Oosting Caps Cross Country Season With 19th At European U-20

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

For Ryan Oosting, the European Cross Country Championships were the cherry on top of a memorable season.

Fresh off a top-15 finish at Nike Cross Nationals a week ago in Portland, Oosting, who holds dual citizenship with the United States and The Netherlands (the home country of his mom, Saskia), traveled to Tilburg, Netherlands to compete Sunday in the Under-20 Championships.

At Beekse Bergen, the Arlington MA senior covered the 6.3-meter course (3.9 miles) in 19 minutes, 2 seconds to finish in 19th place out of nearly 100 runners. Defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norwegian (Norway) won the race in 18 minutes.

"We were shooting for 5:00 or 5:05 miles," Arlington cross coach Kevin Richardson said. "Ryan felt a bit hurried for the first 200 (meters) at NXN, which isn't his game, so we told him to find the middle of the pack in this race, then climb the ladder from there. He executed the plan perfectly. We were very happy with Ryan's results."

Oosting, who was the second finisher for The Netherlands team Sunday, was competing in his second international race this year. Over the summer, the Stanford-bound distance runner finished third in the 3,000 meters at the European Athletics Under-18 Championships in Hungary.

"I think it means a lot to Ryan and his family," Richardson said of Oosting being able to compete for his home country. "They have deep roots here in The Netherlands, so it was quite special for them all that Ryan not only ran, but scored for the home team."

The European Cross Country Championships capped off an historic fall for Oosting, as it marked the first time in his high school career he's been able to complete a full cross country season not hampered by injury or illness. Oosting went undefeated this fall representing Arlington, winning the Eastern MIAA title and the All-State title, which was run in the snow.

He won the Northeast NXR title Nov. 24 at Bowdoin Park in New York. He clocked 15:14.4 in his first NXN experience to place 12th and earn All-America status.

"Ryan's health was paramount this year," Richardson said. "We modified a few parts of training, specifically introducing Coach (Justin) Bourassa's strength routine, form drills, more consistent core exercises, and most importantly rest/sleep. After Ryan caught mononucleosis last fall, he recognized the importance of sleep. Now, he goes to bed at 9:30 every night."

Richardson said Oosting was invited by the Dutch national team to compete at the European Cross Country Championships earlier in the season. Given the way schedules and the season panned out, Oosting, who was planning to run at Foot Locker Regionals, decided with Richardson it was best to shoot for Nike Cross Regionals and Nationals so that he could participate in the European event and also run with his strong high school team at NXR Northeast.

Oosting will head into the winter indoor season with one of the fastest returning 2-mile times in the country (8:57.59).