McElroy’s strategy pays off at state

Matt McElroy is an accomplished high school runner.

But, at Saturday’s CIF State Cross-Country Championships in Fresno, the Edison High senior used his brain as much as his feet.

“I wanted to really pound the pace, get these guys tired and take the kick out of them,” McElroy said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Mission accomplished for McElroy, whose blistering final mile helped him earn a second-place finish in the boys’ Division II race at Woodward Park. McElroy finished the 5K race in 15 minutes, 2 seconds, second to Elias Gedyon of Loyola (15:00), who defended his state title.

McElroy, who said his ideal race would be about six miles, had finished third at the CIF Southern Section Division II finals the week before. He said he knew his competitors at state might have stronger finishing kicks, so his strategy became to go all out at the end and build up a lead that was too much to overcome.

“I felt like I was almost looking at third or fourth with a ‘normal’ race,” McElroy said.

But the strategy paid off and McElroy almost won; only Gedyon could come back at the end and pass McElroy. The Edison senior’s final mile was 4:37, which Coach Brian Karpman called pretty impressive.

“It basically took a 4:35 [to beat him], which was Elias,” Karpman said. “In terms of tactics, Matt was really excited because of the way he was able to take over the last part of the race. He had the confidence to do that, even at that level.

That last 100 meters, you could see it in Elias’ face that he was struggling with it. Matt just pushed that pace so hard that it hurt everybody.”

McElroy, who finished fifth at the state meet a year ago, said his strategy definitely paid off.

“I was super-happy,” he said. “I’m looking to either win races or lose them. If I make that move, it has to be 100% to pull away from everyone.”

McElroy now prepares for the Foot Locker Cross-Country West Regionals Saturday at Mt. SAC. If he qualifies, the Foot Locker National Finals follow Dec. 12 at Balboa Park in San Diego.

“I’m looking to finish top 10 [at regionals],” said McElroy, adding that will probably run relatively conservatively and just try to qualify for nationals.