Titan Runner Frisone, a Late Bloomer, Now Reaching His Peak : Cross-country: At 19, an age when some athletes burn out in the sport, he has become one of Cal State Fullerton’s top performers.

All you cross-country runners who beat Steve Frisone in high school, don’t look back now. Frisone is probably gaining on you.

Frisone, a 19-year-old sophomore at Cal State Fullerton, is excelling at an age when some distance runners are burning out.

In 1985, the 5-foot, 98-pound freshman at Laguna Hills High School would have described a 10-mile run as “torture.” Now the 5-11, 150-pounder has no problem covering 70 miles a week. Once a timid college freshman whose only goal was to make Fullerton’s top seven, the confident sophomore is one of the Titans’ top runners.

“I knew he was a good runner, but he’s exceeding my expectations,” Fullerton Coach John Elders said. “He’s moving into conference-championship caliber and could possibly be a national qualifier in the future.”

This is a remarkable achievement considering Frisone didn’t begin distance running until he was 13, late by most runners’ standards.

Frisone wasn’t one of those pre-pubescent pavement pounders--the kids who get into long-distance training while their peers are parting with training wheels.

And even when he got involved in the sport in high school, he didn’t go overboard. The most he ran at Laguna Hills was 35 miles a week--he knew several high school runners who ran 80-90 miles a week--and he did not lift weights.

Frisone won a league championship and finished sixth in the Southern Section Division II state meet as a senior, but wasn’t considered a top-caliber runner, the kind college coaches were seeking.

But the way things have worked out, it didn’t matter that Frisone didn’t get a head start in the sport. He has caught up to the pack.

“There was a quote in Runners’ World Magazine recently that said it takes 10 years in distance running to go your fastest,” Frisone said. “So if you start running at 6, you peak at 16 and if you start at 13, you’ll peak at 23. I’d rather be faster later on.

“When I started, I went against guys who had been running for six or seven years. I gradually began catching them every year. A lot of those guys are running as fast in college as they did in high school.”

In high school, Frisone took almost two minutes off his best three-mile times, running a 16:53 in his freshman year and 15:05 as a senior.

He now has the endurance to run the college cross-country distance, five miles, at his previous three-mile pace, with a season-best time of 25:14.

In three races this season, Frisone has placed fifth in the Cal State Fullerton Invitational, second in the Fresno Invitational and 10th in the Riverside Invitational.

At Fresno Sept. 15, Frisone beat defending Big West Conference-champion Jason Lienau of Fresno State. Although Frisone admitted it was early in the season and most runners like to peak for the Oct. 27 conference meet, it was still an accomplishment--Frisone had finished behind Lienau in five previous races.

“That did a lot for my confidence,” Frisone said. “But it was really a matter of a good runner running great and a great runner running good. He’ll get better.”

Frisone’s improvement is a culmination of several factors--he has matured physically, his training is more intense and he’s pushed by better competition.

“I couldn’t have taken all those miles in high school, but now it’s not much for me to go 70 miles a week,” Frisone said. “I think you’re able to train harder when you’re older. A lot of high school runners train too hard and burn out by college.”

Frisone, who also competes on the Titan track team, has been on a strength program since arriving at Fullerton. The most time he takes off during the year is two weeks during the winter and summer.

“I don’t like to rest,” he said. “When I rest, I feel I’m getting out of shape. If I take a day off, that’s a day I could have improved.”

Running against older, more experienced and talented college runners has also stimulated Frisone’s growth.

“A college coach once said if you run against the big dogs enough, eventually you’ll catch their fleas,” Frisone said. “I believe that.”

Frisone spent last weekend catching up on some rest. Hampered by foot and hip injuries, he didn’t compete in the Biola Invitational, the first meet he has missed because of injury.

Frisone resumed training this week and hopes to run in the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Invitational on Saturday. But if he’s not 100% he may rest up for the conference meet (Oct. 27) and the NCAA Regionals (Nov. 11). Both will be held at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

Frisone finished 21st of 49 runners at last year’s conference meet with an eight-kilometer (five miles) time of 26:18. He became sick during the last week of the 1989 season and fared poorly at the NCAA regionals, placing 54th of 84 with a 10K time of 32:58.

But Frisone ran a 31:52 10K last summer and believes he’ll be more prepared for the regional meet this season. To make it to the national meet, he must take at least another minute, perhaps a minute and a half, off that mark.

“I think that’s out of reach this year, because I’m still learning to run the five-mile distance,” Frisone said. “But maybe next year or the year after.”