Travis Neuman is going to be a sophomore at Summit high school and he’s one of the fastest cross country runners in the state. He is the younger brother of Kenyon and Gatlin Neuman, who were outstanding XC runners at Summit as well. Kenyon went on to have great success at the University of Colorado. Travis slowed down enough to answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete.

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you been running competitively?
Travis Neuman – I have been running competitively since I was 8 or 9.

COA – How did you get into racing?
TN – The reason I got into racing or even thought about running was because my older brothers both did XC and were fairly good at it so through watching them I really wanted to do the same.

COA – What other sports do you enjoy?
TN – I enjoy doing XC Skiing, Tennis, Track and Field, Biking and Swimming. XC is the most fun and interesting I would say out of all of them.

COA – What are some of your hobbies other than sports?
TN – I really enjoy learning songs on the piano even though im not to great at it. Reading anything about history is really fun. I also play ping pong at lunch (not to sure if thats considered a sport) with some friends and I really enjoy that too. (editor’s note: Yes, ping pong is a sport!)

COA – Do you have any XC goals you can share with us for this year?
TN – My goals for each year are kinda similar. I really want to beat my brother Kenyon’s high school times and this XC season I think both our boys and girls could have a shot at state titles so both of those things would be great to accomplish.

COA – What’s it like being on such a big XC team?
TN – I think that the bigger the team the better because it just makes the trips and running soooooo much more fun when there are a lot of kids there. Dave Clark (Summit XC coach) does a really good job explaining everything about running and our workouts and everyone one still has a blast.

COA – What was the highlight from your freshman year of sports @ Summit?
TN – Every sports that I did last year was super fun but the best part out of all of it was probably when our XC team went to Boise, Idaho for the Nike Cross Regionals race. We just had a great time and some how we ran really well the next day.

COA – Do you have a favorite workout in Central Oregon?
TN – I probably have 2 favorite run/workouts in Central Oregon. The 13 mile Green Lakes Loop is fun and we drink out of a stream that has the best water EVER! The other one would probably be doing 1,000 repeats at Juniper Park.

So how are the youngest Neuman’s times stacking up against big brother Kenyon? So far so good!

KENYON
09 – 16:38
10 – 15:59
11 – 15:38
12 – 15:24

TRAVIS
09 – 16:29
10 – ?