Heily Sets Out On A Cross Country Crusade -- Eastside Catholic Runner Is Bigger Stronger, Tougher

On this day, there was not enough room for two Andys on one track. The first one came across the finish line first, and playfully gloated: `` . . . c'mon girls,'' he reportedly said, urging his followers. Up went his index finger, waving it the way Brian Bosworth used to wear a quarterback-smacking grin.

That's when the other Andy - Andy Heily - got in his face.

``I almost got into a fight with him,'' said Heily, from Eastside Catholic. ``He's sure a great runner, but he's so cocky.''

Last year, Andy Maris of White River High School had reason to be. He was the best in the state and one of the three or four best prep runners in the country.

``People pushed us apart before anything happened,'' Heily said. ``I don't think I was the only one who wanted to jump on him. Everyone told me later, if anything happened, they felt the same way.''

That was the scene last spring, at the end of the 1,600-meter run at the Class AA state track meet in Tacoma. Maris won the race, as he won everything else that year, shortly before he graduated and went on to the University of Oregon.

This fall, and next spring, are all Heily's.

``The time he registered at Edmonds showed he has reached a whole new level,'' Don Kiehn, Eastside Catholic's cross country coach, said. ``He's improved every year. This year, he has improved significantly. He has been more consistent than any other runner I've had.''

Heily is without argument the best on the Eastside. Issaquah and Lake Washington probably have the best boys' teams. But Heily is a superstar in the making.

The Mercer Island resident proved himself a virtual match to Blanchet's David Gurry, considered on paper to be the top runner in the state. At Saturday's season-opening Edmonds Invitational, Heily pulled up from the back of the pack, caught up to Gurry in the home stretch and finished second, a tenth of a second behind Gurry. Heily's time of 10:26 was a 20-second improvement over last year's time.

Heily, a senior, passed Bellingham's top runner, Sam Alexander, with about 800 yards to go. Blanchet and Bellingham were the top two teams at the Edmonds meet, considered an early preview of the state cross country meet.

Because Blanchet is a Class AAA school and Eastside Catholic is a Class AA school, early computations figure Heily to be a state champion this season. He finished eighth last year after tripping and getting stuck behind the second wave of runners.

``I had a terrible kick last year, until the last part of track season'' Heily said. ``I guess I matured physically. I don't know. Now I've got one. I can stay within 10 yards of someone like Gurry. Sometimes, I like to hang back.''

The right combination of pumping iron and hormones gave Heily the burst of speed that might make him unbeatable in Class AA. He grew about four inches and gained 20 pounds last year, partly the result of weight training. He is still built like a knife, at 5-10, 125 pounds.

``But last year, I was real skinny,'' he said.

Heily opted to attend Eastside Catholic instead of Mercer Island High because his older brother was a Crusader. He likes the cozy confines of a smaller school. There are about 500 students in four grades, of which Heily is the student body vice president. This is a place where a pair of fast legs stand out.

``Hi Andy, heard you burned up the track last weekend,'' a teacher said as she entered the library.

Heily answered with a laugh.

Heily has ran varsity since his freshman year. Kiehn handles him in the fall, and track coach Jim Walters takes him in the spring.

``Coach Kiehn is an awesome coach,'' Heily said, before he pointed out that some runners Kiehn has worked with have gone on to college and never improved upon the times they ran in high school.

Kiehn believes his latest protege will be remembered as the school's best. He put Heily on a level with Woodinville's John Quaid, Renton's Matt Donnelly and Blanchet's Cajh Hafferty, all past state champions.

``Since middle school, Andy has definitely been on a track,'' Kiehn said. ``He has always been highly motivated. He's improved in so many respects and has developed a lot of leadership skills.

``He's worked very hard to keep the other kids running, and has been a good role model. He keeps things light. He's got a good sense of humor and isn't stand-offish.''

Last summer, Heily took it upon himself to phone everybody on the team and get them to stay in shape. He organized ``running groups'' to help the underclassmen improve.

Jeremy Morman, a sophomore, was part of the running group. This year, he should break into the top 10.

``He encourages us,'' Morman said. ``He would tell us to `come out and run.'''

If the Crusaders finish among the top three teams in the Metro AA League, it will be because of Heily. Kevin Pettigrew and Pete Brennan make up the next tier of runners, but aren't expected to push Heily. An average team can be a good team with one runner like Heily, who will score few if any negative points in any race.

``I do everything I can to win, but I don't worry too much about it,'' Heily said. ``It can help build up team spirit. If everything goes well, I should win this year. I'd also like to run the fastest double-A time in the state.''

With his added strength, hills aren't the obstacle they used to be, and neither are his rivals.

Another foe who went down at Edmonds was Cleveland's Eric Gibson, who finished second at the league meet last year. In two weeks, Heily will have a rematch with Gurry in three-way meet with Blanchet and Rainier Beach.

``It's nice to have a guy like David, since we both started running about the same time (sixth grade),'' Heily said. ``I can see how much I've improved. We've been racing each other since we were really young. It's gone back and forth between us, but last year he kind of took off. I got worried for a while. Now I've caught up. But he's still the man to beat.''

This weekend, the Crusaders will open their season with a meet against Lakeside at Upper Woodland Park. The team is already practicing at the site, getting used to the course. There's a big yellow school bus pulled off next to a picnic area. Heily and his teammates are running mile intervals away and back to the bus. They'll finish it off with a series of 400-yard sprints and 50-yard sprints.

When Heily's high school career is over, he wants to run for the University of Washington, or UCLA, or maybe Oregon, where he could race Maris every week.

``When I raced against (Maris), I wasn't as mature,'' Heily said. ``I'd like to go to Oregon, and race him down there.''