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Track and cross country standout Michael Veatch qualifies for NCAA Regionals in steeplechase.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
OXFORD — Michael Veatch always loved to run, starting when he was a 4-year-old soccer player.
"We used to do these long laps," he said, "and I knew I was good at it."
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The older he got, the better he got.
As a seventh-grader, he lost only one race. As a senior at Middletown High School, he was a state placer in cross country and a state champion in track.
As Veatch continued to mature, however, he wanted "a new challenge," especially in the springtime.
"Track can get boring at times, running in the same circle," the Miami University senior said.
So Veatch began running the 3,000-meter steeplechase, a more complicated track and field event that requires stamina and occasional bursts of strength.
"It's a seven-lap race with five barriers per lap," he said. "You're jumping through a 12-foot water pit. It's very different. It's just short of three miles, so you have to have the endurance to get through it, and also the strength to get over the barriers."
In the ensuing contests between Veatch and the water pits, the water pits have not fared well.
Veatch recorded an NCAA Provisional Qualifying time of 9 minutes, 5.26 seconds when he won the event at the Southern Ohio Cup in Oxford on March 29.
That means he has earned a berth at the NCAA Regional Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on May 30-31, where he will have a chance to qualify for the nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, June 4-7.
Veatch also qualified for regionals last year, but said he "just blew up" and did not advance.
"It's such a hard thing to say how you'll do," he said. "Anybody can be on or off on a particular day."
Veatch said he will get a good indication of where he stands nationally when he and his teammates compete in the prestigious Penn Relays on April 24-25.
"That'll show me what sort of shape I'm in," he said.
Veatch said he was able to hone his running skills in elementary school in the GATE Program for gifted students. "It was a program for the entire Middletown district, one day a week," he said. "It was awesome, like an all-day (physical education) class."
Veatch began running track in the seventh grade and won his first race. He hasn't looked back since.
As a senior with the Middies' cross country team, teammate Jeff See (who runs at Ohio State) won the state title and Veatch placed third. In the state track meet, See and Veatch placed 1-2 in the mile, and Veatch won a championship in the 3,200 relay.
As a collegiate runner, Veatch spent his freshman season at Cumberland College. Then he transferred to Miami, where he was forced to sit out a season with a chronic injury, Achilles tendonitis, "which I've been plagued with my entire career."
As a result, he didn't run his first steeplechase until last year. He also runs the 5,000, an event he won April 5 at the Nikoloff Invitational in Cincinnati.
The RedHawks are scheduled to compete today, April 19, in the All-Ohio Championships at the University of Cincinnati.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
