Grabow Blazing a Trail
by Kirby Lee, Long Beach Press-Telegram
October 27, 2005
Jimmy Grabow has always been intrigued by history.
The Long Beach State senior cross country runner is majoring in the subject and plans to pursue a master's degree when he graduates in spring of 2006.
"People always ask 'what are you going to do with history?" " Grabow said.
Grabow would like to teach the subject at a university or become a college administrator in the future.
At the moment, however, Grabow has a chance to make history for Long Beach State cross country as the school's first NCAA championships individual qualifier. Grabow will take the first step in the Big West Conference Championships at UC Riverside on Saturday.
Grabow is among the favorites for the individual title. A victory would end a 49er drought that has not seen a Long Beach runner win a conference title since 1975.
The 49ers, ranked 12th in the West Region, are projected to finish among the top three with three-time defending champion and nationally ranked Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Barbara, a showing that would be Long Beach's best since 1986.
"We've come a long way and changing a lot of people's perception," second-year Long Beach coach Matt Roe said. "The recruiting class has changed the program and you can see the changes."
Grabow, 21, has been the role model for the rise of the Long Beach State cross country program.
A transfer from San Bernardino Valley community college, where he won the 2004 state 5,000-meter title in track, Grabow chose Long Beach over more established distance schools at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and NCAA Division II Cal Poly Pomona and Chico State to be part of a program on the upswing.
"I didn't just want to be another face in the crowd and have all the pressure on me to kill myself just to make the top seven," Grabow said. "I didn't know much about Long Beach's past but I wanted to help them improve and establish a legitimacy."
It didn't take long for Grabow to accomplish that goal. The 49ers finished sixth in last year's Big West Conference meet for its best finish since 1999.
Grabow made big breakthroughs during the track season, establishing school records of 14:17.04 in the indoor 5,000 meters and 29:36.83 outdoors in the 10,000.
Grabow's pace in the 10,000 meters was faster than his community college 5,000 best of 14:50.49. Grabow credited inspiration from Roe for his improvement and has reevaluated his goals for this fall from placing in the top 10 in conference to winning.
"Track was really my big break out," Grabow said. "I never had the idea I would become as good as I have. I had good training habits and stating to believe. He is super enthusiastic about running but he'll give you a swift kick in the (butt), if you do something wrong."
Roe's biggest problem has been restraining Grabow from training too much. He ran over 100 miles a week in the summer in preparation for the cross country season this fall.
"I tried to hold him back but he just looks good all the time," Roe said. "His training level is very high but he has been able to withstand a huge amount of training. He's shown that he can handle it with his phenomenal track record. He has a very bright future."
Grabow, whose older sister is a national-caliber figure skater, finished third in his season-opener at the UC Irvine Invitational. He followed it with a seventh-place finish in the Stanford Invitational in 24:03 for the school's fastest second-fastest cross-country mark for 8,000 meters to earn Big West Conference Athlete of The Week honors.
Grabow's performances helped erase the disappointment of his junior season when he finished 24th in the conference meet and 61st in the NCAA West Regionals after opening the season with a victory in the UC Irvine Invitational and a runner-up finish at UC Riverside.
"When I came to Long Beach, I thought I could be competitive in the (West) region and finish among the top 50," Grabow said. |
