Sudbury out to defend Legends title

Jeremy Sudbury had just won the hometown Legends Run for the fourth straight year last August and was looking forward to his senior season with Oklahoma's cross country team when something went horribly wrong.

Shortly after the 13th mile of a 15-mile training run, Sudbury felt a crack near his upper leg.

He thought it was a mild hamstring pull and pressed on but woke up the next morning unable to walk. After an MRI examination, doctors confirmed a sacral ala fracture, sidelining him for 14 weeks with extreme lower back and leg pain caused by overuse.

"That was one of the low points of my career, for sure," said Sudbury, a 2007 Shadow Ridge High School graduate. "I ended up fracturing it pretty bad."

Finally healthy as a fifth-year senior at Oklahoma, Sudbury will go for his fifth straight win at the 15th annual Legends Run at 7:30 a.m. today at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City. He holds the course record of 14 minutes, 32 seconds set last year at the 5-kilometer race's former site, the Silver Bowl.

"This last year, I haven't raced at all, and this will be my first race since Legends last year," Sudbury said. "It's been a real struggle. I've been slowly running -- I'm used to running 80 to 100 miles a week, and I had to come back really slow and start at 10 miles a week. It made me reevaluate everything, and appreciate what I have. It made me put everything in perspective."

The race features more than 200 athletes, including former two-time state cross country champions Andre Woods and Pat Hubbard and defending state champ Nick Hartle of Centennial.

Sudbury has used the late-summer race as a springboard to greater success. He placed second behind then-Silverado senior Solomon Bennett by a fraction of a second in 2006, the worst finish for Sudbury in the 3.1-mile event in the past five years. The duo's rivalry culminated with a third-place finish for Sudbury at the state meet, while Bennett finished eighth.

"I think it's great. That's what competition is all about: creating rivalries and being friends off the course, but on the course wanting to beat that guy," Sudbury said. "Solomon and I go back to my junior year in high school, when he would literally beat me every single race. I always had that sting whenever I'd see his name above me on the list."

The former Mustang won a junior college national championship for Paradise Valley (Ariz.), where he also teamed up with Bennett for a semester. Sudbury then moved to Oklahoma, where he set a program record in the 10K in 29:18.

Still, Sudbury might face a grudge match with Hartle, who holds the Veterans Memorial Park course record of 16:05.

"Nick Hartle is a great kid; he's being heavily recruited right now, so that's cool," Sudbury said. "It'll be exciting to see him out there. I wish him luck as far as his career goes. I know my experience in college has been phenomenal so far, and if he can experience the same, more power to him."

Sudbury likely will have a large gallery of fans today when his teammates make the trip to Las Vegas from the Flagstaff, Ariz., cabin where the group has been training all summer with a program that includes altitude work, weightlifting and a 20-mile run every Sunday.

The intense summer makes the weekend's homecoming extra enjoyable for Sudbury and his sport.

"(The race) is great for the running community and the sport in Las Vegas," he said. "The running community in Las Vegas is a very small, close group, and this adds a marketing value to those outside the sport.

"It's like an all-star race for all the past legends in high school and any guys in college who are still competing. It's nice to be able to come back and experience that."

Contact reporter Sean Walker at swalker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430.