Conant's Jeff Thode ate up the competition

Sharks have fascinated Jeff Thode since he was 4 years old.

It's a fascination he eventually hopes to turn into an occupation at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

And Thode exhibits shark-like qualities when he puts on his running shoes. He's out to devour his competition and be the dominant predator on the track or cross country course.

"I know how driven he is and how much desire he has to win," said Conant head track and cross country coach John Powers. "Jeff has the mentality that if I'm first, I'm not losing."

Thode didn't in two of the biggest races of his life in his senior season at Conant. He won the Class 3A boys cross country state title by one second in November and won the 3A title in the 1,600-meter run at the state track meet two weeks ago.

He became the first Conant runner to win state titles in each sport. The championship double earned the Iowa-bound Thode the honor of the Daily Herald's 2009 male athlete of the year in Cook County.

"All of the effort I put in paid off," said Thode, who also finished fifth in the 800 at the state track meet. "During my junior year I thought it was pretty attainable when I looked at the rankings from last year."

Thode was the fourth-ranked returnee for his senior year after earning all-state honors with a 15th-place finish in cross country. He was the top returnee in the 1,600 after finishing second by 1.25 seconds.

Then in October, his goals of achieving the ultimate success not only were in jeopardy but seemed almost trivial. Thode suffered a punctured lung that put him in Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights for four days.

But Thode didn't believe his season was over as he quickly returned to regain the training time he lost.

"It was just another obstacle," Thode said.

Thode made a dramatic return at the sectional meet and finished third. Then he went down to Peoria's Detweiller Park and hung in with the lead pack into the final 800 meters.

That alone would have been considered quite a feat with everything Thode had overcome. Powers said Thode was also at a point in the race which had given him trouble before.

This time, Thode broke away from the pack and ran a 14:18 to hold off York's Steve Sulkin.

"It's going to take something to stop Jeff," Powers said. "A punctured lung didn't stop Jeff and didn't shut down his season.

"In the overall scheme it was barely a hiccup. It was a little speed bump he went over."

The same was true in the spring as he won the 1,600 in 4:05.17 to break the state meet record of 4:07.45 by Stevenson's Mark Deady in 1985.

Just an hour earlier, Thode ran a 1:54.65 in the 800 that was less than a second off his personal best. But his fifth-place finish was the first race he lost all season.

"I was worried about it at first, but then I forgot about it and went right to the mile," Thode said.

"He doesn't let any of it stop him," Powers said. "When the gun goes off his focus is still winning the race and it doesn't matter what happened in the past.

"An hour later (at state), here he comes."

Thode also ran the fastest 3,200 in Mid-Suburban League history with his 8:51.3 at the Ron Gummerson Cougar Track Classic. Not bad for a kid who thought basketball was his best sport and was a talented pitcher in baseball before he came to Conant.

But the success Thode had as a freshman in cross country made him realize he was at his best on the run.

Now he'll be running at Iowa for Larry Wieczorek, who was the state champion in the mile in 1963 and 1964 at Proviso East.

Thode believes he can continue to succeed in the mile in college. Powers could also see Thode holding his own in longer races.

"He has a lot of potential because he hasn't piled on the miles in high school," Powers said. "He's got another step to go and another level to go yet.

"He's definitely not done."