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Nov. 17, 2009

CASHMERE, Wash. -

Sebastian Moraga, Staff Writer for Cashmere Valley Record

With football season in full swing at all levels, the old pigskin looks a little different to Chris Ruether than it does to the rest of us. For him, it has a red circle around it, with a big diagonal strip of the same color.

Look, but don't touch.

Awarded a track scholarship to Western Washington University, the 2008 graduate of Cashmere High now has to live vicariously through his younger brother Michael's exploits on the gridiron to satisfy his football fix. Of playing, Ruether says forget it. Not because he won't, but because he can't. To play Division II football he would have to put his scholarship in danger and would have to transfer.

So instead, he's dancing with the one that brought him to Bellingham, his ability as a sprinter, which now is being tested like never before, he said.

The level of competition is higher than he expected. His teammates are all former prep stars, and track season runs from early fall to late spring, instead of the shorter, sunnier high school campaigns.

"We had our first practice in the rain yesterday and when I walked back to my room, I was just soaking wet," he said. A little different from the 100-degree weather practices of back home, he added

"I like the change, though," he said.

In the classroom, the environment has also changed. Having experienced his first midterms --he says he did well, then laughs and adds that he won't go into much detail-- he now knows the recipe is the same on the track and off: To succeed, he will have to work much harder than he did in high school.

He's taking three classes right now, astronomy, philosophy and psychology. The classes are the first three bricks on the road to his dream, to one day be Mr. Ruether, the teacher and coach in Cashmere.

The grandson of a WWU grad, Ruether has a strong connection with his new campus, a connection that goes back to his childhood trips to Bellingham.

Stronger still is the connection to his hometown.

He says the first weeks in college were tough. The 180 miles away from his friends and family might as well have been latitude degrees on a map, he felt so alone.

"I am close to a lot of people back home," he said. "I'm close to all my family. I'm feeling better now, but it took me a while to make the adjustments."

Not all the uncertainty has disappeared. He still does not know what to expect of his freshman season as a Viking track athlete. He's never had to work on one sport all season long.

He does know he wants to concentrate on sprints. He's had to run a few relays but he's likely to stick to the shorter distances, the 100-meters and the 200-meters above all.

He traveled back to Cashmere for the first handful of Bulldog games, but as the schedule got busier the trips petered out. Halloween Night was his first trip to Cashmere in almost a month. A year ago, he was deep in the hunt for the school's second state football title. Now he can only cheer mentally from the stands of Bellingham's Civic Stadium.

"Life goes on," he said.