Izaic Yorks - Family Man
"I’d say what really informed me where I was going was more so based off of being able to be there to help take care of my family if need be..."
This story is about the journey taken from never playing sports until high school to becoming one of Americas top distance runners. Izaic Yorks is a family man that has grown up with personality traits that have set him up for a lifetime. Yorks through his time with running has been scaling a rocky mountain with hopes and dreams to fulfill what his sister once said to him, to run like the Olympians.
Growing up Izaic Yorks was not into sports until a few events happened during his time in high school. “I didn’t grow up a sport person or a sport family, so like my biggest thing was growing up I did, I was a band kid, I was really good at music, I was really good at theatre.” Yorks not being a big athlete early into his life would be attracted to other types of physical activity, “I did like a lot of back woods hiking and backpacking but I didn’t do organized sports.” Not being apart of organized sports would continue all the way up until high school where many of his friends would take up team sports. Not making any of the team sports Izaic Yorks says, “I started cross country in high school, you don’t get cut from that, so that’s fine, I thought it was the worst sport ever, every day I was wondering why I was doing it.” Even though it was the worst sport in Yorks opinion, he persevered through to try and fit in until he was given a driving force. “Then my sister and I watched the 2008 Olympics, and my sister has a few different disabilities but she had brought up how she wished she could run like that and that for reasons got me more involved in it and from there the rest is a little bit of history.” This was a major turn of events as Izaic Yorks was no longer just trying to do sports because of everyone else was doing it, rather to do it for his sister.
Even though he was pursuing athletics, Izaic Yorks was still not an elite runner by any means he would go through the beginning pains. “I would say I started taking it more seriously, it definitely did get fun till my last two years of high school. That was just because everything was so painful cause I was going through the phases of actually getting fit and stuff.” To get through the first two painful years, Yorks had a strong work ethic and mindset that he inherited from his father. “My dad is a military guy, so I was a military brat and I grew up in household that like didn’t take no for an answer so like major stubborn and anything that you do, you commit yourself mentally to.” This drive for success though with running since watching the Olympics with his sister would start to blossom after a few years of struggles. “So when I got to the point when I started to get on podiums and stuff like that it was like honestly fuel to the fire for me because I didn’t have any break out moment where I was suddenly like second place, third place.” Having now experienced what a bit of success was like, Izaic Yorks in his final year of high school would start to break out has a runner. “I finished high school getting third in cross country and that was a big one cause 5k’s were always really hard for me cause I was just a bigger guy and then it all culminated with me winning the 800 and 1600 metre titles. I would say that was huge cause it was like for me it felt like the culmination of the hard work in that time of my life. As well as kinda bridging and feeling like okay I can do this also in college, I think.” Having gained confidence Yorks would move on to run at the collegiate level for the Portland Pilots the following year.
Before stepping on campus though at Portland University, Izaic Yorks would struggle with the recruiting process. “Ignorance was my like armchair companion. I would say like most of my recruiting was actually a few phone calls but most of it was letters and it was like non-personable kinds of letters.” Struggling to understand what school he wanted to attend and if schools were interested in him, Yorks did not experience what many of the top high school runners do for recruitment. “I really didn’t have this experience of getting phone calls from these big schools, and the big schools that I talked to which were Oregon and Wisconsin. … But the only reason they new about me was because I was a late bloomer and I ran really good at like the high school national meets and had done that consistently that year but it was so late in the game that nobody had any money left. So it was like, ‘hey you can come here but we really don’t have much for you and you know like I feel I’ve always been finances aware.” Being a late bloomer, most schools had filled their roster for Yorks freshmen campaign, which lead him to attend the University of Portland. “I went there and again I didn’t know much about school, I thought their was seriously five schools that existed so I didn’t really know what I was looking for in terms of like what not to or to go to. Then on top of that add sports, and that definitely wasn’t my forte…” Having just won three state championships and knowing little about how running truly worked, Izaic Yorks would deal with the some struggles in his first year of college. “But when I went to Portland, I brought that Ignorance with me and so with that came Ignorance of the program. … I never quite got that connection with the team so I think those were all like contributing factors in why I ended up leaving but it as a whole there were a lot of lessons to be learned.” Realizing that he had a lot to learn about, Yorks felt that Portland was not for him leading him to look for other options. “I learned a lot of about what kind of running program could be, like I said there very high mileage, not very fast mileage, and a lot of long threshold type work and it just dint jive with me. I also didn’t know much about nutrition, so I ended up quite anaemic, like really anaemic.” Learning about multiple different things he wanted in a school and running program, he started his search for a new college.
Now after experiencing college, Izaic Yorks new what he wanted finally in a school which he felt Washington University had met his criteria. “I have a lot of family in this area[Seattle] so I think taking into account that by the end of my time at Portland I was really unhappy and then the idea of going somewhere that will make me happy. I just saw everything increase from grades to running performances right away and I’m not saying that it was perfect but the actual transferring process apparently there is a right way to do it, I don’t know what it is.” With the idea of moving home, the coach at Washington helped Izaic Yorks transfer. Once Yorks arrived at the University Washington he started to see improvements with running and other areas of life. “I never got really crazy close with my team but I definitely like actually for the first time had friends in my teammates and that was one of the first big things that changed.” Unlike his time at Portland, Izaic Yorks would have teammates that he befriended which lead him to be more happy with running and life. “Having that happiness and then having teammates I enjoyed being around at that time of my life, I think with that you are going to see some sort of improvement in some area, if not all of them.” Being rejuvenated at Washington University, Izaic Yorks after taking the fall term to come back healthy would have his best season to this point. “I did have some immediate performances not in cross country because like I said I was anaemic, so I had actually as I left Portland, I didn’t run a step for like four months straight. So, it took me a long time to one actually be able to run with the guys… and when we started our indoor season that was the year I finally broke four minutes.” Having some success for the first time since his senior year of high school, Yorks was ready for a fruitful collegiate career ahead.
During Izaic Yorks final year at Washington he would have three of his most rewarding moments of his college running career. During the fall cross country season, Yorks would be an all-American but more importantly his team would finish in the top at NCAA Nationals. “I really loved 2016 cross country season … I had a blast and so proud to be an all-American but it was so cool having this team experience and I don’t think anybody knew this but… we literally only had one extra person.” This cross country season for Izaic Yorks and his teammates would be the beginning of a long and successful season. The indoor season would bring the team to new heights when they finished second place at nationals. “I really loved going to the indoor championships as a DMR and placing second, that was amazing especially cause you have some guys who never like podiumed or anything. An suddenly we were second place because of the cohesiveness of the team and being apart of that electric.” This moment was special for Yorks, but there was one last race that topped off his career at the University of Washington. “We hosted Pac-12 that year and had an amazing pop-up stadium built around the outdoor track. Which is normally a track with no stands and we normally just get trounced by like every other team, especially Oregon and I don’t honestly remember the score, if we won or lost but it was really close and it was an amazing feeling.” Having this experience of being competitive as a team throughout the whole year was important for Yorks and something he cherishes to this day.
Having not only team success but individual success throughout the 2015-16 season, Izaic Yorks had the opportunity to show off his talents at the Olympic Trials. “I think for me like I would have loved to finish higher 10th at the Olympic trials but … being a professional runner coming out of college and then get that kind of success in the most rigorous competition in the US. That really informed me and set me up, ‘okay I understand what I need to do and what it feels like to do this going forward.’” With this wonderful season now coming to a close Izaic Yorks could focus on a big life decision, turning professional. With this decision looming, Yorks had learned a lot about what he wanted with a running team. “As much as I love the team aspect, my comfort place is very much by myself or in very small groups. I’d say what really informed me where I was going was more so based off of being able to be there to help take care of my family if need be cause it’s just my dad and my sister an if my sister, she as disabilities right, if my dad needs any help right. I would feel terrible if I was in another group out of state or there are groups literally at altitude more times then there home.” Wanting to be close to his family, Izaic Yorks also reflected on his time growing up and a shoe brand that was very impactful in his youth. “I grew up with the Brooks brand, my family was pretty poor so like I got free shoes from Brooks like they always were there giving into our community.” With these thoughts in mind, Izaic Yorks was given an opportunity to get in contact and visit with the Brooks Beast coach and team which is based out of Seattle. “Then coach Mackey got in contact with me and he messaged me if I wanted to come see the Beast team and I was like defiantly, especially since you guys are right here.” With the visit behind him, Izaic Yorks agents set up a few other options for him to make sure that the Brooks Beast were right for him. “Then the agents that I chose kinda helped get me in contact with some other people I was interested in maybe being coached by.” With the Beast team and Coach Mackey standing out from the rest of the options, Izaic Yorks made his decision to run for Brooks and the Beasts.
After a long journey from being cut from every team that he possibly could be in grade nine to now running professionally, Izaic Yorks has come a long way. Through the rough patches of the recruitment process for college and not meshing well with the University of Portland, Yorks found himself as a runner. He blossomed into the runner him and his sister wanted to become when they sat watching the 2008 Olympic Games.
Direct Quotes via Izaic Yorks phone interview with Evan Smith. (June 2020)
Photos via getty images.
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