Panthers’ Young lands chance to run at IUPUI

Western features solid senior quartet; Glover leads Kokomo’s returning group

Kokomo Tribune - Thursday, June 8, 2010

Kokomo — Western athlete Austin Young finished 20th in the 3,200-meter run at the IHSAA Boys Track and Field State Finals.

He wasn’t expected to contend for the top spot. After 3,200 meters, Young was just getting up to speed.

Young has signed a letter of intent to run cross country for IUPUI next season. The college distance of eight kilometers suits the Western runner just fine. Even after making the track state finals, Young feels he’s best suited to run on the winding courses that await next fall.

“I really enjoy cross country a lot more, just running around the hills and through the woods,” he said. “Probably, the further I go, the better I do.”

Western cross country coach Gary Jewell is sure of it.

“Austin is not the fastest runner in the world. At a longer race, he’s much better,” Jewell said. He remembered watching Young take second in the 2008 Haynes-Apperson four-mile race. “All of the sudden, it’s like, ‘Whoa, Western’s got something here.’”

That proved to be the case. Young ran in the cross country semistate three times with the Western team along with making this year’s state track meet. Yet at the distance high schoolers run — five kilometers in cross country and 3,200 meters in track — he’s only scratching the surface.

“His strength is in races that are quite a bit longer,” Jewell said. “His best race is not two miles. He’s just getting warmed up.”

IUPUI coach Chuck Koeppen took note of Young when Koeppen was still the Carmel High School coach. After 37 seasons — and 23 state titles — with Carmel, Koeppen was named IUPUI’s coach in December of 2008. This spring, he saw Jewell at a road race and said he was interested in talking to Young. It didn’t take long for the Western athlete to be won over.

He considered other options with Indiana State, Southern Illinois and Purdue, but IUPUI was a great fit and made a strong offer.

“I really liked their coach. … Then I went for a visit and ran with the guys, they seemed like really nice guys,” he said.

“I wanted to major in business and they have the Kelley School of Business down there, and that’s a really good program.”

He’ll get a scholarship that covers his full tuition, with a little left over for books.

“I’d always thought that I wanted to keep running [after high school],” Young said. “When an opportunity like this came up, it was a really good deal and I wanted to take advantage of it.”

Jewell expects Young to take full advantage of the opportunity, just as he took advantage of his time with the Panthers. The coach noted the example that Young and former Western runner Corey Scott left for the Panthers who will follow.

“He’s a very talented and driven athlete,” Jewell said. “For himself, he’s very goal-centered and his goal for the last two years has been to make it to the state meet. Being a college runner was probably back there in the background, but it was definitely one of those perks that he’s now going to attain because of the work that he put in in high school.”

Jewell noted that Young understood the value of putting in a lot of time on his own.

“Austin has figured that out and he’s made steady improvement,” Young said. “It’ll be fun for him and it’ll be fun to watch him in the years to come.”

Young also understands that to enjoy success in his college years, he’ll need to put a lot of work in over the summer to be ready for fall.

“[I’m] just putting in some good, solid training over the summer and putting in some miles and trying to get my endurance built up because the distance for college goes up a couple miles,” he said.

Jewell said the adjustment will take longer than one summer, but that Young will be a force one he’s trained enough.

“He’s going to spend an entire year adjusting to the college environment, the college distance,” Jewell said. “He’s already going to put in the miles, a lot more than most kids, but there’s still an adjustment he has to make. He’s going to come back a year from now and be ready to set the world on fire.”