Gordy Dooley is a senior at St. Henry High School in Erlanger, Kentucky. He has won four state titles in his career: 2006 KHSAA Class A 3200m Run, 2006 KHSAA Class A State Cross Country, 2007 KHSAA Class A 1600m Run, and his second consecutive KHSAA Class A State 3200 Run title in 2007. Even in middle-school Dooley was receiving accolades for his running as the 2003 KTCCCA Cross Country Middle School Runner of the Year. He continued this trend when he was named the 2005 KTCCCA Cross Country Sophomore Runner of the Year, 2006 KTCCCA Cross Country Junior Runner of the Year, and the 2006 KTCCCA Overall Cross Country Runner of the Year. Dooley hopes to lead the St. Henry boys to their sixth consecutive KHSAA Class A Cross Country Team Title.
Personal Bests:
800: 1:59.44 – 2007 Male Bulldog Classic
1600: 4:22.10 – 2007 Male Bulldog Classic
3200: 9:21.30 – 2007 Midwest Distance Gala
5000: 15:32 – 2006 Footlocker South Regional
KYtrackXC.com: Where do you think you are in your development as a runner? Are some of the things you're doing now laying the groundwork for reaching
increasingly tougher goals? What are some of those goals?
GD: In my development as a runner I am just trying to reach my potential as a high school runner before I move up to the more competitive college running. One of my goals for XC season is to make it to Footlocker Nationals, which means that at Footlocker South my time will have to be around 15:00, so I'm trying to get my time as low as possible before Footlocker comes around. A team goal will be to win another state title and to be able to compete with ST. X and Trinity.
KYtrackXC.com: What are you looking for in a college? Big, small, out of state,
local? Leading candidates?
GD: I'm not sure what I want in a college yet, but I know that it must have what I'm going to major in. That's an important factor in my decision making. Some schools that have called me are Louisville, Cincinnati, Iona, and The Naval Academy.
KYtrackXC.com: What is your favorite distance to run?
GD: My favorite distance to run is the 5k because I know that I don't have blazing speed, but I do have some speed and I believe that I also have very good stamina, which helps me in a race such as a 5k.
KYtrackXC.com: Talk about the decision to run all the distance events at the State
Track Meet in June?
GD: It was a tough decision on whether I should have ran all the distance events at the state meet. I talked to my coach about whether I should run the 800 or not. My coach believed that the 3200 was my strongest event and that I would still have a good chance to win the 3200 after running the 1600 and 800, so I went for it and unfortunately I was unable to win the 800, but I was still happy with the State meet overall. I'm glad that I tried all the distance events, so that I wouldn't leave the what if factor in the back of my mind.
KYtrackXC.com: What number state title in a row is St. Henry going for?
GD: St. Henry will be going for it's 6th consecutive state title.
KYtrackXC.com: What do you like to do when you are not running?
GD: Some other activities that I do besides running is basketball, tennis, water skiing, wakeboarding, and in the winter I like to ski at a local ski resort.
KYtrackXC.com: St. Henry does a lot of traveling to out-of-state meets. Do you feel
there is an advantage to running outside of Kentucky?
GD: I believe there is an advantage of running up in Ohio and Indiana. Since their population is larger they produce many more runners which evidently leads to better competition. The courses are also much flatter up there than in Kentucky.
KYtrackXC.com: Any other comments you would like to add?
GD: Thanks for the questions and keeping everything up to date on the website.
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