Athlete: Destiny Collins
Year: Junior
School: Fearless Racer Destiny Collins Sets a Fast Pace in California
Location: Temecula, CA
1600m PR: 4:45.26
3200m PR: 10:14.33
5K XC: 16:57
Destiny Collins, the unbeaten southern California star who has led her Fearless Racer Destiny Collins Sets a Fast Pace in California team to the nation’s No. 1 ranking, is set to conclude the invitational phase of her season this weekend. She’ll be racing the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational, the nation’s largest cross country event, in Walnut, California. Collins, a 16-year-old junior, is known for her fearless racing style, which she nurtured as a neophyte. Collins was not groomed as an age-group runner and didn’t run in middle school. She didn’t even play soccer. And two years ago, it took the entire Great Oak varsity squad to convince her to join the cross country team.
State Domination: The Great Oak girls have dominated every race this season, most recently the Oct. 11 Asics Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno, which also serves as the state meet course. Collins ran a victorious 16:57 5K to defeat 2013 Nike Cross Nationals fourth-place finisher Fiona O’Keeffe of Davis by 10 seconds. Great Oak triumphed by more than 100 points with a five-runner team time of 89:40, or 17:56 scoring average. When the girls return to Fresno for the state finals on Nov. 29, they will aim for the team time course record of 89:25 set by Saugus in 2010.
Team Leader: “It’s surreal being the No. 1 team in the nation,” Collins says. “I need to show every day that I’m a good leader. I have to work harder than everyone else because I don’t want to let my team down.”
Nationals Hopes: Collins and Great Oak are looking beyond state to the NXN race in Portland, Oregon, on Dec. 6. Last year, Great Oak was disappointed with its eighth-place finish at NXN. Collins placed 34th and felt she could have done better. “I wasn’t confident. I let the field get ahead of me,” she says. “This year I won’t be scared to go out with the other girls.”
Early Test: To get another look at what they assumed would be the 2014 NXN course, Great Oak competed in the Pre-Nationals at the Portland Meadows race site on Sept. 27. The Wolfpack defeated Desert Vista of Arizona, the top girls’ team in the southwest, by 45 points. Despite an illness, Collins ran 17:10 for 5K to defeat Desert Vista’s 4:43 miler, Danielle Jones, by 40 seconds.
Course Change: Collins was “a little bummed” when soon after Pre-Nationals, Nike announced a new Portland race site, Glendoveer Golf Course. But she says she prefers the new course, which is more in tune with what her team typically races on.
Fast Pace: Collins loves to go out fast and, as she puts it, “test everyone’s limits as well as my own.” In the flat Woodbridge Classic 3-miler in September, Collins shot out in 5:04 for the first mile before going on to win in 16:04. “Destiny is not sure what her limits are because she hasn’t been pushed by anyone yet,” says Great Oak coach Doug Soles.
Mt. SAC: It’s doubtful Collins will be pushed on Saturday in the second day of the two-day Mt. SAC extravaganza. Collins will likely step it out in the flat first mile, and have enough left to tear up the three tough hills that follow on the 2.93-mile layout. Soles says that he has been working on building Collins’ leg muscles for hilly terrain. One Great Oak hill workout consists of 15 continuous hill loops, ups and downs, totaling about 3.7 miles.
Summer Training: Over the summer, Collins built up to 63 miles a week, logging 390 miles in eight weeks. The team’s top runners, boys and girls, attended a weeklong camp in Big Bear, a noted southern California training locale, at 6,770 feet. Collins says the altitude didn’t affect her. “Within a day or so we were doing speed work,” she says. “I felt perfectly fine.”
Daily Double: Great Oak runs before and after school, with varsity runners topping 60 miles a week. The girls run long on Monday mornings before school, going 13 to 14 miles at 7:30 pace. Sometimes, morning workouts blend into the girls’ first period P.E. class.
Track Titan: Two years ago, as a freshman, Collins went from a 5:28 1600m to 4:54 in two months. Last year, as a sophomore, she ran nationally ranked times of 4:45.26 and 10:14.33 (3200m) on the same day in the Southern Section Masters meet. Soles feels Collins can run 4:37 and 9:55 next spring. “I think I can,” Collins says. “I’ve grown as a person and feel I can go after it training-wise.” Collins ran her outstanding sophomore times despite an early-season groin injury that sidelined her for five weeks.
Two Trips: Collins will have extra incentive for next spring’s state meet because she has fallen in the last two state track meets. As a freshman, she fell in the state 3200m. Last year, Collins got tripped up in the last 200 of the state 1600m but got up to place second in 4:51.47.
Welcome Wagon: Collins played basketball in middle school and was set to play basketball as well as volleyball at Great Oak. But Soles, taking note of Collins’ 6:06 mile in eighth grade P.E. class, had the Wolfpack varsity visit her at home. The girls gave Destiny a pep talk as well as a team cross country t-shirt. “I was overwhelmed,” Collins says. “I said, ‘Okay, I’ll run.’”
Marc Bloom’s high school cross-country rankings have played an influential role in the sport for more than 20 years and led to the creation of many major events, including Nike Cross Nationals and the Great American Cross Country Festival. He published his cross-country journal, Harrier, for more than two decades.
