And when he first joined the cross country team as a freshman in high school, he was, by his own admission, "not very good at all."

But since his first race, Gompers has steadily improved.

His secret? Hard work.

"After my freshman year [of high school] I decided to get serious and train a lot harder," he explained.

And when he says "get serious," he means it. His weekly mileage jumped from approximately 20 miles to an incredible 120.

"I steadily improved," he said, "and I didn't encounter a lot of setbacks. That really encouraged me."

During his four years of collegiate competition, Gompers has consistently run in the number one spot for the Crimson, and continually improves on his own school-record times in the 5000 and 10,000-meter runs.

This season marks Gompers' last chance for a national collegiate title. But after college, Gompers plans to continue running, concentrating on the marathon, a distance he has competed in only twice.

"I don't know where I'll be next year, but I hope to work something out that will allow me to train seriously," Gompers said. "I'm still building, and I'm going to continue to race competitively. Right now I'm aiming for the '88 [Olympic] trials in the marathon."

Gompers sees cross country and track training as "a necessity to run well in marathons," but he doesn't plan to compete in road races.

"You can make a lot of money running road races," he said, "but it can be a detriment to your development as a runner. I don't want to run road races, because I'm not in the sport to make money. I'm in it for the love of running, and I hope to achieve at the highest level."