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  • Tribune-Star file/Jim Avelis No stopping him: John Mascari (262, left) trails, among others, Indianapolis North Central’s Futsum Zeinasellassie (224) during the Indiana state championship meet in 2010.

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January 12, 2012

No place like home: Mascari welcomed by ISU

Craig Pearson The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana State men’s cross country coach John McNichols would have loved to have one of Terre Haute North’s all-time great distance runners join his program last year.

But John Mascari chose an Indiana University program that has been rising on the national scene.

The freshman’s plans have changed.

During his Christmas break away from Bloomington, Mascari decided to return to his hometown to run for Indiana State.

McNichols enjoys putting his team through different workouts around Terre Haute parks, including one near Mascari’s family home in the Collett Park neighborhood. Mascari has literally moved his college career to his own backyard.

“I feel a lot more comfortable here. It’s a good fit for myself, for my education,” Mascari said. “McNichols is a great coach. He has an ability to get to know each individual on a personal level. [I’m] looking forward to great friendships with my teammates.”

McNichols is obviously thrilled to get a talent like Mascari and has big expectations of the newcomer.

“I think it’s nice that John has elected to come back and be part of the athletic history of Indiana State,” McNichols said. “I’m thrilled that the local kids — we see that with all the sports — that they want to be at Indiana State. I know the community appreciates that.”

Mascari leaves a program that placed seventh in the nation for the past two years.

IU coach Ron Helmer told the Tribune-Star last fall that Mascari was training at a high level, but that he was redshirting as had become custom for freshmen in the IU program.

“I have a lot of respect for the coaches at IU and the program. I wish them the best of luck,” Mascari said. “Just being at home with a great support group, it just made me feel I belong here.”

Mascari will rejoin Terre Haute North teammates Milton Brinza, Dylan Bertsch and Brandon Query on the ISU squad. He’ll also have a chance to be teammates with former prep rivals Drew Gambill and Taylor Head.

Mascari led the Patriots to fifth place as a team in the IHSAA state finals in 2010, placing ninth in a 5,000-meter time of 15 minutes, 56 seconds. Mascari was 15th as a junior at the state meet, leading North to 10th as a team.

“It’s pretty cool. I grew up with a lot of guys, Brandon Query, Dylan Bertsch and Milton Brinza, teammates from high school. It’s a cool way for us to come together again and compete as a team,” Mascari said.

Mascari is also familiar with some of the veteran distance runners for Indiana State. As a sophomore, Mascari finished 16th in the 2008 cross country state finals at LaVern Gibson, which was two places ahead of ISU standout Al Excalera. In 2010, Mascari was 16th again, which was four places better than freshman Sycamore Gabe Ocasio from powerhouse Columbus North.

“We’ve got a lot of fast guys on the team. Ready to push them as best as I can. They’ll be pushing me for sure,” he said.

The time spent at IU should only help the young runner as he returns to race his home meets at LaVern Gibson Championship Course.

“We had a lot of great workouts at IU,” Mascari said. “I’m in the best shape of my life. I definitely bumped up my mileage a lot. It should be fun going at it. Still good friends with the guys at IU, going to be fun to compete against them and seeing what happens.”

Mascari could become a key cog in the Sycamores’ chances of winning a fourth consecutive Missouri Valley Conference cross country title this fall.

“He’s a very gifted kid. Great racer. Very calm. Good race sense. A lot of that comes from his natural ability and good hard work, but a lot comes from the good coaches he’s worked with over the years,” McNichols said. “His potential as a collegiate runner/post collegiate runner is unlimited.”

Mascari could be ready to take to the track as soon as this spring.

“As far as I know, I’ll probably redshirt indoors because of the transition. Outdoors is up in the air, depends if I’m healthy or not. Focused on what’s in front of me,” Mascari said.

Freshmen can have an adjustment period, but Mascari will have four years of eligibility remaining in cross country.

“He’s been training with outstanding athletes so he certainly knows what a good hard workout feels like,” McNichols said. “That’s the biggest adjustment most freshmen go through is the intensity of the day-to-day training. They adapt and they actually recover on those easy days. That will be a huge advantage for him.”

Time will tell if he can take to the track this spring.

“The freshman year is certainly a time to give it some time. Patience may be in order here,” McNichols said. “I don’t know if that will be the case. I don’t really agree with blanket redshirting. These are kids that are used to competing. Redshirting a season or two is fine. if the athlete is comfortable with it, the purpose of the redshirt, that’s fine. These guys are young, used to racing, the reason they love it. Going a whole year without that may not be in his best interest.”



McNichols said he always makes a point to begin his recruiting efforts in the Wabash Valley.

He likes the promise of some of the young men on the roster.

Gambill will have the chance to race this winter indoors, where he could thrive in the shorter distance events.

“Gambill should be spectacular. He’s more fit than he’s ever been. He’s really good,” McNichols said. “He’ll run the mile and the 3,000. He thinks of himself as an 800-miler, but he’s gained enough strength and has enough base to run 3,000.”

South graduate Taylor Head was impressive in an unscored open meet at Indiana University on Nov. 6 when he and Mascari both ran. Head’s passion for running could help him become a force during his ISU career.

“He could be just as good as anybody we’ve ever had. In the meet Nov. 6, [Head and Mascari] ran pretty much together until John got a sidestich and Taylor carried on.”

Milton Brinza, a top-three runner for Terre Haute North on the back-to-back top 10 state finals teams, has adjusted to a college workload and is one of the freshmen not to redshirt this year.

“Brinza trained with top guys, just shy of top 7 at the end of the year, but he gained some valuable experience running in several big meets,” McNichols said. “He’s going to know next year what that collegiate race feels like.

“He’s really coming in as a miler. Moving up to that 8K race was an adjustment. He handled it really well, very disciplined, and again, a lot of potential.”

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