MIDDLETOWN — Keeping your focus is difficult in any sport and running is no exception. That said, Isaac Rascon never lost sight of his path through four coaching changes in four cross country seasons at Middletown High School.
Rascon, headed to the University of Northern Colorado — a Division I school in the Big Sky Conference — is the Lake County Record-Bee’s male Athlete of the Year for the nothing-normal-about-it 2020-21 high school sports year .
While the 18-year-old Rascon fared better than most during the year of COVID, he didn’t escape unscathed, not by a long shot. A standout in cross country and track for the Mustangs, he missed what should have been career-defining senior postseasons in both sports because of the pandemic. An even-money bet to reach the state finals in cross country, Rascon never got the chance to run against the state’s best at Woodward Park in Fresno because the CIF Championships never took place. In fact, the fall 2020 season didn’t even happen until late winter/early spring of 2021.
And it was the same thing in track. The Coastal Mountain Conference Championships, the North Coast Section Championships and the Meet Champions, all stepping stones to the state finals, were canceled, just like Rascon’s entire junior track season in 2020 when the coronavirus wave was just beginning to sweep America.
It’s enough to leave anyone, let alone a high-caliber athlete such as Rascon, a tad on the disappointed if not bitter side.
“At first I was mad,” Rascon said. “I was there with Brooklyn (Huffman, a teammate, at the state meet in 2018). I knew right then this is where I want to be next year. I fell a little short (in 2019), but I knew I still had my senior year left to do it.”
Senior year
Unfortunately that senior year would take place without a state meet. Even though Rascon was primed for a big finish to his cross country career — his times kept falling and he was in peak physical condition — there was nowhere to run once a brief regular season ended in mid-April.
“It really came together my senior year,” Rascon said. “My only regret is that we didn’t have a few invitationals early on in the season so that I could test myself against some of the best runners in the state.”
The Mustangs, defending Coastal Mountain Conference champions, raced in a half-dozen cross country meets during their abbreviated 2021 winter/spring season, but that was it. There wasn’t even an official CMC champion crowned because not all of the conference’s teams could race against each other because of COVID-19 travel restrictions. Middletown’s boys would have won that title again with ease as they beat everyone they did face handily, Rascon taking first place without much of a challenge in all of those races.
Rascon transitioned into the 2021 track season one week after cross country ended and was hoping there would be some postseason in that sport. There wasn’t.
“If they can hold meets in April and May, I don’t understand why they couldn’t hold those (postseason championships),” Rascon said.
Better than nothing
The closest Rascon came to anything resembling a postseason his senior year were a couple of track events during the month of May. To his credit, he made the most of those opportunities, setting Middletown’s 3,200-meter record (10 minutes, 3 seconds) at the Granada Distance Sprint Festival in mid-May at Livermore and breaking the school’s 1,600 record (4:41.37) at the Redwood Empire Track and Field Showcase in late May at Healdsburg, his final high school outing.
It was better than nothing, according to Rascon, but not quite the state-meet finish he had in mind after putting in four years of hard work at Middletown.
Dealing with yearly coaching changes at the school — Sarah Carlisle in 2017, Don Cobb in 2018, Anna Schneider in 2019, and Taylor Tiraterra (assisted by Schneider) in 2021 — didn’t effect him much.
“It’s hard with that lack of consistency, but it was a positive for me in that I learned that I’m the one keeping myself motivated and I didn’t have to rely on anyone else to do that.”
He credits his coaches for passing on some good advice that he has taken to heart.
“Take it one race at a time, leave the bad races in the past,” Rascon said of a couple of those hard-earned lessons.
Possessing a positive nature, Rascon said he isn’t one to dwell on performances he considers sub-standard.
“You just have to move on and keep working hard toward your goal,” he said. “You are going to have some bad races and there’s nothing you can do about it except keep working hard.”
Captains
The boys team captain on this year’s cross country squad — joining girls team captain Erica Kinsel — Rascon said it was their job to motivate teammates and hold them accountable for what they did or didn’t do, a real challenge during an on-again, off-again senior cross country season constantly delayed by COVID-19.
