beat in the two-mile, but I was pretty tough in the one-mile at sixth grade,” Eyre said.
He then spoke about when he realized he wanted to be competitive at cross-country.
“Probably the first practice in seventh grade. I came and I didn't think I’d like it, but after the first practice, I wanted to keep coming back,” Eyre said.
Qualifying for the state cross-country meet isn’t an easy feat as an individual. A runner has to be motivated and be at their best for an entire season, and even more than that, they have to perform while they are in competition. That said, Eyre spoke about what motivates him to be at his best when running and putting in all the work.
“What motivates me is that I just want to be good at the sport,” Eyre said. “If you're not going to put the work in, someone else will.”
When asked when he was most excited for Eyre this season, Hughes said it was a race at Jackson when he competed against one of the best runners in Division II during the race.
“We went to Jackson and we raced against [Charles] Putnam, whose dad is the the cross-country coach at Shawnee State, and they have a very high-end program. The Putnam kid was eighth place in Division II of the state last year. This is the kid we want to run against. He's one of the best in the Southeast District for the bigger schools, and they ran at Jackson on a very, very hilly course. Landen went out, and he wanted to beat him, so he went out ahead of him,” Hughes said when recalling the race.
“The Putnam kid passed him about halfway through the race. The old Landen would have come back a step, head down a little bit. He would have done great still, but he would have fallen back some. He didn't fall back. He didn't beat the Putnam kid at the end — he got beat by a second — and they ran incredibly low times at an incredibly hard course. That last half of the race, he just stayed right on him, whereas he would have gave up I think, last year, a little bit more. He just was like, ‘I’ve worked too hard. I'm going to stay with him,’ and he did. When he does that, he just benefits so much from facing those level of athletes, and he's just gotten so much better this year.”
Being more disciplined as a runner is one of the biggest improvements for Eyre when comparing his sophomore season to his freshman year, as he said he feels more disciplined and it has helped him for the 2022 year, as the WHS runner gave his thoughts on what it was like running at regionals.
“That was the race I felt the best. I've never felt better in a race before, more comfortable. Me and Will Baker (a top-ranked runner and regional champion from Mount Gilead), we were side by side the whole race until we hit the last half-mile mark. We both sped up, and then he sped up a little more and then I lost control.
“Having someone to run with is always good, and someone just to motivate you, push you along.”
Hughes said Eyre isn’t overly concerned when he’s not in the lead, and that Eyre knows the pace he wants to run on Saturday.
“He doesn’t get too worried when someone's out in front of him that maybe shouldn't be. He just kind of does his race. He knows what he wants to run the first mile, and he kind of knows the pace he wants to go, and then he kind of feels it out from there,” Hughes said. “He's pretty scientific with his running, and he's very structured on how he goes through these races. Hopefully he just has one of these full outputs this Saturday, so he can go as high as possible.”
For Hughes, when thinking about what Eyre has accomplished, it all comes back to the work the sophomore has put in to help in achieving his success, while also making Hughes saying he has to “up his game” when it comes to coaching.
“It's a lot of fun to coach him. I always joke with the kids and always tell them I'm a pretty good coach until you get down to about 18 minutes, and then once you get faster than 18 minutes, you're way better than I am. He's been there for about three years now,” Hughes said. “I've had to up my game for sure. I've learned a lot from him. Some of the things he does at practices, it’s just like ‘how's he doing that?’
“How can he do that workout, and then it's time for everyone to leave, and he's still out there finishing up with sprints or something in the grass? He's happy to do it — he wants to be doing this — but he's not to the point where if he doesn't do it, that he psychs himself out. He's really improved himself mentally this year so much. I think it's really going to help him this coming Saturday.”
Eyre said he not only wants to be competitive at state, but his aspirations are to be standing on the podium following the Division III race.
“I want to accomplish standing up on the podium after the race ends,” Eyre said. “(To do that) I’ll have to run a very fast race, a smart race.”
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