Kicking Into a Higher Gear
October 11, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Nate Burnand had trouble motivating himself as a freshman. In his words, he was "not a mature student."
Sure, he was balancing two sports during his first semester at Waterford Mott. But he was slacking in the classroom, a shame because he had the potential to do so much more.
We know how much potential because of what he's accomplished over the last two years.
These days, it’s AP economics, U.S. history and comparative politics during the school day and some of the fastest cross country times in the state when class is done. The running achievements came first and the academic success next, and together they’ve provided for an incredible finish to Burnand’s high school career – much like his kick at the end of races that has made him an MHSAA championship contender.
“The positive reinforcement when I have success in running and school, I see the rewards and it makes me want to work harder to do more,” Burnand said. “I think when I made all-state sophomore year in cross country, it clicked for me that I needed to do better things than what I was doing. I had opportunities, and I needed to capitalize on them."
Burnand receives a Second Half High 5 based in part on his 15:21 to win the elite race against a loaded field at Michigan State’s Spartan Invitational on Sept. 14. He also won the Waterford Mott Fall Classic two weeks later in 15:44, and took second last week at the Oakland County Championships.
But his impressive climb to the elite started long before this fall.
He ran his first high school race, in 2009, in 18:16 and finished his freshman season with a personal best of 17:23 while splitting time playing soccer. He decided before his sophomore year to focus solely on cross country, and the surge began.
Burnand opened the 2010 season with a 17:09 and closed it with a 15:45 and 17th place in the MHSAA Division 1 Final at Michigan International Speedway. He improved on that with a 15:38 and sixth place at last season’s Division 1 Final – despite suffering multiple stress fractures that affected how much work he could put in heading into the fall.
Mott coach Ryan Robinson recognized that talent right away, and after Burnand’s freshman year compared him to teammate Scott Albaugh – who went on to win the Division 1 individual title in 2010. The key to this season’s drop has been consistent training; now healthy, Burnand put in 70-mile training weeks this summer, plus swimming pool and plyometric training with his teammates.
And he’s smart with his workload too. After the second stress fracture during spring 2011 forced him to train in the pool alone, Burnand decided he didn’t want to go through that again. He learned his body’s limits and is careful to do just the right amount of work.
“He will do whatever I ask him to do, and then some,” Robinson said. “And he does a lot of research on what other people are doing, what other kids are running, and the times he’d like to run. He’s always trying to do more.”
And as noted above, race success was followed by class success. Burnand had a 2.4 grade-point average after his freshman year, not because he struggled with the material but because he didn’t put in enough effort. Sophomore year was about breaking habits, and the comeback was on.
Burnand scored a 3.8 GPA as a junior, bringing his cumulative up to 3.0. He has the three Advanced Placement classes this fall, and would like to study economics or politics in college.
“I always knew I was capable of this. I wanted to be a good student, but I didn’t have the motivation,” he said. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to have a running career if I didn’t keep up in school.”
That's the plan, and he’s making it difficult for others to keep up. Robinson said Burnand executed strategy perfectly at MSU. Burnand like to push opponents in small spurts through the middle of races before taking off for the final 1,000 meters. That’s what he did at the Spartan, and over the final 500 Burnand had energy that his opponents couldn’t match.
As a junior, he had to convince himself he could finish those races in first. But during that summer training he began to believe, and after a few weeks staying with family and training on the hills surrounding San Francisco, he saw dividends.
Like with his studies, the more goals he hit, the more goals he chased.
“I think my confidence has gone up,” Burnand said. “Over the summer, I was running everything fast, hitting my mileage goals, not struggling, and I think it just started clicking. I had a feeling things were going to happen this year.”
PHOTO: Waterford Mott's Nate Burnand rounds a turn during last season's MHSAA Division 1 Final at Michigan International Speedway.
Ovid-Elsie Running Legend Darling Seeking to 'Win the Day' on Trading Floor
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 13, 2024
Maverick Darling’s competitive running days have been behind him for nearly a decade, but the eight-time MHSAA Finals champion from Ovid-Elsie isn’t done competing.
Darling, who was also a five-time All-American at Wisconsin, is now fighting for wins on the Viking Forest Products lumber trading floor in Minnesota.
