River Valley's Gabe Douce doubling up with soccer, cross country this fall
CALEDONIA — River Valley's Gabe Douce was a first-team All-Mid Ohio Athletic Conference pick last year in boys soccer. Now a senior for the surging Vikings, he's playing at an all-league selection pace again in 2023.
And he's not content with just doing it in soccer.
Douce will try to add to his all-league accolades Saturday morning at Marion Harding with the running of the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships.
More about Gabe Douce: Top boys performances: RV's Gabe Douce sets records, Northmor's Ryan Lehman wins race
"I’m running the MOAC and hoping to pop into the honorable mention," he said. "That’s the goal. I’m not trying to go for first team. We’ve got some quality runners in the MOAC. Maybe an honorable mention or sneak onto second team and try to get that first team for soccer."
In just his second-ever race on Saturday on the same Harding course he'll be running this weekend, Douce clocked a 16:51 for 28th place out of 194 runners competing at the Marion Harding Invitational. It was a race that included MOAC rivals from Harding, Pleasant, Ontario, Shelby, Clear Fork and Highland, so it was definitely an enlightening experience.
"I was pretty happy with that. It was just the second race of the year. I didn’t really know how I would be stacking up against these (runners) because we have quality competition here. I thought I ran well," he said.
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Why the double?
Douce is a soccer player, but he's also one of the area's top middle distance runners in track, routinely making regional appearances in Division II throughout his high school career.
It was with an eye on his final spring as a senior track star that he decided to expand his horizons this fall.
"I wanted to get more of an aerobic base to my 800 training," Douce said. "I’ve noticed there’s more money in college if I run both (track and cross country). Getting that base of endurance, I can go into track season and work on speed. I’ve seen that help in the upper level. I’ve talked to some college coaches that it helps with their 800 guys, so I started that this year."
Soccer is his focus and No. 1 priority in the fall, but as an offensive player, he gets plenty of running on the pitch. However, it's a different kind of running.
"It’s very difficult because my position in soccer is a lot of quick sprints," Douce said. "It’s the same thing with the 800. That’s as high as I’ve gone, two laps around the track, but this is a lot different. It’s the same kind of mentality I have with the 800. It’s seeing the last mile and getting ready to kick it in. The fatigue is different. It’s more up here in your chest and lungs and lactic acid in your legs."
To get ready for those longer runs associated with the 5 kilometers in cross country, he trains when he can with the XC Vikings.
Because he's virtually new to cross country, he's surprised by his early success. He ran 17:10 at the Denny Stevens Invitational in Fredericktown before the Harding run.
"I’ve never really ran anything above an 800 before, but I’m pretty happy with how it’s going," he said.
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: RV's Gabe Douce hoping for All-MOAC in soccer, cross country this fall
