2011 boys cross country preview

El Toro senior Kevin Durham enters the 2011 season looking to maintain the high level of performance he displayed during CIF last fall, when he developed into one of Southern California’s most impressive distance runners.

After producing a solid 2010 regular season, Durham was the county’s best individual finisher among all five divisions at the CIF-SS Division 1 prelims, finals and state finals. He was also in the top five overall in all three competitions.

During the offseason, the Register’s 2010 cross country runner of the year added a couple new aspects to his training regiment.

“I did some of the same workouts from last year, but did more mileage and more longer-tempo type runs to work on a strong base for this season,” Durham said. “I’m going into the season confident in my ability to win and race, but not overconfident and prepared for other guys to be running well.”

Durham pointed out that improving his pace during the middle mile was something he identified as an area that needed improvement.

“Last year, I noticed that the second mile was my slowest, so the longer runs I did will help me keep my pace,” he said.

After surprising many people with his ability to battle and counterattack with other top runners last year, Durham knows that his competitors will be aware of his talents this year.

“People are kind of expecting me to be up in the front and I think it helps drives me to be running fast times and hopefully winning races,” he said.

OPENING WEEKEND

The county’s first invitational is Saturday, when Laguna Hills High will host the 28th annual Laguna Hills Cross Country Invitational.

The meet format is once again comprised of three divisions where runners will compete by class.

The first race is scheduled to get underway at 7:45 a.m. and fans are encouraged to arrive early due to limited parking at the school and in the surrounding community.

Other invitational competition to keep an eye on this weekend: the Seaside Invitational on Friday at San Buenaventura State Park in Ventura, the Great Cow Run on Saturday at Cerritos Park and the Don Bosco Tech Invitational on Saturday at Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale.