Vitucci, Eagan racked up miles at St. X

SPRINGFIELD TWP. – Adversity exists in every run, especially the long ones.

For the last four years at St. Xavier High School, Michael Vitucci and Brad Eagan have shouldered that adversity together as part of a powerhouse distance running crew that found the podium at will in cross country and track.

The pair have literally logged thousands of miles together, according to Vitucci, who said he's recorded all of his runs since freshman year and it amounts to more than 6,000 miles. But, it could have been more, if Vitucci's senior year hadn't ended early because of a "stress reaction on the bottom right fibula and a partial tear of the peroneal tendon," he explained.

Vitucci, signed to run at the University of Cincinnati, still attempted to train for the state meet, but two weeks out the pain lingered and he decided to shut it down.

"When I first thought it was gonna be a stress fracture, I cried," Vitucci said. "I was distraught because I've gone three and a half years without a serious injury and I wasn't near being done. There were records I was going after like the state mile record."

Vitucci, who won the Division I state cross country championship as a senior and won two track state championships as a junior in the 1,600 meters and the 4x800 relay, said by the time he made the call to shut it down he had come to grips with it.

"The end of my senior year isn't going to determine how my career ended up. I wasn't going to be super heartbroken," said Vitucci.

With his longtime running mate and friend out for the season, Eagan thrived. Eagan, who was a member of St. Xavier's 4x800 state championship relay in 2014 and also placed 10th overall in cross country, continued St. Xavier's state podium streak taking second place in the 1,600.

"It was a lot of fun, but it wasn't nearly as fun as it has been when we have five or six guys going to the state meet," said Eagan who will run at Marquette and study mechanical engineering. "It proved to me that I was good enough to make it to state, and to take second was an eye-opener that I can run with some of the best in the state."

Vitucci wasn't going to miss his friend run at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

"It was so awesome to see him get second place. I was so happy for him," Vitucci said.

"Being able to train with a guy like Michael, with all the accomplishments he's had, it gives you a constant goal because everyone by default wants to be as fast as him at some point," Eagan said. "I know that definitely helped me in the past season … my biggest goal was to be able to train at a pace as close to or as fast as Michael."

By Vitucci's count, he and Eagan have run around 3,000 miles together during high school, and perhaps they'll see each other again, only in different uniforms.

"Hopefully we'll race a couple more together," said Vitucci, who added he'll ease back into training on July 1 and plans to be racing cross country for the Bearcats in the fall.