No one in his family ran so it was something new, but a 4th place finish at a fun run in middle school got Ari Rodriguez (photo left as a junior at Corona) interested in running.
“My dad was into fishing and golfing and he always took me to those things and thought running was a hobby for me,” said a smiling Ari Rodriquez. “I started thinking I was good at it so when I got into high school I took it more seriously.”
Running took up much of his time and took him away from all of the activities he use to do with his dad. “I don’t know if it was alright with my dad but I kept going to meets and was unable to do everything with him.”
As Ari became more serious about his running he strove to be the best he could be and everything started turning around for him his junior year. As a sophomore the mile and 2 mile were his races of choice but he traded the 2 mile for the 800 his junior and senior year.
“I had a teammate named Ben Goodman who also ran the 800 and the mile and we ran together every race but he always out kicked me.”
The two competed in several races with the outcome always the same. Both kicked and both leaned at the tape with Goodman always out-leaning Ari.
“I have a newspaper clipping of us leaning at the end of a race and it was the epitome of my high school career,” continued Ari. “The caption reads ‘Ben Goodman beats Ari Rodriguez by .04 seconds.’”
But on April 10th of 1993 everything changed. Ari traveled to the Arcadia Invitational to run the 1600 meters without Ben Goodman who was home sick.
Ari’s PR before Arcadia was 4:14 but he improved it by 4 seconds when he won the Arcadia Invitational 1600 meters in a time of 4:10.10.
A week after his success at Arcadia Ari gave blood for extra credit but quickly realized he should not have done so.
“Three days after I gave blood I ran a 4:30 mile at the Hohokam (now the Tribune Relays Invitational). I was the slowest leg in the 4xmile but we still set the state record. I didn’t realize it takes 6 weeks to completely come back from giving blood. Every week I got faster and faster but by the state meet (which was a month away) I ran a 4:14 and came in third.”
Goodman won the State Meet running a 4:10 but missed Ari’s new school record by a half second.
“He made me a better runner,” said Ari about Goodman.
The legacy continues.
Nathan Rodriguez (photo left) went to Williams Field his freshman year but the summer before his sophomore year the family moved into the Corona del Sol district.
“I wanted to go to Corona because I thought it would be a good fit,” said Nathan. “I had goals there and my dad was going to be able to help coach.”
One of Nate’s goals was to try and break his Dad’s 21 year old 1600 meter school record (4:10.10).
“I heard about my dad’s record since I was six,” said Nathan.
Ari laughed, “Every time we went by the school (Corona del Sol) I would say “Hey, I have the school record there.”
Nathan would roll his eyes - every time.
Nathan knew his new team would be very competitive and he also knew Ryan Normand and a few others were going to be there to push him.
During his freshman year at Williams Field, Nate ran a 4:25 1600 and a 1:59 800. His sophomore year at Corona he was already beating his Dad’s sophomore times with a 4:18 1600 and a 1:53 800 setting the sophomore state record in the 800 meters.
Shortly after his junior cross country season Nathan sustained an injury keeping him off the track for the first 8-10 weeks of the new year. To help keep him in shape, all his training was done in the pool or on the elliptical.
“I knew it was going to be my last chance to try and compete against Bernie (Montoya) and I wanted to give him my best at the State Meet”.
Nathan was a miler and an 800 runner but the 3200 came into play his junior year.
Corona had a chance of winning the Division 1 track and field state team title so Nate ran the 3200 at the Husky Invite to qualify for the state meet in hopes of earning a few points. His time was 9:33.24. Two months later he ran the 3200 for the second time at the Arizona State Meet against Bernie Montoya. Bernie won the race and Nate finished 2nd with a swift time of 9:10.61 earning 8 points for Corona. He finished 2nd in the 1600 with a PR of 4:12.87 - almost 3 seconds off the school record.
Fast forward to senior year.
The goal was to run the mile at Chandler Rotary and the 3200 at Arcadia but the 9:10 PR from 2013 was not fast enough to qualify for the Arcadia Invitational Race. Nate was put into the seeded race at Arcadia in the 3200 and the invitational race for the mile and decided to run both with priority on the mile.
The Chandler Rotary race was a little disappointing.
“At Rotary I wasn’t really expecting the race to go like it did,” said Nate. “I was expecting it to go out a little faster and be a more typical high caliber race but instead it was a kickers race at the 800 which is something I hadn’t seen at that extent before. But that seems to be the way races are happening now…. people are trying to run strategically.”
Arcadia plans change.
An AIA ruling (too complicated to go into) created a conflict with the 3200 seeded race at Arcadia and Nate was moved to the Invitational race at the last minute giving him little time to recover from the 1600 race.
“I felt kind of disappointed,” recalled Nathan. “We had planned on running the 2 mile fast all year. We didn’t get into the Invitational race and then in the end we did end up getting in.”
But the 1600 was up first and Nathan needed to focus. The year before the 1600 had gone out slowly with a 2:12 time at the 800 mark and Nate was determined to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“I wasn’t leading until after the first 150 meters. I specifically remember Ricky Faure, the guy who ended up beating me, move out from lane 1 to the lane line for lane 2 to let me go past him. He did not want to lead for some reason. I don’t think he expected me to try and take it out as hard. Looking back if I would have known how far ahead I was in the 3rd lap I would have pushed it even further to try to get further away from him. I don’t know if I could have hung on to that but I would have rather done that then sit back and try to conserve my kick.”
If Nate had not pushed the pace the race could have possibly been a repeat of 2013.
“We went there to run fast and to run a PR and possibly break the school record,” said Ari. “If your turning it into a kickers race it doesn’t produce your quickest times.”
While Nate was pushing the pace, his dad was watching the splits and seeing where he was at every 400 meters.
“To me it was a perfect race,” Ari added. “He ran 63 his first lap so it was a little slow but he did exactly what he needed to do. The 2nd lap he came around at 62 and I thought ‘OK that’s perfect’ - his 3rd lap was again a 62 and I thought ‘OK he is right on.’”
As Nate was running his race, Ricky was sitting back conserving energy and preparing to unleash his monsterous kick.
“I saw that Ricky could possibly catch him and pass him but that was ok because he (Nate) did what he needed to do,” said Ari, “He made sure the pace was honest.”
Nathan was ahead by 3 seconds at the 1200 mark but Ricky caught him just before the tape, winning the race in 4:09. Nate finished 2nd crossing the finish line with a time of 4:10.46 for the full mile and 4:09.015 for 1600, breaking his dad’s high school record.
“I was in disbelief and really happy at the same time because it had been something we worked toward for so long,” said Nate. “It didn’t really sink in because it just seemed like this goal that I was working towards that I never really reached. It was a big weight off my shoulders. I felt a little more at peace after that.”
Ari was sitting in the stands at the finish line and he knew he had it too.
So at the same meet 21 years later (almost to the day) Nathan Rodriguez broke his dad’s high school record of 4:10.10 by exactly one second (4:09.10).
Less than three hours later, exhausted and spent, Nate ran the 3200 meters with a PR of 9:07.
Both Nate and his Dad thought about all the joking and all the times the question was asked, “Did you break your Dad’s record yet?”
Now he can say ‘Yes’ and when they drive by Corona it is Nathan who can now say to his dad, “Hey,I have the school record there.”
Ari Rodriguez earned a scholarship to run for Arizona State. Nathan is now running for Iowa State on scholarship.
Nathan also took home 4 state championships - 3 individual and one relay (800, 4x800, 1600 and 3200) at the Arizona State Meet last spring.