Carter Cheeseman competed at the Arcadia Invitational this past weekend
Fort Worth Christian junior Carter Cheeseman took on some of the best high school distance runners in America -- Again!
This time, the TAPPS star did it at the famous Arcadia Invitational, in California.
The Arcadia 3200m field could be compared to the Foot Locker Nationals or NXN on the track. Just as Cheeseman did in those meets and the big time meets he has competed at since then, he impressed with his performance.
Cheeseman battled the outstanding field and came away with a seventh place finish. The most impressive part of the performance though was his time. He ran a new blazing fast new 8:54.06 PR, which was less than four seconds behind the leader Marcus Kemp (CA) who finished in 8:50.94.
This 2018 track season, we have seen Cheeseman travel both state and country wide to run in some big time meets coming away with some big time results.
During the indoor season, he ran at the Vanderbilt HS Indoor Invitational where he dropped two gem races. Coming away with a 1:59.18 800m we learned of the type of speed Cheeseman has. He then displayed his fitness level at the time as he ran 4:16.02 in the 1mile.
He then put on a ferocious last 250m kick in the 5K at the Texas Distance Festival (TDF) coming away with a win against some of the top distance runners nationally with his 14:36.60.
Carter Cheeseman ran 8:54.06 in the 3200m at the Arcadia Invitational
In between the TDF and Arcadia, Cheeseman ran a couple of 1600m races. He ran 4:19.42 at Jesuit Sheaner Relays and then 4:16.52 at Texas Relays. Both of these high profile races may not have been neither the place nor time results that either fans or maybe even Cheeseman himself may have expected.
However, Cheeseman has continued to trust his training and his coaching by staying on the path. In sports across the board, the new phrase seems to be "Trust the Process". It can easily be a distraction or deterrence by not getting the results whether by time or place. PRing in every race is what young athletes consistently want to do. However, he continues to do what he is asked to do training wise and run where he is scheduled to run against whoever is entered in the race.
This will not be the first time we have seen this of Cheeseman since he arrived to Texas.
During cross season, we saw him drop some early fast times. He ran superb 5K times with a 15:01 and then a U.S. #1 14.42.44 early in the season. He then ran several meets that were not as fast and not the places some looked for from him. For example, after running the 14:42.44, he ran to a 12th place finish at the Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina.
Cheeseman would continue to stay the path and trust his training to quality for both cross national meets ending with an All-American finish with a sixth place Foot Locker Nationals finish to end his cross season.
Don't be surprised to see more fast times and furious kicks this season from Cheeseman as he continues to trust the process and travel the country for the best competition he can find.
