By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
With one more day down and just under two weeks to go, Jess
Strutzel is on his mark, all but set, and ready to go.
Since the close of the school year, Strutzel has been racing the
clock and counting the days until the Olympic trials in Sacramento.
What separates him from the starting block in Sacramento is
continuous training and a few final races.
“He’s training really well, and he seems to be at
the top of his game,” UCLA men’s head coach Art Venegas
said.
Having won the 1500-meter competition on June 17 in Fullerton in
3:46.03, Strutzel has proven his stamina in a race that is almost
twice as long as his specialty, the 800m.
“He had a great last 300m of that race. With three-fourths
of a lap to go, he ran it in under 40 (seconds) flat,” said
Strutzel’s coach and former men’s head coach Bob
Larsen. “He was fourth with 300m to go, and he came around
and took the lead.”
The time is a season best, but not quite his personal record of
3:44.
Despite his last-minute surge and overall victory, Strutzel
shrugs off the performance and describes his time as
“alright.”
With Strutzel, what he thinks of his races is either
self-criticism or celebration.
This time it’s a little bit of both. Considering the
circumstances, Strutzel is pleased with the race.
With summer relocation on his mind and the frustration of L.A.
traffic causing him to be late for the race, Strutzel is glad that
he performed as well as he did.
“Despite everything that was going on, I still pulled off
a 3:46,” Strutzel said. “I think that if circumstances
had been different, I would have run an even better
race.”
With that behind him, Strutzel continues to train.
“He had a great workout today,” Larsen said earlier
last week. “It was really hot out there today, and he’s
really been looking good.”
Larsen is described by Strutzel as an even-mannered guy who
doesn’t show emotion all that often. But the gleam in
Larsen’s eye is unmistakable when it comes to talking of
Strutzel’s improvements and accomplishments.
Later in the week after the Fullerton race, Strutzel finishes a
set of 200m sprints on the grass of Drake Stadium. Larsen observes
with more than a hint of excitement that Strutzel is doing really
great that day.
As the only college competitor in the event, Strutzel is
preparing to compete against what he describes as the “big
boys” in the Golden Spike event at Stanford on July 1. The
800m race is one of the five men’s events designated as
“Golden Spike,” as it offers a monetary reward. Each
competitor will walk away with cash.
Up against the familiar competition of Johnny Gray of the Santa
Monica Track Club, Strutzel has to use the strength that he has
been focusing on in his practices to shine.
At Stanford on Saturday, Strutzel ended up placing fifth in the
800m. It wasn’t a bad time, his coach said, but certainly not
the finish Strutzel had hoped for.
“It wasn’t a great race, but it was a solid race for
him,” Larsen said.
Strutzel was jostled a lot in the first lap, which sapped some
of his energy for the second and prevented him from his usual
strong finish. Still, Larsen found the positives from the Golden
Spike.
“Jess picked up real valuable experience,” he said.
“Sometimes you learn more by being in the pack, by being
pushed around a little. You know what not to do and that’s
much more crucial in Olympic trials.”
Khadevis Robinson, also of the Santa Monica Track Club, won the
meet with a time of 1:46.06.
This won’t be the last time Strutzel has to face those big
boys, as Gray, Robinson, and Seneca Lassiter of Arkansas will be
alongside him in Sacramento come July 20.
The advantage that Strutzel does have in terms of the trials is
he has excelled in the format of the trials. There is a series of
three races that the runners must endure to qualify: the qualifying
round, the semi-finals and the finals.
The USA Outdoor Championships uses this same format, in which
Strutzel was the only collegiate athlete to make it to the finals
in the 1999 meet.
As the trials draw near, he feels great, and is ready to take on
the world.
“We’re just hoping for a similar result as last
time,” Larsen said. “We feel good going into Olympic
trials.”