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Raffin Reports:
David Madrigal III blazing the trails

This year Division III boys call for close attention because six of the top nine finishers from 2008 are returning.

A year ago at MIS in Division III, Blake Allison from Harrison was runner-up; Alex Wilson from Kent City was third; Albion's Paul Lewis was fourth; Durand's David Madrigal was sixth; Blissfield's Justin Bateson was seventh; and Whitmore Lake's Zach Carpenter was ninth.

Wilson, Allison, and Bateson scored in the 1600-meter run on the track last spring while Wilson won the 3200-meter run with Madrigal third and Lewis fourth.

A week after the official opening of the season in August, I officiated at the Durand Invitation and had a chance to watch and visit with David Madrigal III.

On that early season day, Madrigal won the meet over Division II all-stater and 2008 third place finisher Jake Hord of Linden. The Durand ace ran 16:02 to win on a 1.55 mile repeat course with one challenging hill (run twice) after running the first loop in 7:55.

It was evident that Madrigal had done his summer running."I ran 60 miles for each week in the summer, and for two days each week, I ran with Omar Kaddurah from Grand Blanc," said Madrigal.  (Kaddurah finish 16th in Division 1 a year ago and ran 4:16 on the track for 1600-meters in the spring.)  "Every Sunday we ran a thirteen mile course at about 6:45 per mile, and every Wednesday we did some hill runs on the dirt roads south of Grand Blanc."

The hill workouts consisted of two miles out and two miles back, and in between Kaddurah and Madrigal did four to six up-hills and down-hills continuously.

Most of Madrigal's other summer running was made up of distance runs at about a 6:30 to 6:45 pace to get his additional mileage.

So far this season, Madrigal is undefeated, and his best time was on Saturday at the Linden Invitational where he ran 15:42 over a challenging course on the Linden campus.

Previous to that he ran 15:52 at the tough Holly course as he won the Division III race at the Holly Invitational by over twenty-five seconds.

"I was pleased with my race at Holly," said Madrigal. "I went out sort of fast with a 4:52 mile, but I felt good over the toughest course I ran on this season."

On Thursday, October 1st in the Genesee Area Meet, Madrigal will have another tough race with Linden's Hord along with Kaddurah and Jeremy Dickey of Swartz Creek.

Madrigal was also looking forward to the Portage Invitational on October 10th where he would face Kent City's Alex Wilson, but he learned that Wilson has been sidelined with a pelvic fracture. Wilson has been training in the pool for the most of this month, but hopes to make the Portage Meet.

"Alex and I get along real well," said Madrigal.  "We e-mail each other often, and he told me he would be at Portage."

Because of the influence of David Madrigal II, who is young David's father, the young Durand star has been running since the age of nine when he conditioned for youth wrestling.  The elder Madrigal was a wrestling and distance running athlete at Davison High School in the 1980's, and he still runs in many road races in the Flint area. 

The elder Madrigal wrestled and ran cross country at Central Michigan University for a year after high school. Then he went into the carpentry business with his brothers, began a youth wrestling program in Durand, coached the junior high wrestling program, and has coached the high school cross country and distance track program for the lst four years.

But now, the youngest Madrigal is a full-time cross country and track athlete because his running has produced better results than wrestling.

As a freshman, Madrigal finished 110th in the Division III cross country race at the state meet, but missed qualifying for the state track meet when he was .7 seconds short as an additional qualifier for the 3200-meter run. As a sophomore, he was 16th at MIS and just missed scoring on the track in ninth place in 9:34.

In the Flint area, Madrigal has gained some "fame" in the last two Crim races where he has gone out with the Kenyans for the first mile in 2008 and beyond the mile marker in 2009.

"Someone told me I couldn't run with the Kenyans, so I decided to try it," said Madrigal.  "This year I even tried to strike up some conversation, but they either didn't understand me, or they were concerned about their own races."

The week before the Holly Invitational, Madrigal put in a typical week for him.  On Monday he ran eight miles at a 6:30 pace.  On Tuesday he ran six miles at 6:30 pace.  On Wednesday he ran about 18 quarter mile loops on the hill on the Durand course.  On Thursday he ran 9 x 400 on the track in 63 and 64 seconds with an 80 second interval.  (He adds an additional 400 each week.)

On Friday he did his usual pre-meet routine of two miles and 2 x 200.  I didn't ask him, but I believe he and Kaddurah still do the Sunday runs together.

Madrigal's goal is to run as close to 14 minutes as he can, and, of course, he probably has some definite goals for that last big race at MIS.

But he also looks forward to the Portage Invitational because, as he said, "I have never done well at Portage; maybe it's the pressure; maybe it's the nerves, but I have never been in the top five at that meet."

The serious distance runner would like to attend Michigan State or Central Michigan next fall and continue with his running in cross country and track.

I asked him how the family ended up in Durand while his parents where Davison and Ortonville residents, and he said,"We were looking for a home with more room, and Dad, because of his occupation, owned a place in Durand, so we moved to Durand a number of years ago.  Durand is a nice quiet place, and most of the Durand people are corn fed."

The corn must surely help, but a lot of what is inside David Madrigal III of Durand has made his name known throughout Michigan this cross country season.

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