State Champion spotlight: Paul Casavant Hampden Academy
Junior Paul Casavant of Hampden Academy dominated the 2 Mile at the Class A state meet as he led from start to finish en route to a 16 second victory, clocking 9:34.68. Casavant won the mile a year ago opted for a single race this year. We caught up with him to ask him about his meet preparation, how he deal with the pressure, and what were his goals for the season.
What were your preparations leading up to the state meet?
Before the meet I just tried to stay relaxed. I rolled my legs out the night before and did lots of stretching. Nothing too special!
How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?
As for the pressures and emotions, I didn't really have any coming into this meet. I've run a bunch of state meets before, I've run at USM before, so I knew what to expect. This whole season I have focused on being more relaxed through the warm up process and the race, so nerves didn't really come into play.
You focused on the 2 mile during the state meet, can you talk about your decision to run just one race, and what were your goals for it?
I decided to just run the 2 Mile because I wanted to get a good seed time fort New England's to hopefully be in the fast heat and get really race with those guys.
Coming into the season what were your goals and did you achieve them?
This season I came in hoping to improve. I had a rough outdoor season so I really wanted to redeem myself on the track. I also wanted to qualify for nationals.
You hit the New Balance Indoor Nationals Emerging Elite qualifying time in the 2 mile, how do you plan to train for that race in March, and what would you like to run for a time?
This is my first time running at nationals, so I'm not really sure how to train! Especially considering that my season is extended because of it. I'm hoping to run 9:20 or under that. I've had a pretty good season so far, so capping it off like that would be awesome.
