In achieving their ultimate goal, qualifying for the Division I state cross country meet, Clay cross country runners Thomas Gibbons and Erin Gyurke have traveled different paths.
 
The biggest similarity is that both are coached by Dave Hess, now in his 23rd year coaching both the boys and girls cross country programs.
 
Gibbons is a seasoned veteran, a senior who has finally qualified for the state tournament after coming up short last season. He ran approximately 60 miles per week in the summer and during the season in an attempt to improve on last season’s 24th-place finish at the regional meet, which left him short of advancing to Columbus.
 
Gibbons’ hard work came to fruition at the Division I regional in Tiffin on Oct. 29 when he finished 13th (out of 126 runners) in 16:13 to advance.
 
“I was very, very happy when I crossed the line (at regionals),” he said. “It just felt so good — it’s something that I’ll remember forever.”
 
Needless to say, Gibbons used last season’s 24th place finish at regionals as motivation to help him focus on making sure he qualified for Columbus this time around.
 
“I wasn’t very happy last year because I had the chance to go (to state),” he said. “I wasn’t pushing hard enough mentally. It slipped from my grasp by that much and I wanted to make sure that I made it my senior year.”
 
“It made him hungry,” said Hess. “It's always nice to see a senior who's worked hard and put in the miles. He had to beat a lot of good runners at regionals to get to Columbus.”
 
Gibbons has had quite an athletic career as a cross country runner, finishing with first team all-league honors three times (twice in the Toledo City League, once in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference). This season, he has been dominant, finishing fourth at districts and in the top five in two major invitationals—  the Clay Eagle Invite and Cardinal Stritch Invite.
 
As for Gyurke, she is a sophomore who has now qualified for the state tournament twice. She finished fourth at the regional meet in Tiffin, running a time of 18:49.
 
Granted, it’s been difficult for her to have gotten this far because she has been battling injuries. In 2010, she sustained a stress fracture in her foot, which limited her abilities because the effects of the injury lingered. This caused Gyurke to train cautiously, not to mention the fact she did not compete in track last spring to rehabilitate for cross country this season.
 
In fact, Gyurke has been running for only a portion of the season.
 
“At first, I didn’t run because I was injured,” she said. “As the season progressed, my times kept dropping.”
 
Despite having accomplished so much in two years of competition, Gyurke isn’t thinking about what she might do in a four-year career. Instead, she is enjoying her current success.
 
“I live in the moment. Getting injured both years has forced me to focus on the now,” Gyurke said.
 
Hess added, “The goal was to be healthy at the end of the season — and that was the number one goal — and she’s done that. Anything on top of that was a bonus. She's gotten a little faster, and she's almost back to where she was last year before she got hurt.
 
“She's a pretty natural runner. When it's time to work hard in practice, the last month-and-a-half, when I asked her to bring up the intensity she was able to do that.”
 
Like Gibbons, Gyurke, despite her injury, has been dominant from the midway point of the season, finishing in the top 10 at the Clay Eagle and Cardinal Stritch Invitationals before coming in second at districts. On top of that, she finished third at the TRAC championships last month, and, last season, finished second at the CL Championships as a freshman, earning her all-league honors both times.
 
Competing in Division I, Gibbons and Gyurke go up against the best the state has to offer in the postseason. In the boys regional meets in Tiffin, the final qualifying time for state in D-I was 16:18. In D-II and D-III, by comparison, the final qualifying times were 16:48 and 17:03.
 
In the girls regional meets in Tiffin, the final qualifying time in D-I was 19:27, while in D-II and D-III, the final qualifying times were 20:06 and 20:12.
 
For Hess, the key is to set lofty goals and work hard to achieve them.
 
“We always think it's possible — to get to the state meet,” he said. “You'd always like to think that your best runners have that potential.”

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