Who: Chris Derrick
High School: Neuqua Valley High School, Naperville, Ill. Class of 2008
HS Personal Bests:
1600m: 4:13
3,200m: 8:48
5,000m: 13:55
Current Personal Bests:
1500m: 3:39.45
3,000m: 7:44.01
5,000m: 13:09.04
10,000m: 27:31.38
Chris Derrick knows how to make a transition. He went from Neuqua Valley High School (Naperville, Ill.) to Stanford University in 2008 and immediately made an impact on the Cardinal team by placing seventh at the NCAA cross country championship to earn his first of 14 All-American honors. He’s one of only six athletes to finish top 10 at the NCAA championships four times. After graduation, he moved up to Portland to run for Nike and Coach Jerry Schumacher in the fall of 2012. He’s already making waves as a professional: He was the U.S. cross country champion in February and took 10th in the world on the silver medal-winning U.S. team in March. Then, he made the U.S. team in the 10,000m to compete at the Moscow world championships where he placed 18th.
He will keep his first professional season going with a 5,000m race in Brussels on Sept. 6. On August 21, Derrick had time to speak with Running Times about his high school cross country days.
Most Memorable Race: “Definitely state meet my senior year,” Derrick says, without hesitation. He won the individual race at the 2007 Illinois state championship, but it was the team win he was most excited about. John Riddle, a teammate who was hurt the whole year, raced for the first time that season. “He basically collapsed with 800 to go,” says Derrick, but they still gutted out the win. He nonchalantly adds that they won NXN that year, with him taking the individual crown.
Favorite Workout: Under the tutelage of Coach Paul Vandersteen, the Neuqua Valley High School cross country team didn’t mess around during the summer. Derrick’s favorite summer workout was “repeat 1200s on the grass with one minute of rest.” They would do 8–10 of them, all at tempo pace. That meant 3:55-4:00 minutes (or 5:15 mile pace) for Derrick his senior year.
Other Activities: Derrick was in the “choir for a little bit.” He couldn’t remember his favorite song. “I don’t remember the name of it,” he says. “It’s in Latin, the background of really dramatic things, it goes: ba ba bump bump, ba ba bump bump.”
(Editors note: The song is “O Fortuna.” And it is dramatic.)
Favorite Song: “Keep The Car Running” By Arcade Fire.
Favorite Slow Dance Song: “I don’t remember my favorite slow dance song. I didn’t slow dance too much.”
Advice To High School Runners: “My coach [Paul Vandersteen] always talked about the two keys being moderation and consistency. Basically just trying to put in as many good days as you can without trying to kill it in practice or anything like that and trying to do it as much as you can over a period of weeks, months, years.”
Derrick and Coach Vandersteen. Photos courtesy of Neuqua Valley High School.
You can follow Derrick on Twitter (@CDerrickRun). Make sure to follow us for Throwback Thursday and more on Twitter (@RunningTimesHS) and Instagram (@RunningTimes)
