It’s easy to admire Edward Cheserek after his freshman year at the University of Oregon. First, he upset Kennedy Kithuka in Terre Haute last November, and became the fifth freshman to win a NCAA cross country crown. But that was mere prelude to Cheserek’s exploits on the track, where he claimed indoor titles at 3,000m and 5,000m in March. In June, he zipped through a 53.17 final lap to win the 10,000m before finishing a close 5,000m runner-up to Lawi Lalang two days later. Cheserek’s big point production was key to Oregon’s team titles indoors and out.

After spending much of his childhood in Kenya, Cheserek moved to the U.S. in the summer of 2010 and immediately established himself as one of the nation’s top high school talents. Attending St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey, Cheserek finished runner-up to Lukas Verzbicas at Nike Cross Nationals that fall before setting national sophomore records in the indoor 2-mile (8:42.66) and outdoor mile (4:03.29). Over the next two years he claimed back-to-back Foot Locker Nationals titles and broke Gerry Lindgren’s 49-year-old prep 2-mile record with an 8:39.25 at the 2013 Millrose Games.

Running Times caught up with Cheserek, now a sophomore, late last week, while he and his teammates and coach Andy Powell were in midst of a two-week training camp at Sunriver Resort near Bend, Oregon. Located at 4,200 feet elevation, the facility offers a network of single track and dirt trails as well as paved bike paths, with easy access to higher elevations. Cheserek, 20, is majoring in business administration at Oregon, where classes don’t begin until Sept. 29.

Running Times: Everyone expected you’d have a strong freshman year, but what you accomplished bordered on the unbelievable. Did last year surpass what you thought you could do, and how do you feel when you think back on it?

Edward Cheserek: It was a really great year for me. When I came here as a freshman I was so nervous. Coming from high school and going to college was going to be tough, you know. I was nervous about running against guys I had been reading about, guys like Kithuka and Lawi [Lalang] and some other guys. I didn’t think I could handle those guys. But when I came here my coach was like, “I think you can do it.” My coach and my teammates motivated me a lot in workouts, and running together with guys like Parker Stinson, Eric Jenkins—who last year was injured but he was working a little with me—and Mac Fleet and Trevor Dunbar, those guys were all like, “Don’t be scared, just go out and have fun.” My coach told me to never be shy or scared of guys older than me and with more experience, just go out there and do my best.

RT: So the team aspect was important, and the support you got made a difference, right?

EC: When I came here, being part of the team was the thing I really enjoyed. Running together as a team, competing as a team. Last year we didn’t have a really good team for cross country but we tried our best. I think this year we are going to be really good.

RT: After such a big first year with a lot of high-pressure races, how much down time did you have this past summer before beginning to shift your training back to cross country?

EC: After NCAAs I took a two-week break, and then I started training again with only 30 or 35 miles a week. I was in Eugene taking classes all summer and I tried to come back easy.

RT: It’s still early in the season, but what do you expect will be different about your training this fall and what do you need to work on?

EC: Last year at this time I was in terrible shape. I wasn’t in good shape like I am this year. But it seems like now everything is moving well and I am running more mileage. Last year I was running about 70 to 80 miles a week but this time I’m running about 80 to 85 miles a week. We’ll see, if I’m getting faster maybe we’ll keep it at 85, or maybe in the next two months we’ll add a little more. But with the workouts we’re trying to push everything up a little bit. I’m not a huge mileage guy, I’m more a really good workouts guy. My coach says, “Don’t worry about the mileage, just worry about the quality workouts.”

RT: Would you give me an example of one or two workouts you’ve done lately?

EC: Actually we have two good workouts every week, Tuesday and Friday. Last Tuesday we did an 8-mile tempo run at a good pace, like 5:10 or 5:15 per mile. And then today we did 1,000s; not very fast but not really slow, we were like 3:00 to 3:03. It is still early in the season and we’ll try to catch up later, so maybe closer to the championships we’ll try to run really fast for workouts. But coach said for now just run easy. So the freshmen did 10 x 1,000m and the upper classmen did 12.

RT: When you do get to those really fast workouts, will you be doing them on the track?

EC: We might get on the track once in a while, to do 200s or 800s or miles, maybe once a week.

RT: This year the Pac-12 Conference is especially strong, with Colorado currently ranked No. 1, Oregon No. 3 and Stanford No. 5. And the West Regional is always a very tough meet. How difficult will it be to get up for those two meets plus nationals, all in a span of a little more than three weeks?

EC: The championship races are what we’re training for right now. I’m focusing on trying to bring the guys up with me and trying to win the conference, and I think we’ll be ready for that. Me and my coach and all the guys, we sat down a couple days ago and set our goals for the rest of the season. We want to win each of those meets. It’ll be tough, it won’t be easy, but we’ll try our best to win them.

RT: How do you balance your own goals with team goals?

EC: I think this year it’s easier for me, because being the leader for the team helps get me motivated. I’m trying to lead the team to win the title. My teammates know already that I’m going to try to win the individual championship, so if they can think about trying to stay up there right next to me, it’s going to be great for us. And I do think we have a chance to win. It’s tough to be the defending champion because all the eyes are on me, and I’ll try to take my teammates with me, you know. So I’ll be saying, “Just come close with me so that we can win the whole thing as a team.”

RT: As the defending champion and heavy favorite to win again in November, will you feel the nervousness like last year, or are you confident after such a strong freshman year?

EC: I’m getting older and getting mature and, you know, when you get older you learn more. Last year I was a terrible racer, but all of those experiences helped. So yeah, this year I think I’m going to be confident about it.

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