Oklahoma State signee Cerake Geberkidane on his training, potential
By Brian Miller (@bricmiller) , Special to DistancePreps.com
It's unknown what the ceiling is for Denver East High senior Cerake Geberkidane. What is known is Geberkidane doesn't like to lose, not even to family.
Having signed a scholarship on Feb. 5 to run collegiately at Oklahoma State, the 2013 Colorado 5A state cross country champion and one of the top prep distance runners in the country, has intrigued many with his potential to perhaps be the next great U.S. distance runner.
It's a conversation that exists because Geberkidane's dad is Ethiopian and his mom is Eritrean. His East African heritage while training his 6-foot-3-inch frame at high altitude elicits whispers of greatness since this prodigy only recently began purposefully understanding the rigors of physical and mental preparedness for distance running.
"I didn't fully want it, I half wanted it," said Geberkidane about finishing third his junior year in the 5A state meet. "Going into the summer, I fully wanted it and I wanted it real bad. The need to want to win and the need to want to win bad and hurt more than anyone else on the starting line will help you going into a race. It will prepare you."
Genetic makeup is an important factor in running, for sure. But suggesting that Geberkidane is where he is today or will be where he thinks he can be in the future solely because of genes is an illusion. At least he thinks so.
"Genetics is helpful, but you need to train," Geberkidane said. "Training is way more important. You can have the genetics, but you can't just go run at the Olympic Trials. You'd get beat bad. If you train hard, eat right, stay disciplined and consistent, I'm pretty sure anyone would be able to do something."
Geberkidane learned this three years ago, when he would be at cross country practice and his brother, Ashi, would be playing soccer. And in the 2012 5A state meet where Cerake finished third, his brother won a state title. It was a shocking revelation. And it made him angry.
"He was playing soccer at the time and would run a couple miles after practice," Geberkidane recalled. "So his mileage wasn't that high, which got me wondering 'How the hell did he beat me?' I was putting in miles and he'd play soccer and only put a couple miles in, then he goes to state and whoops my butt. I was happy and confused at the same time."
Using the anger of losing and a desire to keep the state title in the family for another year (Ashi is now playing soccer at Harvard), Geberkidane set out to train himself properly. He teamed up with Team Prep USA Running and began to get advanced coaching and training techniques. And once or twice a week, he'd head 30 minutes west of Denver to Green Mountain Trail. There he would run a seven-mile loop of hills with a 1,000 foot elevation gain.
"Those hills really helped a lot," Geberkidane said. "By the end of the summer, I could run those hills so much easier. I felt a lot stronger heading into the cross (country) season. When that started, we did lots of speed work that helped. I kept re-picturing state and made sure it didn't happen again."
When Geberkidane crossed the finish line on Sept. 20, 2013 at the Arvada West Invitational he began shattering people's initial views of him as a mentally untough runner. His final mile pulled him through to a near-Colorado record of 14:46.50 in the 5,000-meter run. He let himself hurt a month later, winning that elusive state title by 41 seconds over the second-place finisher. In all, he improved by 50 seconds in the state meet from one year to the next.
"I knew it would be hard mentally, but I made sure I got the right training to back it up," said Geberkidane.
This past cross country season showed a glimpse of how good he can be. Currently, Geberkidane is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in the 3200 indoors after posting 9:01.13 at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho. He did so by taking down a couple of top-10 finishers from the 2013 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. That's some 40 seconds better than his previous best he put up in May 2012. He further reiterated that his physical attributes are helpful yet only if he knows how to use them.
"I can be really tall, but if I don't know how to run properly, if I don't know how to use my strides, it won't help at all," Geberkidane said. "But if a 6-3 person knows how to stride it out, to use their (leg length), then a short person has to do twice the work to match it. But that's if you train right. You can acquire that (knowledge) on how to run, but, once again, you're going to have to want it more. It doesn't matter the size because short people can outkick tall people if they want it more."
How did Geberkidane, who began playing soccer at age 6 and only toyed around with competitive running until a highschool sophomore, begin his commitment? Firstly, he much prefers the individual nature of running to team sports. Not that he's not a team player— he's quick to point that out— he just really wants to control his potential and not leave it up to the whims of a soccer coach who may or may not play him.
"Now I realize how fun it is and how good I am," said Cerake about running, minus a ball at his feet. "With running, while I have a team, the cool part about running is you control how fast you want to be, how good you want to be."
His brother Ashi was the first to challenge him in that area, in most ways just by being an older brother who didn't want Cerake to beat him. Cerake liked that.
That history progressed through high school all the way up to the 2012 state meet when Cerake watched as Ashi beat him in the final mile.
"I couldn't really respond; I needed more training," Cerake said. "He was mentally tougher than I was. One thing about him, he's mentally tough. Lack of training and he beat me shows he can deal with the pain. That's something I'm working on and I think I'm getting it down a little bit. Being able to run with him and see that inspired me, and I really wanted it next year so bad."
Geberkidane voiced his opinion on the musings of fans and how training at altitude prepares him for future success more than those who train at lower elevations.
But those are semantics to training. When he takes off for Stillwater later this year, he'll join up with a Cowboys program coming off a third-place result in the national championships. Three-time U.S. Track and Field National Coach of the Year and Oklahoma State head coach Dave Smith will have his work cut out for him in transitioning Geberkidane up to a 10k runner.
For now, Geberkidane's first goal is to make the traveling team and then get points on the board so the Cowboys can win a national championship.
The self-described fun-loving, respectful people person doesn't know where he'll be in a few years, but he didn't know that as a child or as a young teen or when he got beat by his brother. He just knows he's determined to get there, wherever and whatever that is.
"I don't know what my ceiling is," Geberkidane said. "Hopefully, Oklahoma State can help me get there and I think they can. That's why I picked the school because I feel comfortable and I feel they have the necessary tools to help me reach that. Hopefully, I can achieve it during college."
