Oldenburg's Eckstein ready to make mark at state

By Bryan Sweitzer for DyeStat

Oldenburg Academy is unlike most high schools. Tucked into a small village on the eastern edge of Indiana, the school pre-dates the Civil War and was an all-girls boarding school until 1990. Boys were not enrolled until 2001. 

The school cafeteria is located in the adjacent convent where nuns go about their lives, eating, sleeping and praying. In back of the school there is a large cemetery, the resting place of nuns and church families for nearly 180 years.

This is also the home of Curtis Eckstein, an Oldenburg Academy senior who will go into Saturday's Indiana state cross country championships as the favorite to win the individual title. 

Eckstein won his semi-state meet last weekend in 14:34 for one of the fastest times in the nation. He also has a wide range of interests. He plays guitar and acts in school plays. He's an Eagle Scout. He is the manager of the boys basketball team. 

Unlike many of the top runners in the country, Eckstein does not come from a big school (Oldenburg Academy's enrollment is about 200) or a storied program. His team of 11 runners participated in low-key invitationals in southeastern Indiana. His sister, Mindy, a freshman, is also on the team.

Eckstein, like many high school runners, started out as a soccer player, but decided to try running after watching family members doing it.  Eckstein ran cross country in middle school, but it wasn't until he started high school at Oldenburg that he started training seriously under coach Merle Hines. 

Hines has coached for 27 years at Oldenburg. She was coaching at a nearby high school when "the Holy Spirit" grabbed her and told her to come to Oldenburg. Despite a small pool of students to choose from, Hines has coached many teams and individuals to state in both cross country and track, but they've almost always been girls. Eckstein was the first boy from the school to advance to the state cross country meet when he qualified the first time, in 2014.

"We have to improvise a lot. It's been a very big challenge," Hines said. "I don't know what I would do if I coached at a bigger school, with a track and indoor facilities. I'd be in heaven!" 

The team manages with what it has. The runners use a small weight room to lift four days a week. They take ice baths after workouts. 

During the season, runners avoid carbonated beverages and french fries. 

"There's no nutrition in french fries," Hines said.

Each athlete on the team keeps a log to record daily mileage and notes on how each run feels. The logs are stored inside decorative folders (Eckstein's features an illustration of Harambe).  

The workout plan involves a variation of "Paavo" training. Eckstein's weekly mileage hovers around 60 per week, about 10 miles per week more than the team's No. 2 runner, and about 20 more than the rest of the team. 

"We do one long run a week, we do one long hard day, we do our race day, and the rest are just critical threshold or easy recovery runs," Eckstein said on his training.  He runs twice a day five times a week.  

Coach Hines' training philosophy is unusual compared to many high school coaches, however.  She believes that the majority of running coaches at the middle and high school levels work their kids too hard.

"Years ago, I looked at the Europeans. They were so much better than Americans and I kept thinking 'Why?'" Hines said. "I kept reading and reading, and it was revealed that in our society, middle school coaches want all the credit, so (they) run these kids hard, then they go to high school, and they get burned out in high school. ... I want to be patient, and every kid that ran in college that came from my program always did better, because I don't run their legs off, and that's really important." 

To go along with this philosophy, Eckstein does not do much speed work during the cross country season, which differs from many programs.

"I want them to have strength, and if they do too much speed work, then they don't have the strength or the legs to do the long runs and do the mileage," Hines said.

The lack of a track may also have something to do with it. The walkway around the convent serves as a substitute. 

Until Saturday's semi-state meet, where Eckstein beat Hamilton Southeastern junior Gabe Fendel by 11 seconds, Eckstein's closest margin of victory this season had been 47 seconds. He won his sectional meet two weekends earlier by 93 seconds, running 14:51. Even if he's hundreds of meters ahead of second place, Eckstein still finds a reason to push.

"I just try to beat my own times. I don't mind the other people out there. I just go hard and try for a PR every race," he said. 

To his coach and teammates, Eckstein's benefit to the team goes beyond his times.

"The thing about Curt, he never changes. He doesn't get crazy, and he doesn't get sad or disappointed. He doesn't have those highs or lows. He's always pleasant, always happy. He's someone everyone wants to be around. He's like the perfect kid," Hines said.

Even when he's so far ahead of everyone, the team matters. 

"He's a great teammate and he's great friend. If you ever need anything to talk about, you can talk to him and he'll help you out," freshman Joshua Myers said.

Eckstein is intent on improving on his third place finish at the Indiana state meet in 2015. After that, he is uncertain about his postseason plans. He said that he is not sure that he will do Foot Locker, although he is "pretty positive" that he will do NXN. 

"My goal is to get to Nike Nationals and maybe Foot Locker. If I go to Foot Locker (I want to) get top 10; maybe top five at Nike Nationals," he said.

Eckstein is still considering his college options but has the University of Cincinnati, Notre Dame and Purdue at the top of his list. 

Eckstein expects to have a lot of support from Oldenburg (population 674) as well as his classmates when he goes to the starting line in Terre Haute. 

"They like that I do well. I like them and they like me," said Eckstein with a laugh. "I know a lot of them are going to be at the state meet."