TERRE HAUTE — A well known name in national running, Dathan Ritzenhein, arrived in Terre Haute on Friday, the eve of the Nike Team National Midwest Regional high school cross country race at LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
Ritzenhein signed autographs and talked with high school athletes at Zamberletti Restaurant & Lounge on Friday.
Ritzenhein is less than a week removed from qualifying for the 2008 Olympic marathon team at New York.
Ritzenhein placed second behind Ryan Hall in the New York Marathon. Hall broke the trials record with a time of 2 hours, 9 mniutes, 2 seconds. The prior mark of 2:10:19 was set in 1980 by Tony Sandoval.
The outstanding runs by the American marathoners were sadly overshadowed last weekend by the death of 28-year-old runner Ryan Shay five minutes into the race.
When told of what happened after the race, the 24-year-old Ritzenhein told the Chicago Tribune, “Any of us would give up our spot on the Olympic team to have Ryan back.”
Ritzenhein told the Tribune-Star on Friday about how his emotions quickly fluctuated.
“It was definitely a big shocker,” he said. “You don’t expect that. You go from being on a big high and then to hear about that 10 minutes later was definitely deflating.”
A former prep standout in Michigan, Ritzenhein was a three-time champion of the Foot Locker Championships, a race for individuals only. Ritzenhein was also a standout runner for the Colorado Buffaloes and celebrated an individual NCAA championship in Terre Haute for Colorado in 2004.
Ritzenhein, a Nike runner who will also try to qualify for the Olympic team in the 10,000 meters, is in town to promote the meet, he said. He is the 2003 NCAA individual champion. That race was contested at Northern Iowa, and when his Colorado team took team honors in 2001, the race was at Furman. Ritzenhein redshirted his sophomore year of 2002, the first year for the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute.
The Nike regional event will be held in Terre Haute for the first time today. The top two teams qualify for the nationals in Portland, Ore.
Competitors will be club teams from the states of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
Neuqua Valley’s club team from Naperville, Ill., is one of the team’s to beat in the boys race. The Naperville high school team edged Elmhurst to win the IHSA Class 3A state title on Nov. 3.
State champion Chris Derrick of Naperville finished just ahead of second-place Tom Achtien of Elmhurst.
In the girls competition, three-time Indiana state champion Westfield is the favorite, according to Tony Jones, who is a former Indiana State and Terre Haute North runner. Jones coaches cross country at Lane Tech High School in Chicago and runs a Web site,
www.illinoispreptoptimes.com.
The Patriot Running Club, featuring runners from Terre Haute North, has a boys and girls team entered.
Terre Haute South’s Kristy Twitchell is competing as an individual.
The girls championship is slated for 12:45 p.m., and the boys championship race follows at 1:30.
• ISU teams at regional — The Indiana State men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete today in the Great Lakes Regional on the Indiana University Golf Course at Bloomington.
The men’s 10,000-meter race begins at 11 a.m., followed by the women’s 6,000-meter at 12:15 p.m.
The top two teams and four individuals from each of the nine regional championships automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course. Thirteen at-large teams will be added Sunday.
The ISU men are ranked 12th in the Great Lakes Region. Wisconsin is first, Notre Dame second and Michigan third.
n Rose to host 2009 NCAAs — The NCAA Championships Committee has awarded Rose-Hulman hosting rights for the 2009 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships.
The event, scheduled for March 13-14 in 2009, marks the second time over a three-year span that Rose-Hulman will host the championships. The college previously hosted a successful 2007 indoor track and field national championship last March.
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