“Sometime it’s as simple as sending them a text telling them they need to be at the next practice,” he said.
“They were tremendous captains,” Tiraterra said. “Once we knew our season was full speed ahead, they really came through for us.”
Staying healthy
Standing 5-foot-10 and weighing 145 pounds even though he loves donuts — maple bars to be specific — Rascon enjoyed a career pretty much free of injury. He did sustain a hip flexor injury not long after his junior track season in 2020 was wiped out by the initial coronavirus wave.
“I was trying to find some motivation, so I ramped up the miles I was running (each week) and that led to a hip flexor injury that put me out for a month. That taught me a good lesson about not overdoing it and really stretching more.”
Significant stretching exercises and light weight workouts are now a part of Rascon’s regular routine to keep his running frame fine-tuned for his next big challenge at the University of Northern Colorado, which is located in Greeley.
Northern Colorado
“It was the best fit for me and I also wanted a good area,” Rascon said of his choice of colleges. “I looked at a couple of DII schools but I didn’t get much feedback from their coaches.”
Wayne Angel, the head coach at the University of Northern Colorado, not only got back to Rascon right away when he expressed interest in joining the Bears’ cross country program, but he offered the Middletown star a guaranteed spot on the team.
How can you beat that?
Rascon, who will run both cross country and track for the Bears in 2021-22, didn’t immediately commit.
“I wanted to keep all of my options open,” he said. “I waited a month and then excepted.”
Rascon will receive financial aid in the amount of $16,000 per year, which will cover a significant portion of his costs. He reports Aug. 13 but will arrive in Greeley a bit earlier along with family members, including aunt and uncle Eileen and Steve Anderson, who have raised him most of his life, so that he can move in and acclimate himself to what will be his new home.
“I’ll be living in a dorm with other cross country people,” Rascon said.
Good friends
One of his high school teammates and fellow 2021 Middletown graduates, Shane Guill, is also attending UNC and while Guill won’t run cross country, Rascon said it will be nice to have a familiar face nearby. Another of Rascon’s teammates, best friend Isaiah Diaz, won’t be far away either. Diaz is enrolling at Montana State University, also a member of the Big Sky Conference, but like Guill is not running cross country.
“He said he would root for me when we run against them,” Rascon said.
New home
As one of the newest members of the University of North Colorado cross country team, a program that is in a rebuilding mode, Rascon said he won’t be the No. 1 guy, a position he held in Middletown for the last few seasons, but he also won’t be just another face in the crowd.
“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to go there,” he said. “I didn’t want to get lost in a bigger program. I wanted to go somewhere where I could be involved and help make a difference. But I also didn’t want to go in being the guy. I want people to be able to challenge me and make me a better runner.”
When his competitive running career ends one day, Rascon said he wants to become a physical therapist. He doesn’t know where he may end up, maybe back in Middletown or perhaps halfway across the country, but he said he is no rush to find out. There are simply too many races yet to be run.
“I always want to be a runner and I always want to push myself, so I’ll just see where things take me,” Rascon said. “I might end up staying in Colorado. I really like the area.”
Got the tools
“I remember the first time seeing him run and I couldn’t believe I had someone that fast on my team,” Tiraterra said of his initial impression of Rascon during the early days of his first season as the Mustangs’ head coach. “He’s just a great leader of the the team. He went out of his way to show other runners the ropes.”
Just as he adjusted to a new coach every season at Middletown, Rascon adapted academically to online classes instead of in-class instruction, and he excelled to the tune of a 3.7 GPA.
“Despite all the obstacles this past year, he succeeded athletically, he succeeded with his studies, he succeeded with his extra-curricular activities,” Tiraterra said.
But can he succeed making the tremendous jump from small-school runner to Division I athlete, something very few Lake County athletes ever have the opportunity to do?
“Some athletes can’t handle the pressure, others look at it like it’s a real challenge,” Tiraterra said. “Isaac has every quality in the world. I happen to think he has every trait necessary to succeed. He’s going to wow everyone.”
