6
The Times Argus Fall Sports Guide 2018
Kurts: Cross-Country Co-Runner of the Year
By JAMES BIGGAM
and LUKE CATLIN
W
aylon Kurts forgot to bring
his shorts to this year’s
New England Cross-Coun-
try Running Championships, but he
remembered his lunch pail.
The U-32 junior scrambled to fi nd
some extra clothing and placed 25th
to earn All-Region honors, crossing
the line in 16 minutes, 32.7 seconds.
Although Raiders cross-country coach
Andrew Tripp jokes about how Kurts
can be a space cadet, his times are no
laughing matter. Kurts was one of the
state’s most improved racers in 2018,
surging midway through the season
to earn the Times Argus Runner of
the Year award along with teammate
Andrew Crompton.
“It is an honor to be recognized as
an individual for busting my butt and
doing a lot of work for the past couple
of years,” Kurts said. “I’m really
stoked about that.”
Kurts grew up in a running family
and traveled to Central Asia when
he was a seventh-grader to spend a
year in Kyrgyzstan. During physical
education class, Kurts received a
crash course in no-frills fi tness, and
he gained a lot of athletic confi dence
while abroad even though he didn’t
run a ton.
“It was a super-old Soviet style of
what children should do for exercise,”
he said. “One of the days was run-
ning, and all these Kyrgyz kids and
Russian kids would run around this
dirt square. And I remember giving
it a shot, and it was pretty cool. I was
passing these guys who were much
older than me and defi nitely much
more developed. They weren’t too
keen on it but I was like, ‘This is all
right.’ I don’t think it had much of
an impact on my running because I
promptly returned in eighth grade
and did soccer. But it gave me a more
worldly humbling perspective.”
K
t b barely
l missed
i d th
it cutoff
t ff
Kurts
the varsity
for state championships as a freshman,
so he ran in the Challenge Race at
Thetford and placed second out of 310
fi nishers (18:36.3). Last year he devel-
oped into one of the Raiders’ top dogs,
placing fi fth at states (17:46) and fi n-
ishing 86th at New Englands (16:50.5).
This season there was a void at the front
of the pack following the graduation
of Nathan Smoller and Stephen Looke,
and Kurts rose to the occasion.
“A couple years ago no one would
have expected Waylon to be that far
up,” Tripp said. “He had a hard time
getting to practice, fi nding his shoes,
bringing his clothes, remembering
what day it was. But he has this physi-
cal talent and he’s a really determined
racer. And he’s subsequently learned
how to train really hard. And I think
that’s, in large part, due to (Cromp-
ton). Because he’s seen what happens
when you show up every day, which
(Crompton) has been doing from the
beginning.
“Waylon made a big jump over
the summer. But they were shoul-
der-to-shoulder all summer, so if you
were with them it wasn’t really a
surprise.”
Crompton edged Kurts by a com-
bined two seconds during the fi rst two
meets this year, but Kurts started to
excel during the big races. He fi nished
sixth at the Essex Invitational and
then placed second during a league
meet at U-32 (17:53.3). He beat
Crompton by 42 seconds at the Man-
chester (N.H.) Invitational, fi nishing
25th in 16:40. Kurts was second at the
U-32 Invitational (16:35.36) and had a
breakout race by placing fourth at the
Thetford Woods Trail Run (16:53.04).
“Over the course of three years I
think I have changed a lot,” Kurts
said. “... I have really learned what it
is to be more of a team player and to
be less selfi sh: Not to want to get out
of a workout or to run less, but rather
to try and do the opposite and to run
k of f th
more f for th
the sake
the t team. I want t
to make sure I’m running the race for
the team rather than myself.”
During the second week of Oc-
tober, most Central Vermont teams
fl ocked to the Harwood Invitational,
but U-32’s top athletes headed to the
Manhattan Invitational. During last
year’s event, Kurts committed a few
rookie mistakes, leading to 173rd-
place fi nish out of 183 athletes. This
year he shaved over four minutes off
his time at the 2.5-mile race, fi nishing
sixth in his category in 13:01.9.
“Last year I made the error of doing
a hotel breakfast and then getting
out way too fast in the race,” he said.
“And this year I corrected both of
those things. I brought food from
home and then played it safe in the
race and moved up over the second
half, which worked out really well.
“You don’t know exactly who your
competition is for that race, so I was
able to really dig to the well and I
managed to pull up sixth place in
that race and then 66th overall in the
entire invitational.”
Kurts completed the regular season
by placing third at the NVAC Moun-
tain Championships (17:24.5). After
fi nishing third at states in 17:33.3, he
wound up the fourth overall Vermont-
er at New Englands. The only in-state
rivals to beat him were Essex junior
Henry Farrington (16:17.9), Burling-
ton senior Simon Kissam (16:25.5)
and Essex senior Peter Alden
(16:31.3).
“All those guys are slightly older
than me and a little more experienced,
so I was pleased with that result,”
Kurts said.
Kurts and Crompton are also
standouts on U-32’s 4x800 relay
team, which qualifi ed for track and
fi eld nationals last spring. It’s possi-
ble that Kurts could graduate in 2020
with four cross-country titles and four
track championships.
“Our program has gotten to a
l level l now where
h
k t to
we d do th
the work
be worthy of competitions like New
Englands,” he said. “That’s really
exciting. As long as we can sustain
our performance and our work
ethic, we’re kind of at that regional
level of competition.”
Kurts returned to the big stage
last Saturday, joining Crompton and
nearly 300 other runners at Nike
Cross Regionals in Wappingers Falls,
New York. The U-32 teammates
may appear like an odd training duo,
but they’ve cemented their bond the
past two weeks while working out in
snowy, muddy conditions.
“Waylon and AC are totally dif-
ferent people: everything from hair
length to forgetfulness,” Tripp said.
“AC is on top of everything down to
the T and he remembers things for
his teammates. Waylon is very laid
back — to the point of being goofy.
... The two guys are a contrast in
style, but they can both run.”
Kurts may have struggled to
make varsity two years ago, but
his progress in the last 24 months
shows that dedication can be the
ultimate equalizer. He loves the
team aspect of U-32 cross-country
and knows to always respect an
underdog.
“One thing our coach says — and
I have total faith in it — is that
we’ve done more work than anyone
else,” Kurts said. “Someone may
have more talent than me but they
have done less work. And if I have
that motivation, if I can get a little
bit angry almost, anger is a huge
motivator for me.
“We have some guys on our team
who have a particular amount of
talent, but they have worked their
butts off. The anger at the unfair-
ness of genetics is a real strong
motivator for me. I like to run for
the guys who would be fi ghting —
and have worked much harder than
I have — to get to my spot.”