“Our trading floor is very unique,” Darling said. “We have 60 traders, and probably 30-35 of them are former student-athletes in college. It’s very competitive, but kind of like a locker room. It’s kind of a unique way for me to still be competitive even though I’m not in athletics. I really love it.”
Darling is a commodity trader at Viking Forest, trading mostly OSB, plywood and dimensional lumber to buyers throughout the United States. He lives with his fiancé Danielle and their two dogs in Plymouth, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis.
Lessons learned while working toward Finals titles on the dirt roads of Ovid and national goals on the trails of Madison, Wis., are helping him find success again.
“My lessons I learned from running and the reward, whether good, great or OK, is that no matter the day, you have to go put in the effort and work, and it carries over to my work,” he said. “I now literally start over every day. We had a saying: ‘Win the day.’ And ‘Win the day’ kind of means something different for every day. I try to apply that to my life. It’s motivating to be successful every day.”
Friendly competition between teammates leading to greater success also carried over from cross country and track to the trading floor.
“We have a department where it feels almost like my cross country team in college,” he said. “One guy will put up 30 orders that day, and we’re all happy for that person. The synergy between the group is awesome. But it motivates me to be like, tomorrow that’s going to be me.”
Darling had spent his first three years out of Wisconsin running professionally and had coaching stops at Iona and Cal-Berkeley after that. But when the pandemic hit, he stepped away from coaching and made the move to trading.
That ended a spectacular career in the sport, which was actually second choice for most of Darling’s childhood.
Growing up, he was a top snowmobile racer, along with his brother.
“My first (high school) cross country race, I took seventh,” Darling said. “I didn’t know better, but that’s pretty good. My mom was like, ‘Seventh? You know, we’re used to first or second (in snowcross).’ We’re not a running family. I started at about 18 minutes in the 5K, and at the state meet I finished eighth and ran 16:13. I was like, ‘OK, maybe this is something I can really be good at.’”
It was at the end of his junior year, after winning his heat at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, that Darling turned his entire focus to running. By that time, he had already won two Division 3 cross country titles, two 3,200-meter titles and one 1,600 at MHSAA Finals.
He was training often, but knew he was undertrained because of the limitations on where and when he could run during mid-Michigan winters. Colleges knew it, too, and that led to a barrage of communication as soon as they were able to reach out.
“I probably had 150 of those (hand-written letters) sent to the house,” Darling said. “I would get two to three phone calls a night after July 1. It wasn’t like overwhelming, because I was pretty confident at that point where I wanted to go to school.”
Darling committed to Wisconsin on the day of the Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals his senior year. He also won his third Finals title that day with a then-Division 3 record time of 14:52. At the time, it was the third fastest time ever run in Michigan.
He would later win his second straight 1,600/3,200 double at the Track & Field Finals, running 8:58 in the 3,200 during the season, which was the 12th-best high school time in the country that year.
The choice to go to Wisconsin was based on his drive to be challenged as much as possible.
“I thought, ‘If I come into this room, I’m probably the eighth or ninth best runner in this room – maybe,’” Darling said. “I had such a great recruiting trip. I grew up in Ovid, and everything I ran there was pretty much dirt roads. Wisconsin has a lot of dirt trails, and I kind of loved that. I could run from our locker room and be on a trail in a mile, mile and a half.”
Darling’s collegiate career proved he had made the right decision. He was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year for the 2009 cross country season, and an All-American in 2010 and 2012. He was a three-time All-American in track, as well.
The Badgers also had massive team success during Darling’s tenure, winning a cross country national title in 2011, four Big Ten cross country titles and two Big Ten track & field titles.
Darling was surrounded by great runners throughout his time in Madison, including close friend Mohammed Ahmed, who finished fourth in the 10,000 meters at this Olympics, one spot behind another Michigan distance star, Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher.
Watching the results of a distance boom he was a big part of has been a joy for Darling this summer.
“I thought I was pretty good, then watching these guys – it’s jealousy,” he said with a laugh. “And also, it’s just cool to see. Michigan is one of the best distance states men’s and women’s-wise. It’s great to see them not only be on the international level, but to have that success.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Maverick Darling crosses the finish line during a race as an Ovid-Elsie senior in 2007; at right Darling poses with fiancé Danielle. (Middle) Darling rounds a turn during a high school race. (Below) Darling and Danielle enjoy a sunset over the water with her parents. (Photos courtesy of Maverick Darling.)