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Defiance's Zach Wiles: Born to run

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By KEVIN EIS

cnsports@crescent-news.com

Some people get into a particular sport through influence.

Others may evolve into it through a general personal interest.

For Defiance High School senior cross country runner Zach Wiles, it was a combination of both which dictated the senior's cross country future along with one other undeniably motivating factor.

A bloodline for running and family tradition for the competitiveness of the sport guaranteed that Wiles would be born to run.

The Defiance senior first inherited the desire to run through his father, Doug, who was a cross country and track standout for the Bulldogs from 1976-78. While continuing his running career at Defiance College, the elder Wiles went on to be ranked eighth nationally in the NAIA in the 1500m.

More recently, Wiles received additional inspiration from the accomplishments of his cousin Patrick Mouser, who was also a track and cross country household name at Defiance from 1999-2002 before furthering his career at Auburn.

Incidentally, both were coached by longtime Defiance mentor Obie Mouser, who remains the DHS boys' head coach and has overseen the development of the younger Wiles.

"I think Zach has a real good idea of what it takes," noted Mouser. "He watched his Patrick run and he was around his training, Zach knows what Patrick went through to be good and Patrick is like an uncle to him. Zach's dad has a keen sense about what it takes because his dad was one of our great runners in high school. So he's around people who know what it takes to run at a high level."

"Coach (Mouser), he's been here forever, since the early seventies," Wiles said. "He coached my dad and he ran in college, and then Patrick ran for (Mouser) and he's my uncle. Seeing Patrick run when I was little, I kind of wanted to (run too).

"Looking at me, I'm probably not going to be a football player, right?" Wiles continued, referring to his slim build. "So I found something I'm good at and I just went for it."

After getting involved in the cross country program as a seventh grader, Wiles went through some struggles through his junior high years before beginning to develop his prowess as a runner with a little help from some friends.

"I wasn't a great runner in junior high," Wiles admitted. "I didn't really understand the sport really well then. But as an eighth grader I started running in the summertime with some of the high school kids. (Former DHS runners) Nick VanDemark and Darren Flickinger both showed me the ropes and everything there is to know about the sport. That's when I decided that's what I wanted to do and I started taking everything really serious."

Having witnessed Wiles' growth in the program from the onset, Mouser has firsthand knowledge of his growth into one of Defiance's premier runners.

"He's come a long way," explained the DHS mentor. "He was small when he was younger, about his freshman year he got a growth spurt. He ran pretty well as a freshman and ran pretty well as a sophomore, but he just didn't have the strength yet. But he was working hard and he knew what it took."

And while knowing is half the battle, Wiles' work ethic took care of the rest.

Now in his fourth year as a varsity runner, Wiles has definitely left his mark on the program. Besides being named all-WBL for the past three years (including league runner-up a year ago), Wiles had a breakout year last season as a junior, garnering all-district, all-regional and all-state honors with a ninth-place finish in Columbus at the state meet. His strong showing in Columbus helped the Defiance boys capture a 10th-place team finish.

"That was kind of my breakout race of last year," recalled Wiles of the state meet. "I went for it and I ended up running a PR and placing ninth in the state. It's exciting going up there in front of hundreds of people and standing on the podium. Hopefully I'll be up there again this year and hopefully the team will be up on the podium this year."

Not one to rest on past accomplishments, Wiles has continued to push himself for his final cross country season at Defiance. Heading into tomorrow's WBL meet at Celina, Wiles has captured victories at the Napoleon dual meet, the Ottawa quad-meet and the St. Xavier Invitational for the second year in a row.

According to the DHS senior, accolades such as these do not come without intense training and devotion throughout the entire year.

"As soon as track is done we start running for cross in June," commented Wiles, who is also a regional and district standout in the 3200m on the track team. "And that goes all the way to November and then maybe take a week or two off, and then you're right back at it again for track. So It's definitely a year-round thing."

As a testament to his hard work and determination, Wiles captured third a week ago at Worthington against several Division-I runners with a time of 15:40, which was the best time of his career.

However, Wiles' preparation for his senior year encountered a twist of uncertainty which was brought on by an illness that forced him off the practice course for some time.

"He had to take most of June off and part of July off because he was sick," stated Mouser of Wiles' ability to overcome adversity. "He was really off what he would normally do, but he made it up in extra running and pushing practices harder. So he's done a great job in overcoming some adversity."

While undecided as to where, Wiles plans on attending college to possibly become a teacher as well as passing on his knowledge of running to others as a coach. Until then, he will continue to enjoy the friends he has made through the years until the future calls and the present becomes a memory.

"You see these guys almost everyday from June to November, you see them all year," ended Whiles, who would like to break into the top five in the state this season while helping his team to a state championship. "Rarely do you miss anybody for more than two days apart. You see them all the time and you're always joking around and it's fun. That makes great friends and it's because of this sport. Hopefully I'll have them for the rest of my life."