Close But No Cigar... Revisited

An email from an old running rival prompted me to revisit a blog I wrote 12 years ago.  The original intent was to point out that Estero's Erick Montoya, a sub 9:10 3200 runner, never won a state title.  He reminded me of a particularly outstanding Kansas high school distance runner, Steve Shaad.

I can remember the first time I raced against Steve.  It was at an AAU meet in Lawrence to qualify for the AAU State Championships. We raced over one mile.  Steve won and I was about 15 seconds behind him back in fifth or sixth place.  Because our schools were in different classifications we never raced in high school competition.

But we did race again at the same AAU meet the following summer in blazing hot conditions.  Steve easily crushed me in the mile and two mile running something under 4:40 and 10 minutes.  I was second in both races a good 50 yards behind in the two mile.  It was so hot I went from 130 pounds to 118 pounds in four hours.

Shaad was a stud in the early 1970's at Bonner Springs High School.  The town sits just to the west of Kansas City.  He was a competitor that I feared and respected because he was tough as nails.  On the flip side he was incredibly humble and friendly.  Everyone liked him.

Steve had the misfortune of coming up against some other awesome prep runners that he raced in the same classification, Terry Glenn and Jerry Peffly.  I don't remember Steve's best times but I know he ran in the low 4:20's for the full mile and in the 9:20's for two miles.  It seemed Steve was always running second or third behind those two.

One race I remember in particular occurred in 1973 at the Kansas Relays.  Shaad was a senior and had entered the boys mile steeplechase, skipping the two mile, figuring he could pick up the prestigious title.  Unfortunately Bob Christensen, who had won the boys mile the day before, had entered as well.  The two waged a great battle both bashing the meet record running 4:36 with Christensen coming out on top.  Ironically both runners ended up at Wichita State as teammates and became top steeplechase competitors, both breaking 9 minutes.

Despite the crushing disappointment Shaad toed the line 20 minutes later for the boys 4 x 800.  If my memory serves me Steve ran the third leg, handing off to his 880 state champion teammate Mark Denning, who crushed his anchor leg giving Bonner Springs the Kansas Relays title. 

It was great to see Steve Shaad celebrate.  It was as good as a state title for him.  It's a memory I will always carry with me seeing his joy because he knew his lack of a kick would probably keep him from ever topping the victory stand at state.

Steve ran 8:51.34 in the steeplechase while he attended Wichita State.  That was an outstanding collegiate time in the 1970's.  He's stayed in Wichita after graduating where for years he was a major part of the minor league baseball team that plays there.