Saints Cross-country: Once rivals, now running mates

Jared Pohll and Terek Thornburg have known each other longer than they can remember, and if it wasn’t for Thornburg’s mom they wouldn’t even know it.

Pohll and Thornburg have gone from competing against each other for their high schools in Southwest Washington, to running together as teammates on the Mt. Hood cross country team.

The first time the two competed was Thornburg’s freshman year at W.F. West High School (Chehalis, Washington), in the Gordy Robinson invitational. It was his first ever cross country event. He had grown up running and participated on his middle school track team, but that didn’t compare to his first cross country event. And he remembered seeing Pohll out there.

Four years later Thornburg and Pohll clashed again at the Adna Pirate invite. Pohll was running for Toledo High School, just down Interstate 5. They don’t remember who won, but they talked after the event. Both tired and sweaty, laughing about their love/hate relationship with cross country. They were in no way close friends, but they knew each other.

And when they saw each other’s names on the MHCC roster this summer, they both knew exactly who they were.

Pohll didn’t plan to run cross country in college; in fact, he didn’t even plan to attend college. That was until his high school coach found out, and advised him to look into MHCC. Pohll did, and decided to commit to Mt. Hood.

Thornburg knew he wanted to compete at the college level in cross country, meantime. He looked at a few schools but when he met Jim Satterfield, the Saints’ head coach, he had an instant bond with him.

“I liked what he had to talk about the first time I met him,” Thornburg said. “I felt like I’d learn a lot down here about running, and I’d become a better athlete.” He committed the first day he could to Mt. Hood, on Feb. 3 of this year.

Soon after, Thornburg’s  mom was looking at the 2016 Saints roster and noticed Pohll’s name. She remembered they had gone to preschool with each other. Neither Pohll nor Thornburg remember those early days, but laugh that they had multiple encounters and conversations without any knowledge of that time.

Now they’re practicing daily, side-by-side in college. They find themselves subconsciously racing each other at practice.

Pohll said, “He (Thornburg) is the only one on the team I really know, so I want to beat him.”  That’s the key, as they kept pushing, making each other better. Competing in practice also makes the work go by quicker. It gives Pohll something to focus on, he said.

“I push harder once this guy starts getting loud next to me,”  said Pohll, explaining that Thornburg is known to be the talker of the team. Pohll said it also prevents him from zoning out, because he has a goal.

Thornburg joked, meanwhile, that cross country helps him “stay in shape and look good for the ladies.”

Come game day, they’re all one team – the Saints. The two runners know that what they put into practice pours into their abilities,  come time to race.  Thornburg said, “I hate beating teammates… but you just got to push each other harder and harder, it makes us better.”

The two are a little disappointed that the team’s not winning as much as they’d like, but they understand that Mt. Hood’s a young team. Thornburg is dealing with an injury right now so he won’t be participating in the NWAC championship meet. He fully expects to be back next year, running both track and cross country.  There’s a good chance Pohll won’t be back, though, as he’s hoping to move back to his hometown.

The Saints will compete in the NWAC championship on Nov. 12 at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, at 11 a.m.