CHANDLER – Even after a recent third place finish, Zarian Rodriguez was more than ready to get back onto the track to continue his rigidly enforced workout regimen.
Three days after the Hamilton Huskies finished eighth as a team at the Western Equinox Invitational Friday, with the defending Arizona Division I state cross country champion throwing down a 15:29.6 time over 5 kilometers, the grind resumed.
Monday morning was like the race never happened. With the sun peaking over the mountains to the east, Rodriguez and his Hamilton teammates were tempoing 800 repeats. Two laps around the track at a controlled but fast pace, a couple minutes of deep breaths, then toe the line once again. Then seven more times. Buckets and coolers sat in the outside track lanes, filled with cold water and sponges for the runners to pour on themselves in between sets.
The senior distance runner has become obsessed with the work now. That wasn’t the case when he got to Hamilton three years ago as a sophomore after transferring from Chandler High School.
“When he came here, he was a completely different kid,” said Keli McDaid, who coaches both the boys and girls cross country teams for Hamilton High. “This year he’s just laser focused, dialed on his training, understanding how his body feels and knowing his race plan.”
The plan is simple: continue building on the huge strides Rodriguez made during his junior season. He won the state title with a time of 15:20.5 last November, and finished 14th at Nike Cross Regionals (NXR) three weeks later.
“Obviously I didn’t achieve the goal I wanted, which was to qualify for nationals,” Rodriguez said about running at NXR, “but last year was really an eye opener for me, seeing how these top athletes in the country move.”
Rodriguez has climbed into that upper echelon of high school athletes he admired in previous seasons. His biggest push comes from Mike Scannell, Hamilton’s boys cross country coach. Scannell also coaches US Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher, yet Scannell doesn’t play the comparisons game.
“Everyone wants me to make another Grant Fisher, but I want to make the first Zarian, and I’m doing that,” said Scannell, who led the Huskies to a runner-up finish at the AIA boys state championship in 2023, followed by a state title the next year.
Backed by a strong coaching prowess and a newly found “next level” that Rodriguez keeps reinventing, he thinks he can separate himself from the other top runners in the state.
Rodriguez wasn’t shy about it either, saying, “I’m sure I can win state again this year as an individual, but I’m also really confident we can win states as a team again this year.”
Repeating as a team at the state championships will be a tough but welcomed challenge for Hamilton. Last year, Hamilton placed its seven runners in the top 21, all clocking times under 16:35. With the state championships in November, there is plenty of time to put together a sure-fire varsity squad led by Rodriguez.
“We are really working with our fourth-through-eighth runners, just trying to close the gap (in time) to make another run at (a team state title),” assistant coach Fermin Villagran said.
With Rodriguez as the engine who leads by example – and is now becoming a vocal one, according to Villagran – the Huskies feel like they can race with the best in Arizona. His talent, confidence and leadership has inspired his teammates throughout the summer and into the early weeks of the season.
“When he runs warm ups and cool downs, he’s encouraging them, pushing them, wanting them to get better, in addition to wanting to better himself,” McDaid said.
To most around Rodriguez, school seemed to be lower on his interest list. Now, with the opportunity to propel his love for the sport to new heights, his focus has shifted.
“The biggest change I’ve seen in three years with Zarian has been his discipline in his academics,” Scannell said.
The strides Rodrguez has made clearly go beyond the course and early morning practices, giving him the extra push he needs to defend his individual state title as well as guiding the Hamilton pack as it gears up for the postseason.
“I didn’t care much about school or track when I was a freshman,” Rodriguez said. “But I just think that this sport has changed my life.”
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