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Raffin Reports:
Mike Atchoo looking unbeatable

If Michael Atchoo of Troy High School isn’t the best Division I male cross country runner or the best runner in any division this year, then there really is “something wrong in the state of Denmark.” Okay, I know there are a core of good “K” runners: Kamyszek of Kenowa Hills, last year’s Division II champion and now a Division I contender;  Karr, Kern, and Kern from powerful Pioneer; and Kaiser of Temperance-Bedford, all probable top five runners.   But Atchoo is unbeaten and unbeatable. And as the Troy star told me, “Yea, I know I’m unbeaten so far this season, but I always knock on wood.” That was after his impressive victory on Saturday, October 10, on the tough Kensington Park’s Possum Hollow course in the 50th Annual Oakland County Cross Country Championship Meet, the state’s oldest county meet. Atchoo, a definite power runner who is fast, became only the sixth runner who ever ran under 16:00 minutes at Possum Hollow when he raced to a 15:54 at the County Meet. That 15:54 was the third best time in the County Meet at Possum Hollow and ranks behind a duo of Novi runners, Tom Moore (15:37) in 2001 and Chris Toloff (15:39) in 2000. A year ago Atchoo placed second at the Oakland County Meet in 16:19, three seconds behind Brother Rice’s Mike Murphy.  Then at last year’s  state meet, Atchoo placed second to Stephen Walker of Midland Dow, and the Troy team did not qualify with a fourth place regional finish.

Right now Atchoo is also in the process of selecting a college for next year. He has visited Harvard and Notre Dame, and he will be going to Virginia, Stanford, Georgetown, and Michigan State after this cross country season. 

As he said, “So far the college visits have been a lot of fun.”

And the college of his choice will be getting a real scholar-athlete that has a 3.97 grade point average and hopes to go into pre-medicine.

The likeable Atchoo began his running with the St. Regis Catholic Church group when he was in the fifth grade.

“I started with the 100 meters, tried the hurdles in the sixth grade, moved up to the 800 in the middle school, and the mile in the high school, “ said Atchoo.

So far Atchoo has run a 50.5 relay split in the 400 as a sophomore; a 1:55+ in his fourth place 800 in the state meet’s first heat last spring; the 4:07.71 in his 1600 win at the state meet in June; and a 15:22 in the 5000-meter cross country race in last year’s state championship.

(Irishman Eamonn Coghlan, also a Villanova stand-out and a one time indoor world mile record holder, once said, “My ability to run a quarter mile all-out is only 50 seconds, yet at the end of a 5000-meter race I can run 50 seconds for a quarter.  And at the end of a mile race, I can run 50 seconds.”)

This season Michigan’s prep leading distance runner began his quest a bit late.

“Because of the Nike outdoor in late June, I started running cross country in July with just mileage of about 45 miles a week for most of the summer,” said Atchoo.  “Then in August I started workouts with my coach and the team.”

The Tuesday before the County Meet, Atchoo ran five minutes hard with a three minute jog; a three minute hard run with a two minute jog; a two minute hard run with a minute jog; and minute runs up the hill as fast as he could go.   

And Saturday he ran fast at Possum Hollow.

A typical running week for Troy’s top runner begins on Sunday as the team meets early and goes ten miles in about 65 to 70 minutes on different roads and trails away from the highway and stop lights of Troy.

Mondays are very low key with easy mileage followed by ice baths.

Tuedays are either a jamboree or a workout like 5 x 3 minute intervals with 3 minute jogs.

Wednesdays are six to eight mile recovery runs.

Thursdays are tempo runs of five to six miles with warm-ups and cool-downs.

And Fridays are easy because of Saturday races.

At the county Meet, Atchoo became a bit aggressive in his first mile. “I was five minutes at the first mile, and I usually don’t go out under five minutes and ten seconds,” he said.

But last June a week before Nike in an Illinois meet, Atchoo ran 59 and 61 seconds for the first 800 on the way to a 4:11+ mile.

“Yea, I and the rest of the field were too aggressive then, but it was just a preparation for the Nike outdoor championship.”

His goals this fall are to win the state championship; rectify the team’s failure in last year’s regional and qualify the team to MIS; and then qualify for the Foot Locker finals at Kenosha, Wisconsin, in late November.

“Right now I’m not even thinking about the mile and track,” said the modest miler.  “But this season has been kind of crazy because when I was younger, I never realized I ever could have as much success as I’ve had.”

Yes, at one time there were problems in Denmark, but on November 7th, at MIS, Michael Atchool will complete an unbeaten Michigan prep cross country season with his victory in the division 1 championship race.

(P.S.  If you didn’t catch it: David Madrigal 111 of Durand finished third in 15:44 at the Genesee County Area Championship behind Omar Kaddurah of Grand Blanc’s 15:37 and Jeremy Dickie of Swartz Creek’s 15:43... Megan Gothels of Rochester ran the fastest time ever at the Kensington Metro Park’s Possum Hollow course in 17:48.2.)

 (If you have any comments or questions, contact Duane Raffin at draffin13@yahoo.com)