Megan Goethals Breaks Her Own Course Record to Win MHSAA X-C Title

Jeff Hollobaugh profiles Megan Goethals, ranked #2 in the nation, for Michigan Runner magazine. By Jeff Hollobaugh After compiling the finest year ever for a Michigan high school girl, what can Megan Goethals do for an encore? Is the Rochester High runner capable of making just as big of an improvement for her senior year?

Her coach, Larry Adams, doesn’t mince words. “No,” he says abruptly, but it’s not that he doesn’t believe in his pupil’s abilities.

Adams explains that it’s all about resisting the temptation to be greedy. “I don’t want to overtrain her by bumping her mileage up. I want her moving on to college and the next level fresh. She’ll still have success.

“We’d like to see her get under 17:00 for cross country and hopefully finish with a better placing at Foot Locker. As a coach, I’d be failing her if I had her push her mileage up to 60-65 a week.

“I don’t want her to move on from high school and be tired of running. I like where she is mileage-wise. We want to keep her fresh.”

“I trust him on this,” says Goethals (pronounced “go-thalls”). “It makes a lot of sense. He has my best interests at heart.”

She had just returned from a stint at the Wolverine Running Camp, where she got a welcome chance to run with others who are at her speed. “A lot of the time I train alone,” she explains.

Goethals started this summer with a two-week break (“She understands that rest is a part of training,” her coach says). Then she eased back into her routine at 35 miles per week, gradually stretching it to 45 and then 55 by the end of the summer.

Training-wise, she will focus more on speed endurance this year. Says Adams, “You can’t repeat what happened last year. Our goal is just for her to grow.”

Right now, the question of where Goethals will move on to is still open. She is being actively recruited by some of the nation’s top distance-running programs. It’s likely that we’ll hear of her decision in February, the start of the signing period for NCAA schools. Once she does sign, she’s hoping to study sports nutrition. A 3.55 student, she will be ready for college classes.

Adams recounts Goethals’ history. It seemed he always knew she was good. She and her brother showed up at summer running camps Adams worked at before they were even in middle school.

He watched her run regularly in seventh and eighth grades. In her freshman year, she played basketball, tried a few cross country races, and ended up running near the front end of a very fine distance team.

In her first state cross country meet, Goethals placed 40th in 19:00.1. Her teammate and friend, Tiffany Abrahamian, ended up the state 3200-meter champ later that year.

“Tiffany had success,” says Adams. “Megan learned from her what it takes to go to that next level.”

That year, Goethals developed well as a miler, eventually placing ninth in the state meet 1600 meters with a PR 5:08.51. Adams says his eyes were opened when he entered her in the Oakland County Championships in the 3200. “She was a frosh running it for the first time, and she broke 11 minutes. I thought, ‘Oh … hey … she can do something in this.’”

As a sophomore, Goethals kept improving. In cross country, she placed 23rd in the state finals, clocking 18:32.4. In track, she ran a 10:59.0 for 3200 at the West Bloomfield Invitational; later, in the state finals, she placed fourth in the 1600 (5:00.05) and sixth in the 3200 (11:01.71). Then she broke 5:00 for the mile at the Nike Outdoor Nationals. More than enough to make any parent or coach proud, but nothing that snagged big headlines.

Over the summer of 2008, though, something changed. Says Adams, “A year of maturity, real dedication to practice and work ethic. And she had goals for herself.”

Goethals came back as an all-conquering junior. “I did not expect it at all,” she remembers. “It was exciting. In cross country, I was just hoping to get near 18:00.”
She ran undefeated through the cross country season, capturing the D1 state title in 17:10.1, the fastest ever recorded on the course at Michigan International Speedway.

“My favorite race of the year was the Foot Locker Midwest Regional,” she says. “It’s a nerve-wracking race, because only the top ten go to nationals. I was running in the chase pack, so when I ended up winning, I was so excited.”

Then, at Footlocker Nationals, she placed third in 17:30. “After that, I wasn’t sure how track would go.”

In track, Goethals honed a devastating finishing kick. “In middle school, I would kick the last 100 meters,” she remembers. “Now we train to kick longer, and in workouts, we always finish with the fast stuff, so that I’ve learned when I’m tired to go faster.”

She focused on the 1600 at the Oakland County Championships and hit 4:47.04. Only two girls in Michigan history -- Laura Matson (4:39.4) and Geena Gall (4:45.7) – have gone faster. At the state finals, Goethals anchored an eighth-place 3200 relay, then came back and won the distance double in 4:51.20 and 10:37.50.

Not done yet, Goethals traveled to North Carolina for the Nike Outdoor Nationals. There she put together the best eight laps ever by a Michigan prep, a 10:20.25 state record (converts to a 10:16.66 for the now more-familiar 3200). That placed her second in the nation. She came back a day later to run 4:51.33 for the mile, which gave her another runner-up honor.

“I was happy with the two-mile,” she says. “I felt so good when I finished. I had a hard time standing up. It came down to a kick the last 100 meters, and my legs were like noodles. The heat wasn’t a problem, but the humidity …”

To run so fast as a junior raises the possibility that Goethals may be among the select few high school girls capable of breaking the 10-minute barrier. “It’s definitely in the back of my head,” she says.

She admits the mile at nationals was her most disappointing race of the year. She finished second again to Texan Chelsey Sveinsson. “I was unhappy with how far back I was, 11 seconds. I need to run stronger at the beginning, and harder throughout the race.”

A big part of Goethals’ preparation for her junior year involved her learning patience and sticking with the plan, both in training and competition.

“We really worked on the back half of each race,” says Adams. “In cross country and track it was the same thing. We worked on her finish. We know we don’t have the quarter-mile speed of Becca Addison (the 800-meter state champ from Grand Haven).”

Teaching Goethals patience was a challenge at times. Adams says part of his job has been to hold her back. “All good distance runners are like that. They want to do all they can do. She’s that way; she wants to push all the time.

“I’ve learned I’ve had to adjust the way I talk to her. If I say, ‘We’ll do six to eight 400s,’ she’ll say, ‘Can I do eight?’ So now I say seven.”

Through all the success, Goethals has maintained her perspective. “They’ve made a big deal of this at school,” says Adams, “but she doesn’t flaunt it. She’s very humble. I’d say she’s appreciative of the gifts she’s gotten.”

For Goethals, it’s all about her passion for the sport. “I love racing. I’ve always been a pretty competitive person. I love training.
“It’s hard sometimes. I don’t get to hang out as much as other teenagers. I always have to get up in the morning and run.

“But I love that. I guess it’s taught me time management.”

Writer Jeff Hollobaugh produces the annual Michigan High School Track Yearbook, operates the www.michtrack.org Web site and is author of the new novel “Fire, Barbed Wire and Tacks” (see review elsewhere in this issue), available now in bookstores and at www.amazon.com. MR