Varsity profile - Josh Duhrkopf

Roving Reporter Michelle Sandstrom sat down this week with one of the Cross Country captains, Josh Duhrkopf, and got to know him a little better. This is her report.

Josh is a senior at Oak Harbor High School and is not only a part of Track and Field in the spring, but is at the top for his Cross Country career. As most people know, runners, especially Cross Country guys, tend to be a little off and have more fun than the average athlete, so I knew this was going to be a good interview.
I asked Josh “What about running do you enjoy so much?” “Well pretty much I’m fast and anything I’m good at I’m going to like, and getting to hangout and spend quality time with Peterson is a plus. But there are the downers too, like tough workouts. Those suck”. As a Cross Country runner myself, I know exactly what he is talking about. It’s all about the friendships and relationships you make that help you get through the day.
When asked what course he liked the most so far in this season, Josh said “Definitely Wirth Farm”. That response is an example of being on the off side, as many Cross Country runners don’t enjoy Wirth Farm because you are being watched through the entire race it has a huge hill. Josh said that is exactly why he likes it.
I asked him about his goals, and Josh said, “go to state as an individual and as a team”. That is a goal common to all the varsity runners, and hopefully they all get to State.
Josh had some crazy stories about the Cross Country boys, one of which included the use of Icy Hot. While traveling this summer, the guys put icy hot in random places and they were all crying in a small white van. Josh said “memories like that can’t be replaced”. I thought with fun like that, what kind of guy would choose football over Cross Country. I asked him about Hootenanny: “Oh yeah! We’re carrying on the tradition…you just wait!”
Now that I got him excited, I wanted to hear more about race days and find out what foods he likes and doesn’t, and what helps him along the way. When I asked about food all he would talk about was Subway. “Italian bread is music in my mouth.”
It didn’t seem to matter what topic we were on, he always found a way to laugh. Even when we began to talk about bad moods, he would joke about certain team members who don’t make him happy and bad workouts. To get out of his bad moods he replied “I just get out of it”.
The interview lasted quite a while and it seemed more like a friend to friend conversation then anything. Even after the interview he kept talking about what an amazing summer he had, which had little to do with running.
No other sport seems to have as much character as Cross Country, and not only Josh, but all the other team mates are amazing athletes and we wish them the best this season.