Today we chat with Scotts Valley HS senior, Scott Edwards (pictured on the left courtesy of the Santa Cruz Sentinel at this past season's CCS Top 8 Meet). He had a terrific junior cross country season which culminated with him finishing 5th in the Division IV race at the CA state meet after finishing 5th at the CCS meet. On the track, Scott made a real statement when he won the CCS Top 8 meet over Yohaness Estifanos in the 1600m. with a new lifetime best time by 8 seconds in 4:18.47. He finished 2nd at the CCS meet in another PR of 4:14.99. Scott continued his impressive season by qualifying to the state final in 4:13.42 and then finished 7th in the final with yet another PR of 4:12.55.
1) How did you get your start in running?
I had always enjoyed running when I was a kid growing up, but I had always played soccer. In seventh grade I ran cross country as well as played soccer, but I wanted to continue playing soccer. It was not until freshman year when my older brother, Tyler the cross country captain, convinced me to run did I consider XC. Once I started high school cross country there was no going back.
2) What other sports have you played besides cross country and track and field?
I played soccer since I was five, as well as playing basketball, and baseball during little league. In middle school I gave up other recreational sports to play soccer for my club team as well as one season of school volleyball. I continued to play soccer in high school but trying to run competitively and play varsity and club soccer was too much. I quit soccer altogether after freshman year and decided to focus on running.
3) Highlights in both sports during your freshman and sophomore seasons?
The highlight of my freshman cross country season was defiantly the SCCAL league meet. Through the season I had always been chasing my older brother trying to beat him. It was not until the league meet when I came close. At Pinto Lake he placed fourth and I placed fifth in 17:00 and 17:01 respectively. Moving into track the highlight was also the league track meet. My coach wanted to win the Frosh-soph division so he kept me in the frosh-soph races. I ran the 3200, 1600, 800, 4x400 in 10:42, 4:52, and 2:11 placing first in all of the events. For my sophomore year the highlight of my xc season was the trip to the state meet as an individual. In track my best moment was running pr of 1:58.10 at the league meet and qualifying for CCS.
4) Did you do anything different during the summer before this past cross country season? Where do you feel you made your breakthrough to the next level of competition?
Leading up to the cross country season I did not really change up any of my training. I kept running six days a week with light to moderate mileage over the summer and during the off season in the winter. Where I think my breakthrough came was just uninterrupted training over the past few years. No one season or off season made the breakthrough happen, I have just put in the time.
5) Proudest accomplishments during your junior cross country season?
My proudest accomplishment was the state meet. Leading up to the meet I had a few disappointing races making me worried about the state meet. Despite that, the state meet was the best race of my season by far. I placed 5th in D IV with a time of 15:45.
6) You had some struggles during the early part of this track season. What led to those struggles and how did you turn your season around?
This track season started off with two large personal records in the 1600 and 3000. After that I had some difficulties progressively running slower times. The worst part of the season came at the Stanford meet. I was coming down with something and not feeling 100%. This caused me to run my slowest time in the 3000 and mile to date. As to what turned my season around, I do not know. At every race I just kept trying to improve my times, but it was not until CCS top 8 meet that I pr’ed.
