Bradley Peloquin had a strong 2017 season. 2018 could be even better
Bradley Peloquin’s 2017 cross country season was good. The Gig Harbor senior wants this season to be even better, especially now that James Mwaura has graduated.
One of the biggest hurdles in Peloquin’s career was Lincoln’s Mwaura, who is now on scholarship at Gonzaga. Mwaura won back-to-back 3A state cross country championships and was widely recognized as one of the country’s top distance runners.
“I ran against (him) knowing that the best I could do is second place,” Peloquin said. “For me, I am super competitive. But I didn’t get super discouraged in my races against him because I knew I was progressing.”
And Peloquin has been on the steady uptick in his career. As a freshman, he finished 105th overall at the 4A state championships. He made a huge jump when the Tides realigned to 3A in 2016, finishing sixth as a sophomore and then third last season as a junior, just one second behind the second-place finisher, Bainbridge’s Sebastian Belkin.
“I wasn’t disappointed at all, but at the same time, I can see how people think now that (Mwaura) is gone I don’t have anyone to push me,” he said. “I totally see it as an opportunity for me to win. I see running as any other sport; you’re competing to win.”
Peloquin did plenty of that in 2017. He won the South Sound Conference title and, in the prestigious Nike Portland XC meet, he turned in a personal-best and finished fifth.
Gig Harbor track coach Kevin Eager likes Peloquin’s chances for success this season.
“I’m pretty high on him,” Eager said. “I wouldn’t call him the ‘shoe-in’ because I don’t believe in that. Right now, Bradley is one of the best kids I’ve coached that hasn’t won a state title. He wants to win, but he is not going to lose his composure.”
Another motivation, besides personal accolades, is improving the Tides’ team finish of fifth at last year’s state meet and helping mentor the younger runners in the program.
“We have a pretty young team, we have the possibility of getting a few freshman on our varsity,” he said. “I think it is going to be cool to play the leader role and I am definitely excited for that.”
Because of his understanding of the big invites, Peloquin provides a sounding board and guide to his teammates on how to perform in the big moments. He had the same experience as a freshman, learning from then-senior Ryan Gregory on how to prepare for top competition.
Ultimately, Peloquin still has to run his own race and he has been keeping in shape through the summer by keeping a consistent routine of easy and hard days with running and workouts.
“There is no (showing off) with him, he’s kind of a professional in the way he approaches it,” Eager said. “He’s been one of the easiest kids to coach that we’ve ever worked with. There’s never a question if he did his workouts, there never has been.”
Peloquin knows there’s no shortcuts to success, just hard work. He’s confident, and knows this is his last high school opportunity.
“I am very blue collar in the sense that I work hard,” Peloquin said. “For me, there are no real gimmicks, I just work my butt off in training. I race hard and focus on getting better.”
The Tides open the seasona t the 20th Bellarmine Invitational at noon, Sept. 8 at Bellarmine High School, an event that Peloquin finished in second place last season.