Owen Powell

Mercer Island HS, Mercer Island, WA, c/o 2025
AthleticNET Bio

With two parents, Maurica and Andy Powell, who have been involved in running since high school and been successful college coaches at University of Oregon and now the University of Washington, it would seem Owen Powell would have taken up track and field and cross country much earlier than he did. Growing up in Eugene, OR until he was 11, he played other sports like basketball and soccer though he was surrounded by cross country and track and field.

In elementary he did have a two week stint in a track club that perked his interest in track and field and cross country so by the time he reached sixth grade he thought cross country was something he should try. It was an eighth grader, Carson Schiller, who helped Owen get accustomed to the training, made it fun for him and made it a good experience.

His freshman year Owen finished 50th at the WIAA 3A State Cross Country Meet in 17:02.3. The times weren’t impressive he recalls.

“My eighth grade year, I think I ran like 4:55. In cross for my freshman year I was okay. I wasn't like crazy right off the bat.”

A four inch growth spurt from 5-04 to 5-08 between his cross country and track seasons, some consistent training and actual workouts were a catalyst for faster times for Powell during the track season.

“In middle school it was just kind of a joke. I would run 20 minutes every day,” he says. “Then in high school, I had some teammates that could help me out. I had a really good coach and I was just able to start doing real training. Eventually it paid off.” 

Powell lopped off time nearly every time he raced the 1600m dropping from 4:40.1 in his season opener on March 16 to 4:18.55 by April 30. In the hyper competitive 3A division at the state meet, he finished 13th in the 1600m in 4:17.41. Thing was, he was the eighth fastest underclassmen and the second fastest ninth grader behind Vincent Recupero(Bishop Blanchet) who finished third in 4:07.94. 

Recupero lives just 20 minutes away from Powell and another friend , Hudson Atrosh(Seattle Prep) lives just five minutes away from Powell. All are good friends and have a healthy rivalry to keep them going.

“It's absurd,” says Powell of the competition in Washington right now. “ We had three sophomores go under 4:10 this year at state.”

Powell was one of those three sophomores and won the 3A state 1600m title in 4:07.75 this past year edging Brody Hartley of Walla Walla who finished in 4:07.97. He followed that with a 9:01.33 personal best for fifth place in the 3200m. It was another huge chunk of time improvement for Powell who came in fifth in the mile at the Oregon Relays in a personal best of 4:07.87 on April 28.

Though Powell thinks of himself as a 1,600m and 3,200 meter runner, it was the 800 m where he drew national notice. Powell only attempted two 800s this year. The first was the Kingco Championships where  Powell entered to earn points. His 1:55.76 got him the maximum 10 points and gave a glimpse of the speed stamina he had developed over the season. The time came as a surprise as Powell had done mostly 1,600m and 3,200m workouts.

A week after state, he decided to run the 800m at the Portland Track Festival High Performance meet. Thinking a 1:53 was within reach, Powell thought a 55 or 56 would be a good pace to go out. In practice, he had run no faster than 54 and he never ran an open 400m or run a leg on the 4 x 400 meter relay. At the 400m, he was 54.

“I remember I was thinking, I gotta come in at like 55 or 56. I remember coming in at 54[54.65 officially] and  I was like, ‘I feel really good’.”

He went from eighth to fifth over the next 400m crossing the line in 1:50.72(56.07 last 400).

“I remember crossing the finish line and my mom and my coach, were right here and I was like, ‘Okay, what just happened?’ They were looking just as amazed as I was. I was in  shock.”

Though Owen has a direct link to two of the top coaches in the nation, he gets redirected back to his high school coach, Susan Empey most of the time.

“I'll try to ask him a question or something about a workout or ask for advice or something. He's like, ‘you have a coach, just go ask her,’” says Powell of his father. Then he’ll turn to his mom. “My mom's a little more useful at that so she'll usually answer and help me out. It's kind of funny that he just tries to stay away from it. He tries to stay as uninvolved as he can.”

Owen has accepted his fate and has come to rely on his coach’s advice.

“My high school coach is really good. And she always has the right answers too.”

Owen’s relationship with his parents brings  a smile and excitement to his face and voice. He says his parents are helpful, supportive and encouraging. Like any other parent, his father takes videos and they are at his meets cheering him on.

“It's funny, sometimes he gets more nervous at races than I am,” says Owen of his father. “ I remember one of my races, not at state, but it was this league meet and I was trying to go for my 32 PR. At one point, he was on the side of the track. He's just like, ‘Owen just keep going!’ I thought that was kind of funny. I remember he showed me a video he  filmed of the last 100 meters at state. You could hear his commentary of it. He was like, ‘Come on Owen, hold on’.”

Powell’s outlook over the next few years is promising. He has a solid team made up of four underclassmen and he’s excited about how they can compete against the rest of the league in the fast era of Washington state high school running.

He’s become a student of the sport and follows top runners and takes interest in how workouts are set up and done. With runners being so close by, they get together and train in the off season together at times which he enjoys.

He doesn’t think of himself as a cross country runner, but plans to be better with more training. He finished 16th last year and with his strong track season behind should be ready to improve on his 16th place finish. In track, he plans to focus on the 3,200m earlier in the season, then the 1,600m and the 800m in the latter part of the season like he did this past year. If his trajectory continues to be the same,  we may be in for some spectacular performances.