It wasn’t the steeplechase, yet Steve Heffernan will take Saturday morning’s Columbia Mt. Oread 10K.
“Usually I don’t run road races,” Heffernan said, “but this came at a good time in my training schedule, and I always love to run in Lawrence.”
Heffernan, 27, won Saturday’s first event of the Kansas Relays by exactly 10 seconds over Phil Hudnall of Maryville, Mo. Heffernan’s time was 31:06.36.
Heffernan is a former Kansas University steeplechaser who is taking a year off from his job as a junior high science teacher in Overland Park to train for the Olympics.
“Last year I wasn’t running very well,” he explained, “and I realized I would either have to quit running or I’d need to take a year off and train. I figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime deal, so I decided to take a year off.”
It certainly didn’t hurt that Heffernan won $350. Hudnall collected $150 for being runnerup.
Heffernan, a 1990 KU grad, is a native of Kearney, Neb., who had spotty success while a Jayhawk. He usually scored in meets, yet he seldom won.
“I made it to nationals as a senior and I’ve always wondered how I would have done if I’d been a fifth-year senior,” he said. “I went through in four straight years. But I have no regrets.”
Heffernan has a love-hate relationship with the steeplechase, a grueling 3,000-meter run over 28 barriers and seven water jumps. He doesn’t particularly like the event, but it likes him.
“It’s not my favorite race, to be honest,” he said, smiling, “but I’ve always done well in it. I was ranked No. 13 last year and I’ve had a little success at it. Still, it’s not my favorite race. By the time you’re done with those 35 jumps, it’s like you’ve been running a 10K.”
Heffernan will be traveling all over the U.S. and Canada in the coming months in pursuit of steeplechase events.
“I would really like to be able to make the finals in the steeplechase (at the Olympic trials),” he said, “and see what happen there.”
Heffernan won’t participate in the steeplechase next Saturday at the Kansas Relays, however. He’s entered in the open mile instead.
Erica Larson, a 24-year-old KU graduate student in chemistry, won the women’s overall 10K on Saturday in a time of 36:33.98, nearly 39 seconds faster than Ashley Ace of Lenexa.
Unlike Heffernan, Larson has no thoughts of the Olympics.
“I don’t think I’m in that caliber,” she said. “I ran in college and I still like to run. In fact, my 10K times are faster now than they were in college.”
A native of Fond du Lac, Wis., Larson spent her undergraduate days at Marquette.
In the two-mile run, Jay O’Neill of Winchester won the men’s division by nearly a minute over Chris Ronan of Lawrence. Dorothy Strobl of Lawrence captured the women’s two-mile. Karen Polaschek, also of Lawrence, was second.
