Griffin Looking to Improve

Although King Philip’s Mike Griffin has only been running for the past four years, the sophomore is running like a veteran on the course. And if it wasn’t for his friend and teammate, Alex Hagan, he might not be running at all.
“In the seventh grade I ran the Middle School Mile with my friend Alex, who was a runner, and finished only two seconds behind him.” Griffin said. “After the race Alex told me that I should join the cross country team with him because he could see me improving if I did.”
During his freshman campaign, Griffin didn’t have any wins during the regular cross country season, but broke through in the Twilight Invitational, his first big event of the year. He captured the 2.1 mile freshman race, and from there he went on to win the Coaches 3K, setting the record with a time of 9:46. He then took third place in the Hockomock League Meet, a 5K race, with a time of 16:39, leaving him feeling good.
“Finishing third at the Hocks was an extremely exciting feeling,” he said. “The coach thought that I could possibly finish in the top ten if I ran my race, but to do better than that was great.”
After Hocks, Griffin placed second in the Division 3 race, posting his best time of the season (16:27), but followed that with a poor performance at All States.
“I did not have a good showing at the Gardner golf course, which is one of the hardest courses in the state,” he said. “There were a lot of hills and half way through I was exhausted and got caught in a pack of runners and really didn’t try to break away – I just hung with them.”
Prior to the race, KP cross country coach Chris Elgar described the hills to Griffin, so the freshman decided to walk the course and believes it may have hurt him.
Coach Elgar knew the young runner had a lot of potential, and believed he was going to take it to the next level his sophomore season, this past fall.
“Mike is an exceptional individual who was very good as a freshman runner, and unfortunately the only time he struggled was at All States,” the coach said. “He has an amazing work ethic and has national ability. I had a feeling that he would take it to the next level this year.”
Griffin did indeed take his game to the next level – by winning just about every regular season meet except two this year. He didn’t take part in the Mansfield race due to an illness, and finished third against Franklin as he was just coming off his illness.
The sophomore won the Twilight Invitational and was second at the Coaches Invitational. After the team moved up from Division 3 this season, Griffin finished 7th in the Eastern Massachusetts Division 2 Cross Country Championship with a time of 16:01.82. After that, he crossed the finish line 14th at All States with a time of 16:06.53, 1.1 seconds behind the number 13 runner.
Griffin believes he improved this year because he trained and ran off-season with Hagan, unlike his first year when he did nothing. His goal was to break 16 minutes this year, but he finished cross country with a PR of 16:01, so that goal will have to wait until his junior year.
During indoor track, Griffin’s specialty is the mile, but he may also see time in the 2-mile and the 1000 this season, as well as one of the relays. He feels, however, that he is most effective in the mile.
“In terms of time status, the mile is the most impressive to me; it requires stamina and speed,” he said. “I’m the fifth returning miler in the state, and by doing the 2-mile and 1000 it should help me in the mile. The 2-miler will help me with my stamina and the 1000 with my speed.”
During last year’s indoor track season, Griffin was the first to cross the finish line on numerous occasions, so expectations are high for this season.
The sophomore runner hopes to run at a Division 1 college someday. His goal is likely to materialize if he continues on his current trajectory.