Running cross country was almost an afterthought for Brian Shrader.

He transferred from Northland Preparatory Academy to Sinagua prior to his freshman year because he wanted to play football.

Shrader spent one fall running for his life while playing quarterback on the Mustangs' freshman football team. He decided to give cross country a try the following year and won the first of his unsurpassed three straight state championships.

Today, Shrader is named the Daily Sun's Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year for the third consecutive year.

Amazing as it may seem, Shrader stumbled haphazardly into fame on the cross country course.

He ran as a middle-schooler at NPA — "it was either that or soccer," he says, "and I'm not that good at soccer" — but his true love was football, a sport the small charter school doesn't offer.

Consequently, Shrader switched to Sinagua and made an immediate impact on the Mustangs' depleted football program, earning the starting quarterback job on the freshman team.

"He was good on the freshman team and he even played up in the JV games a couple of times," recalls former teammate Hayden Renning, this year's Daily Sun Football Player of the Year. "He always seemed to be really good, but our line's never been too strong, so he just kind of got beat up. But he's an athletic kid, and he was good at what he did."

Even though an impressive football pedigree appeared to place Shrader on the fast track to gridiron glory, the modest freshman soon discovered a new passion that spring when he joined the track team.

"After track season I knew I wanted to keep running and get better. And I knew to get better I had to do cross country instead of football," said Shrader, whose father Tom played tight end and linebacker at Air Force.

"I wanted to play football so badly because, just watching it on TV, I thought that would be so fun to play," he added. "I guess it's just one of those things that I think is fun to play with friends and stuff, but once I actually had to take it seriously and go to practice, I didn't have too much fun."

Much to the dismay of his coaches and teammates, Shrader decided to forgo football his sophomore year. He admittedly took some flack for his decision back then, but no one is questioning the move now.

Shrader capped an undefeated senior season by cruising to his third straight Class 4A, Division II state title in record fashion, setting a new time standard of 15 minutes, 15.89 seconds earlier this month at the Cave Creek Golf Club course in Phoenix.

One week later he accepted an offer to run collegiately at the University of Oregon, arguably the most recognized running program in the nation.

It's a dream-come-true for an athlete who almost chose a different path. Although he had success in middle school at NPA, Shrader said he didn't enjoy running until he gave the sport another try at Sinagua.

"I never really had fun with it back then. I was always stressing out, like I don't want to race," he said. "But once in high school, that's when I started loving running."

Shrader won a state cross country title as a sophomore on pure talent, and his career took off the following season under the tutelage of former NAU standout Bo Reed.

Reed noticed an exceptionally gifted athlete whose humbleness sometimes held him back. Unlocking the potential was somewhat of a challenge.

"There were times when he didn't know how to be good," Reed said of his star pupil. "He knew how to run fast, but he was almost uncomfortable when it was all over, because people would say, 'hey you're the fast guy.' It was like the Superman movie … people were that impressed.

"That was really bizarre and it took me by surprise, because it didn't happen so much last year," Reed added. "That's when I started to realize that, wow, this isn't just a normal kid. When he got his first autograph and photos and all that stuff, I was blown away."

Competitors and adults alike often lingered around the Sinagua tent after races, fidgeting like timid children hoping to score a professional athlete's autograph as they waited for the opportunity to snap a picture with the Mustangs' shy superstar.

Shrader was awestruck by the spectacle, but never turned down a well-wisher — not even his coach.

When ESPN Rise Magazine put Shrader on its cover in September, Reed secured the first copies distributed in Flagstaff. Instead of giving them to Shrader, the former running great asked his protégé to sign them.

"I didn't really help him out with that scenario either," Reed laughed when asked about deflecting the fame. "When that ESPN magazine came out, I was the first one to get them. I had a stack of 15 and I took them out to practice and asked him to sign them for me."

Shrader obliged, of course, like he always does, although he sometimes wonders what all the fuss is about.

He doesn't get nervous before meets anymore like he did as a middle-schooler at NPA, but he still finds it difficult to believe that he's considered one of the best prep runners in the nation.

Top runners from all over the world flock to Flagstaff for its pristine weather and high-altitude training. But even though he resides in a distance running mecca, Shrader sheepishly admits that he has never tagged along with even one of the scores of elite athletes who jog the city's streets and trails every day.

"I've seen them around, but they're on a completely different level than me. Even if I got the guts to go on a run with them, my pace would be their warm-up pace, honestly," he staggers, sounding embarrassed that the possibility even exists. "That's just something that I can look up to and I can strive to get to the level that they're at."

Whether he's willing to acknowledge it or not, Brian Shrader is practically there already.

Rory Faust can be reached at rfaust@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.