The Sunday Shakeout

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In the spring of 2025, a stress fracture ended Elijah Graves' sophomore track season. Eighteen months later, the Shorewood senior is running 14:36, winning the Nike Hole in the Wall Elite Race, and making a case for himself as Washington’s next state champion.

The Shorewood High School senior has made one of the biggest jumps in Washington distance running. With a team state championship on the horizon, Graves and his teammates are beginning to see just how far this season could go.

Graves holds personal bests of 4:07 in the 1600m, 9:02 in the 3200m, and 14:36 in the 5K. His victory at Nike Hole in the Wall put him firmly among the state's top cross country runners. Behind the breakthrough is a training philosophy built on aerobic mileage, threshold work, and consistency. At Shorewood, the goal isn't to complicate the process. It's to trust it.

On this episode of The Sunday Shakeout, we get into Shorewood's training, the meaning behind its “infinite thresh” approach, and what it takes to trust your fitness when the race gets uncomfortable. We talk about rankings, nerves, finishing kicks, and a team chasing a state title with its sights set on Nike Cross Nationals.

Because sometimes the biggest breakthroughs aren't about finding a new secret. They're about putting in the work, trusting the people around you, and giving yourself time to see what you're capable of.

Tap into the Elijah Graves episode of The Sunday Shakeout.

Please consider leaving a follow and a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Thank you to all of the listeners for the support! I hope you enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout.

Please consider leaving a follow and a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Thank you to all of the listeners for the support! I hope you enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout.

Please consider leaving a follow and a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Thank you to all of the listeners for the support! I hope you enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout.

Please consider leaving a follow and a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Thank you to all of the listeners for the support! I hope you enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout.

One week. One tough loss. Six days to figure out what comes next.

At the 2026 IHSA Class 3A State Championships, Owen Horeni finished second in the 800m, running 1:51. It wasn’t the ending he wanted. Less than a week later, he lined up again at the HOKA Festival of Miles, fought all the way to the line, and dove for the win in 1:48.58.

That race was the perfect snapshot of Owen’s senior season. He ran 1:50.25 for 3rd at the Arcadia Invitational, then dropped his PR to 1:50.18 at sectionals. He also won the 1,600m sectional title in 4:13.25. After four years of climbing the podium at the state meet, he had put together one of the best middle-distance careers in Yorkville history.

But there’s a lot more to Owen’s story than the times. He grew up running with his marathoner parents and found his love for competition in elementary school cross country. He dealt with knee issues and cross training early in high school, trained through Illinois winters, and slowly figured out that the 800 might be where he could really make his mark.

We talk about what actually happened between state and HOKA. The disappointment. The reset. The differences in the two races. The role of pace lights, race conditions, crowd energy, and having the right people around you when things don’t go according to plan.

Owen also takes me through the recruiting process, from reaching out to more than 200 coaches to visiting schools like Stanford and Georgetown, and eventually deciding that Notre Dame was the place he wanted to call home.

Now he’s heading into college, where the races will be less frequent, the training will be longer, and progress won’t always be as obvious.

So maybe the biggest lesson from Owen’s story isn’t a time or a place. It’s learning how to stay patient, keep moving forward, and trust that the work is adding up.

Stay the course.

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Enjoy!

One hundredth of a second. That was the difference between Caleb Winders winning and going home wondering what he could have done differently.

A few weeks later, he ran 1:46.85.

The Bloomington North senior has spent the last few years quietly building himself into one of the best 800-meter runners in the country. Now headed to UNC, Winders has combined raw speed with a blue-collar approach to training, racing, and getting better every day.

In 2026, he repeated as Indiana 800m state champion and broke the state record with a 1:46.85. He won New Balance Nationals Indoor and Outdoor, adding two more national titles to his résumé. He also helped Bloomington North win its fourth Indiana 4x800-meter state championship.

But the numbers only tell half the story.

This season also brought Winders his biggest setback. A hamstring injury hit during the postseason, forcing him to balance his own goals with his responsibility to his team. It was a reminder that even when everything is moving forward, running can still ask you to slow down.

In this conversation, we get into what it actually feels like to run 1:46, the mental battle of the 800, the race he lost by a hundredth, and the day-to-day grind behind the performances. We talk about pressure, confidence, pain, consistency, and why Winders still seems to care most about one simple thing: beating the people next to him and having fun doing it.

Now, the high school chapter is over. Chapel Hill is next.

Tap into the Caleb Winders Special.

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Sometimes the athletes who go the farthest are the ones who never made the biggest splash at the start.

Hunter Robbie didn't become a two-time Nike Cross Nationals All-American overnight. The 2026 Niwot High School graduate grew from an overlooked middle school runner into one of the leaders of the greatest cross country dynasty in the country, helping Niwot capture back-to-back NXN titles and three straight Colorado 5A state championships.

His senior season was one of remarkable consistency. Hunter finished sixth at Nike Cross Nationals in 15:11 to earn his second consecutive All-American finish. He ran 14:34.2 for runner-up at Nike Cross Southwest Regional. He was named the 2025-26 Colorado Gatorade Boys Cross Country Player of the Year and closed out his high school career with personal bests of 4:07 for 1600 meters and 8:45 for 3200 meters before heading to Duke.

But this conversation isn't about the medals. It's about the people who believed in him before he believed in himself. We talk about the coach who made a four-year bet on a kid who wasn't yet winning races, why consistency always beats chasing the perfect workout, and how Niwot built a culture where teammates could compete fiercely without becoming competitors first.

Hunter also reflects on falling while leading the Colorado state championships, carrying the pressure of defending a national title, and why making running your entire identity is one of the fastest ways to lose the joy that makes great performances possible. His perspective is simple. Care deeply. Stay loose. Keep showing up. The results will take care of themselves.

Tap into the Hunter Robbie Special.

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