Alli Billmeyer makes a big splash on the track

There is one day a week when Alli Billmeyer knows additional mileage won't help and could even hurt her.

So, the state leader at 1,600 meters heads off to the swimming pool, but it's not to enjoy the warm California sun or to frolic in the water. No, Wednesdays are a work day, just not a workout day.

"It's injury prevention," says the Torrey Pines (San Diego) senior who ripped off a 4-minute, 45.82-second 1,600 time in a dual meet in late April. "I swim at least two miles. I do a 40-lap warm-up and then a series of sprints. I feel really good when I'm finished, I've had a great cardio workout and my legs haven't taken a pounding.

"I'll throw in eight laps of backstroke for fun or use a pull-buoy and work on upper body strength. It's fun because I make up my own workouts depending how I feel that day."



Her distance coach, Brent Thorne, isn't concerned that his prize runner, who is headed to Stanford University in the fall, will slack off. He has seen the benefits ever since Billmeyer was introduced to swimming as an alternative track session by another of his star runners, Megan Morgan, who is now at the University of Washington.

"Megan's dad (Bill) was a youth swim coach and although Megan ran track and cross country, she would train in the pool one day a week," recalls Thorne. "One day she invited Alli to join her. The next day Megan comes up to me and says, ‘Alli is an animal in the pool, she left me in the dust.' I wasn't surprised."

Billmeyer is leaving the competition in the dust on the track as well, which is far more likely than in the pool. And if she looks like a runner on mission, it's because she is.

A year ago she went into the California State championships as the runner to beat after clocking a 4:45.06 to capture the San Diego Section title. An easy 4:59 in the prelims set her up for the title run but a slow first 800 meters turned the race into a battle between her and Redondo's Chloe Curtis, which the senior Curtis won in 4:46.63 to Billmeyer's 4:47.79.

Not running as fast as she had the week before wasn't the only thing that upset her that night.

"I didn't run my race," said the 17-year-old Billmeyer. "I tried to change my plan based on the weather (hot) and competition (strong) instead of just running my race. I prefer to enter a race without a strategy, to just run how I feel. Instead, I let the others set the pace, which was way too slow, and although I know I have a strong kick, I relied too much on that."



You could almost hear her saying "Never again."

Thorne said he saw Billmeyer, who is normally the most upbeat person in the stadium, cry for the first time after that race and knew it would be a more confident and determined runner who would take the track this season after a strong cross country season.

"Alli isn't the only one who does it, but a lot of runners tend to overanalyze themselves and a race," he said. "Sometimes it's better to just go out and run hard not worry about everything. I tell them to just dummy-up for one race. It's what she did in the dual meet against Rancho Bernardo."

Earlier this spring, Billmeyer and Oregon-bound Molly Grabill, intense rivals on the track for the past four years, would hook up in a dual meet after both teams landed in the Palomar League after a shuffle. Although Grabill was coming off a long cross country season that stretched into March to prepare for the World Junior Championships in Spain where she placed 28th, the showdown was much-anticipated.

Billmeyer pulled away on the third lap and never slowed down, winning the 1,600 in that 4:45.77. She was dominant as Grabill coasted in at 4:59.

The 3,200, however, was Grabill's race, as she was the defending state champion and losses at that distance were rare. So when the two raced side-by-side for six of the eight laps, it looked like a classic finish.



Grabill made the first move but Billmeyer matched it and then some, zipping past and never backing off the throttle en route to a 10:33.04. That confidence Thorne predicted was never more evident.

The performance showed power and speed, although a 2:09.94 in the 800 a year ago should have been an inkling that Billmeyer wasn't just a plodding long distance runner. If that didn't show it, how about the 58.8 for 400 meters in a dual meet earlier this month and a 59 on a leg on the 4x400 relay later in that same meet?

She has her priorities, as well. Asked what she'd rather do, win the state 1,600 or run 4:42.6, breaking the section record of 4:42.77 by another pretty fast miler and state champ, Darcy Arreola of Grossmont High in 1986, the Torrey Pines runner paused.

"I'd be happy with both," she said with a chuckle. "But I guess if I had to choose, I'd take the state title."

State championships are forever, section records can be broken.

As for Stanford, Billmeyer is trying to enjoy every last activity before she graduates and dating another pretty fair runner, classmate Matt Carpowich, a nationally ranked runner like herself at 800 (1:51.99) and mile (4:07.15). Her decision wasn't a difficult one for someone with a 4.1 grade point average who is looking to enter the medical field after college.



Thorne says he gave the Cardinal recruiter a little inside tip, so when Billmeyer came back from her trip and exclaimed, "I'm going to Stanford and guess what, they said I could train in the pool one day a week," he just smiled and said, "is that so?"