Athlete: Alex Ostberg
Year: Senior
School: Darien High School
Year: Darien, CT
1600m PR: 4:06.52 (relay leg)
3200m PR: 8:52.64
5,000m PR: 14:16.61

After his sensational performance at the Manhattan Invitational Eastern States Championship last Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park (VCP) in the Bronx—he ran a winning time that put him in the company of reigning NCAA cross country champion Edward Cheserek—Alex Ostberg raced home to Connecticut for his next major assignment: confronting life-and-death situations in his Darien community. Ostberg, a 17-year-old senior at Darien High School, is a member of his town’s Emergency Medical Service Post 53, an installation run by high school students. Ostberg says he is just as proud of his EMS work as he is of his best races. And there are plenty of best races: Ostberg was 11th at the Foot Locker cross country finals last December, and he won the national outdoor 5,000m on the track in June.

Bronx Bomber: With plans for a December peak, Ostberg’s recent workouts, like 6 x 1 mile on the roads in 5 minutes flat with 60 seconds rest in between, gave him a tremendous boost. He had the confidence to meet any opponent and the demands of the hilly VCP course—a course that had seen 12 hours of steady rain up until race time.

Ripping It: The week of the race, sizing up Ostberg’s training, Darien coach Tyson Kaczmarek told him, “You can run 12 minutes. Let’s rip it.” Only Edward Cheserek, the New Jerseyan by way of Kenya who is now a multiple time national champ at the University of Oregon, had ever run sub-12 on the historic 2.5-mile route, running 11:55.4 to set the course record as a junior in 2011 before going 11:58.7 in 2012. In fact, only four other runners had ever broken 12:10, all at the Manhattan meet. “Alex does all the mental work,” says Kaczmarek. “All I have to do is give him something to shoot for, and he betters it.”

Running Away: Racing through the cow path and back hills, a lead group formed midway with all the favorites: Bryce Millar of New York’s Fayetteville-Manlius, Blaise Ferro of Christian Brothers Academy of New Jersey and Edwin Rutto, who, like Cheserek, had come from Kenya to St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark and is considered Cheserek’s heir apparent. Cresting the last ascent, Ostberg switched to his downhill gear, gaining a lead and marshaling momentum for the long home straight. “You have to be a confident downhill runner,” Ostberg says. “That’s how Grant Fisher won Foot Locker last year.”

Fast Finish: With the clock reading 11:30, Ostberg emerged into view of the finish area fans, who were stunned to realize that despite the soggy terrain, a sub-12 was in the works and Cheserek’s record could go down. Ostberg finished in 11:57.2, missing the record by 1.8 seconds, to defeat Millar by 35 meters with Rutto, a junior, taking third.

Nationals Contender: With a series of breakthroughs last spring, and now his surpassing cross country performance, Ostberg is on the short list of Foot Locker contenders. Last May, Ostberg’s 8:52.64 3200m was a 17-second PR. In June, his national 5,000m victory in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 14:16.61, put him 13 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Elijah Armstrong of Idaho, the 2013 national indoor 5,000m champion. In Greensboro, Ostberg also anchored Darien to second in the distance medley with a 4:06.52 1600m leg.

Smashing Workouts: Ostberg has also made training breakthroughs. Instructed by coaches to run 70 seconds per lap in a 12 x 400 workout, Ostberg got “carried away” and ran the first eight in 66 to 69, then did 63, 62, 61, and finished in 57. He took a mere 45 seconds recovery between each 400. It was no surprise to Kaczmarek when the week before Manhattan, Ostberg, competing in Thetford, Vermont, took apart one of the toughest courses in the East. Ostberg ran 15:45 to shatter the Woods Trail Run 5K record by 19 seconds.

Handling Emergencies: After his Manhattan victory on Saturday, Ostberg was on call at his EMS post from 5:30 PM that day to 5:30 PM the next day. He did his Sunday long run after his shift, covering 11 miles and closing in 5:20 pace for the last 2 miles. Ostberg says he puts in about five 24-hour shifts a month. Ostberg’s twin brother Nicolai (a state-ranked swimmer) and two of Darien teammates also serve. On last weekend’s shift, Ostberg, recently elected a post officer, answered two calls for elderly residents in need. For the most serious calls, like heart attack or drug overdose victims, an adult paramedic accompanies the teen volunteers. For certification two years ago, Ostberg took 140 hours of course work plus exams.

College Plans: Exams hardly faze Ostberg, who turns 18 in February. A top student, he has thus far visited Harvard, Princeton and Stanford and plans to sign early.

Starting Off: Ostberg got into running in seventh grade when he joined his father, who was training for a marathon. Before long, he could discuss exercise physiology. He was not a star at first, taking 76th in the state cross country meet as a freshman, but Ostberg learned that the “extra stuff”—like weight work, hurdle drills, barefoot running—would be keys to success. “It’s like coaching a graduate student,” says Kaczmarek of Ostberg’s intellect. “He shows me things on a weekly basis that I don’t know.”

Waffle Trainer: Ostberg’s father, Petter, is Norwegian. Ostberg speaks fluent Norwegian and has dual citizenship. Last summer, he spent two weeks in the Oslo area visiting family and training on the fjords. He observes his heritage by whipping up Norwegian waffles and, in Norway, taking morning swims in freezing water—“a good way to wake up,” he says. 

Headshot of Marc Bloom
Marc Bloom

Marc Bloom’s high school cross-country rankings have played an influential role in the sport for more than 20 years and led to the creation of many major events, including Nike Cross Nationals and the Great American Cross Country Festival. He published his cross-country journal, Harrier, for more than two decades.