Photo provided by Charlie Babcock
Personal Records:
800m - 2:12 relay split
1600m - 4:30.97
3200m - 9:41.23
5K (xc) - 16:27.00
XC State 2016 - 43rd place
T&F State 2017 - 1600m 14th, 3200m 13th place
Where were you born, what sports did you play when you were younger, and what is your height and weight?
I was born in Wyoming Minnesota which is right next to Forest Lake where I have lived my whole life. When I was younger I played a little bit of hockey, but mostly baseball and football, until I went into Jr. high when I decided to join cross country instead. I'm 5'6" and at my heaviest now I'm 145.
What have you had to give up to be a good runner?
I don't play baseball or football anymore. I don't think they ever helped my running and I wouldn't trade running for any other sport. The big thing I had to give up to be a distance runner was my extremely unhealthy lifestyle. I was addicted to pop and junk food, and now I no longer drink pop and I'm much stricter on my diet.
Who in your family was a great athlete? Were they a role model for you?
My dad's family was full of runners. My uncle Mike Babcock has done more than 80 marathons and that's pretty cool. But my biggest role model that got me into running was my older brother Tommy Babcock. He got in great shape from running and was great. I knew that I wanted to be like him.
How did you get interested in distance running? Who recruited you and how did they do it?
My family always has been into distance running and with my brother already on the CC team I followed in his footsteps.
How many students does Forest Lake High School have right now? How many runners are on the boys and/or girls teams? How does your team recruit? Is it only the coach who recruits?
Forest Lake has about 1,200 students if I had to estimate. There are less than 40 boys on my team and the girls team has a little more than 50. Our old coach always had us spread the word to our friends to recruit but he never got involved into recruiting much himself.
What obstacles have you had to overcome as an athlete or person? If you are willing to share it can help your team as well as others if you give us some details on what you did to recover.
My biggest obstacle I've had to face as a runner is my left Achilles ankle. It's been a year and a half from when it started to bug me and still from time to time it will irritate me. As of recently it's gotten better but I've had to wear heel lifts for multiple months now and that's not fun.
But more on the personal level my biggest challenge was my weight when I joined in 7th grade. I have always been a little heavier than a distance runner should be and a few years ago not only did it give me less confidence but it made it harder to run. Now since I've shed that weight I have more confidence and feel much more like a true distance runner.
Is cross country a team sport for the Rangers?
For Rangers CC is a team sport. The groups that run together are all super close and I can say my best friends are all on this team. It will be a tough year for me when we lose our seniors and we have a lot of seniors!
Photo provided by Charlie Babcock
Who do you run with in practice? Do you sometimes wish you had some faster teammates? Help me with the spelling of their names. Do your coaches run with the team?
I run with my teammates Ryan Mead, Spencer Kotys, Adam Stenning, Will Valentine and Andy Haines. I don't need any faster teammates because it's not like I'm super far in front of them. My favorites to run with one-on-one would be Ryan Mead and Adam Stenning because they always run side by side and always willing to talk up a storm if it's just us. Our coaches don't supervise us, necessarily, while we run. The older guys will always do the run and make sure that the younger kids also do what they're told.
How do you set your goals? Do you start out the season at date pace and progress to goal pace? What is the process you use?
For my goals I always set two separate ones. The first is a realistic one; if I did everything I'm told it should be attainable. And then I take that goal and take another 10 seconds off or so and tell myself if I accomplished that goal I would be extremely happy and it'd be a very successful season. Every season I've hit that "impossible" goal.
How do you look at races? Do you focus on individuals at the start of the race or do you merely plan on where you will be at certain parts of each race?
In my head for every race I think of the place where I need to be hurting and of the place where I know I'm going to want to slow down. Once I hit those places I make sure that I'm focused and hurting. I usually look at the year before results and know who I'm going to be against. I always account for one unexpected kid to rise out of no where just in case. If I know the kid's running strategies, I try to play against their strategies for the first half and then try to wear them out for the last part of the 2nd mile.
Where is your favorite course?
My favorite course is at St. Francis because it's flat and fast. Good memories have been made there and I've run some good times there.
Photo provided by Charlie Babcock
Who are your most competitive opponents? What is your relationship like with them?
I wouldn't say I have a super competitive opponent but I will use this to say that one opponent I never can beat that's my age is Acer Iverson. He goes to Roseville and I love watching him race. When I race against him it's always a task to try to stay with him for as long as possible. I have nothing but respect for him.
Last year the Section 7AA boys meet was very competitive! Cloquet, Forest Lake, Duluth East, and Andover were the top four teams and it was very close score wise. Will those be the best teams again?
As for sections, Forest Lake is going to have a more than solid chance at taking first. We didn't graduate anyone last year and we're looking better than ever. As for other teams I don't know because I'm not much of a stats guy. The only person that I'm aware of is Tom Breuckman because of sections in track. I believe the race should be down to me and him.
Does your team have any rituals or traditions that you could share with us?
My team has this funny tradition before races to touch my "gut". This originated from me being heavier in the past and when I became first on the team everyone joked that maybe all the speed comes from the gut. So everyone touches my "gut" to get good luck before races.
What else are you involved with in Forest Lake besides sports?
I'm in student council at Forest Lake. I am also taking classes at Century College as a full time PSEO student.
What are your plans after high school?
I hope to run in college. This is my big season before I start to look into colleges so I'm hoping that this is a good season for me. But for my academics I hope to eventually go to med school.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
For this year we lost our head coach Deno Johnson for reasons that the school has not informed us on. This has been very frustrating and I could write forever about it but I'm going to leave it alone because we're in good hands. We now have our head coach from track, Paul Kendrick to fill in for this season. He's much more scientific about his training and will give us less mileage but I think that's exactly what I need. I have a good base but it don't have pure speed.
Photo provided by Charlie Babcock
