In the fall of 2016, the Mt. Ararat runner had a strong first year. He quickly began to learn the ropes of high school running and posted times of 16:59.80 (fifth) at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Championships, 16:32.74 (sixth) at the Class A North Regional, and a 16:27.38 (10th) at last year’s State Class A meet in Belfast. He also competed at the New England Regionals in Scituate, Rhode Island, and finished in 141st place with a time of 17.09.57.
Not a bad base to start a high school career. Still, Berry-Gaviria knew he had the capability of more.
“This year I have a lot better mental attitude. I’m training a lot smarter, not pushing myself so hard in workouts,” said Berry- Gaviria. “Last year I was struggling with injuries a lot. I had a hamstring problem that kept coming up and I couldn’t get rid of it.”
This year, Berry-Gaviria ran a 17.05.10 in KVAC’s and followed up with a 15:53.37 last week at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast at regionals. Berry-Gaviria looks to keep decreasing his time this Saturday at the State Class A Championships, being held at Twin Brook in Cumberland.
A student of running, Berry-Gaviria used previous teachings, up-to-date training philosophies and a little bit of patience. More specifically, listening to longtime Mt. Ararat coach Diane Fournier.
“The key word was smart,” said Fournier on the biggest change from last year to this season. “I’ve been doing this a long time and was once a runner, so I know a thing or two. He got me a book on youth runners and I have something similar from another author. The two books had the exact same information in it. We both have different philosophies, and once we understood each other more this season, we began having fun.”
Switching it up
Berry-Gaviria wasn’t always a runner. He competed in soccer, basketball and baseball in his younger years. In seventh grade, his parents “nudged” him to try out for the middle school cross country team. He had run a few road races, but didn’t think he was that good at it. After trying the sport, he immediately fell in love.
“I played other sports, and maybe I was better at soccer because of all the running than the other two sports,” said Berry-Gaviria. “Once I started to run, I knew this was the sport for me.”
Coming into the season, Berry-Gaviria had a goal of beating the 16-minute mark, a time he thought he may achieve at the New England Regionals on Nov. 11 in Belfast. Turns out there as no need to wait, as he accomplished that feat last week.
“The competition always pushes you harder, so I figured that would have been at the New England’s because it’s another whole level,” said Berry-Gaviria. “I’ve got my biggest goal now. So what I need to do now is beat it.”
Berry-Gaviria also credits his teammates with helping him in becoming a better runner.
“They push me. I have a lot of teammates that inspire me to be a better runner,” said Berry-Gaviria, who also returns the favor by pushing them. “You always want to help make your teammates better.”
He and his Eagle teammates will compete in both the girls (12:30 p.m.) and boys (1:05 p.m.) team championships for Class A at Twin Brook in Cumberland on Saturday, a course Berry- Gaviria has not raced competitively
“I ran it a couple of times this past summer just to check out the course,” said Berry-Gaviria.
The variations of flats and hills at the course don’t bother Berry-Gaviria, who will join his team in visiting the course on Friday.
“I’m pretty good at hills, but I don’t prefer them over flat, I like them both,” added Berry-Gaviria.
“I let him prepare his own race plan, he does a good job,” added Fournier. “We’ve seen him grow this year. He knows a lot about running, but there are other people that know a few things too, and he’s been more receptive of taking that information in.”
Berry-Gaviria, when not reading books on running, likes photography, plays the guitar and sings a little The sophomore plans to continue running beyond high school, although, he has a little time to figure out where he wants to go to college.
“I definitely want to run in college,” said Berry- Gaviria. “ I don’t know where I want to go, but yeah, I definitely want to keep running.”
“He’s a serious kid, but he’s much more relaxed this year as he smiles more,” said his coach. “And it shows in his running.”
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