Afootrace phenom with a football physique
Monarch’s Green fails at gaining yards but excels at tackling meters
lakewood » Monarch star Isaac Green is built more like a football player than a distance runner, so when he went to the University ofwashington on a recruiting trip last fall and got to watch the Huskies host Stanford from the sideline, Monarch track coach Kent Rieder was sure he would be mistaken for a football recruit. He nearly took a hit from Christianmccaffrey, too.
“I almost got killed by Christian,” Green said. “He got tackled out of bounds andflewbyus about 5 feet away.”
At 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds, Green may look like a tailback or free safety, but he was never cut out for the gridiron. He learned that when he tried it
in the eighth grade.
“I couldn’t catch anything to savemy life,” Green said. “I think I was the kicker, the punter, the running back and something else. They wouldn’t throwthe ball tome, but I’d distract the (other) team because it looked like I was good at football — I was a decoy, like a dummy.”
A standout runner with range from 800 meters to 3,200 on the track— and a two-time Class 5A state cross country champion— Green led a 1-2-3Monarch sweep Saturday in the 3,200 at the state meet. That was big, because Monarch has a good chance towin the team title but needs its distance runners to come through.
“I’m very happy; that was the goal,” said Green, whowill run the 1,600 and 800 on Sunday. “We knewwewere capable.”
Green probably will be converted into a steeplechaser in college because of his strength, which he built by wrestling for three years in middle school on top of 15 years of competitive swimming. In track, hewon the 1,600 at state as a sophomore and was second last year. He fell in a tangle of legs last year in the 800 but ledmonarch’s 4x800 relay to a state title. Monarch repeated that feat Saturday.
Green stood out in the early stages of Saturday’s 3,200 when he was surrounded by a pack of smaller, thinner boys before making his move with a kick no one couldmatch. He is remarkably mature for his age.
“Physically and mentally,” Rieder said. “The running talent, that obviously jumps out. His character is above most 18-year-olds. The way he talks to people, his concern for other people, his concern for his teammates— that’s what makes him a special person. There’s a lot of great runners, but a lot of times they’ve got that chip on their
shoulder, the attitude and stuff. He’s as nice to the slowest guy on our team as the fastest guy.”
Green’s concern for others is reflected in his educational aspirations. He wants to study special education, an interest that began his sophomore year at Monarch when hewas a student assistant in a class for special-needs students and built a special bond with a severely disabled boy. It took him two months to form the connection, but it was rewarding.
“It was just a really, really cool experience,” Green said. “He didn’t speak any language at all. Building this relationship solely on trust, experience and everything thatwent intoworking with him was incredible. And apart from him, all the other kids in the class I got to knowandwork with, it just kind of changed my whole perspective.”
Green could empathize because he didn’t learn to read until the fourth grade, hampered by a tracking problem with his eyes. He rememberswith pride the first “big book” he read, E.B. White’s classic children’s novel “Stuart Little” when hewas in sixth grade.
“That was huge for me,” Green said.
Recently, the special-needs student with whom he bonded came into the Louisville ice cream shop where Green works. He didn’t recognize Green, but it warmed Green’s heart to see him.
“Working with him gave me an appreciation of how lucky I was,” Green said.“my only problemwas that I couldn’t read. Working with somebody who doesn’t speak, who barelymoves, and being able to help them have a better more functional life— that’swhat really got me into it. You’re actually doing something to change somebody’s life.”