JOHANN APPELL

Richard Dunn

In a runner’s world, the daily fix comes naturally. Shoes and time

are about the only requirements. It isn’t necessary each day, but

preferred.

For former Estancia High and Orange Coast College distance

standout Johann Appell, who studies his own steps as closely as a

maternity nurse monitors a newborn, the beauty of his athletic

calling is anywhere and everywhere around him.

“The nice thing about running is that it doesn’t require you to

have anybody around to help you. You just lace up your shoes and go,

and you can be anywhere in the world,” said Appell, who trains on a

year-round basis, competes in 5K and 10K races on most weekends,

coaches himself, and is close to earning his master’s degree in

exercise physiology.

“I’m neurotic enough each day to take time out to go running,”

Appell added. “Without it, I’d be a basket case. Not that I’m

experiencing obsessive compulsive disorder, but if there is something

controlling you, (running) is not a negative thing. For some people,

it’s TV ... I like to watch my VO2 max. It keeps me out of trouble,

as my dad (Charlie) would say.”

VO2, a term runners use to measure their aerobic capacity, is for

maximum oxygen uptake. “It’s for science and running geeks,” Appell

quipped with self-deprecating humor.

Appell, you see, was a three-time Academic All-American at Long

Beach State in track and field and cross country, following a career

at OCC that included enormous success in the 1,500 meters and steeplechase, an event just shy of two miles with four immoveable

barriers at least 36 inches high and one water jump on each lap.

When Appell, a 1995 Estancia graduate, first began competing in

the steeplechase at OCC, many of his classmates thought he was riding

horses all afternoon.

“Most of them thought it was an Olympic equestrian event, which it

is. But that’s the only place people have heard of (the

steeplechase),” said Appell, who spent three years at OCC, competing

in cross country and track his first year, cross country exclusively

his second year and only track his third.

A Big West Conference steeplechase champion at Long Beach State,

Appell said he’s hoping to refocus on it this year and try to break

the nine-minute barrier.

Appell, who turns 26 on March 2, generally competes in the same 5K

races each weekend through Southern California, while attending “a

lot of all-comer track meets.”

Appell, who has become faster since college, has won myriad 5K

races, including the Surf City 5K in Huntington Beach last Fourth of

July, after finishing as runner-up two years in a row. In the Surf

City 5K, Appell’s wife, Christine, whom he also coaches, was the top

female finisher in 18:38. (Johann and Christine were married in the

summer of 2001 and live in Huntington Beach.)

The Orange County Half-Marathon winner in October 2001, Appell

said training year-round “helps keep me motivated if I stick with it

... (and) one of the reasons why I enjoy running is that it brings a

good balance to my life and it’s definitely an outlet for stress.”

Appell, however, is better at books than running. In fact, he’s

aiming to switch gears and become a college professor. He has

completed his course work in striving to earn his master’s and is

working on a thesis. He’s scheduled to graduate in May.

Appell, who finished his undergraduate degree at Long Beach State

in 2000, is also in school to get his teaching credential. His goal

is to teach at a community college, but can fall back on teaching

health science at the high school level. His wife is teaching health

science in her first year at Marshall Middle School in Long Beach.

Appell, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Hall of Fame, is the

second of four children to Charlie and Silvia. All four children were

runners at Estancia -- under their father, the school’s longtime

distance specialist -- and OCC, where Charlie Appell works in the

exercise science lab. The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree in

that family.