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From Mansfield, to Charlottesville to Bydgoszcz, Poland.

From two-time MIAA state champion two-mile runner, to redshirt freshman to the World Junior Track Championship Meet next week.

"I just got my itinerary, I have my passport, I'm ready," said former Mansfield High distance great Ryan Collins, coming off of his freshman year at the University of Virginia and now headed to Europe, in an Olympic year no less, to run among the world's elite 19-and-under track athletes.

Coming off of a spring track season for the Cavaliers in which he finished ninth in the 5000-meter run at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Meet, Collins qualified for the USA Junior National Championship Meet at the Penn Relays. Collins kept his feet moving for a few weeks back home in Mansfield and then headed out to Ohio State University last weekend to take second place in the 5000 meter run at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Buckeye Land with a time of 14:46.5 to earn a ticket overseas to the World Games.

"I was hoping to do it, I was training for it," said Collins of his performance in Ohio, just two seconds behind first place finisher Matt Centrowitz of Oregon, the two to represent the USA in the event when the World Junior Games get underway next week. Collins gets an American salute too, departing on the Fourth of July. "I knew that I needed a passport, I kind of anticipated that I needed one," said the former Hornet, who was red-shirted during the cross country and winter track seasons at Virginia.

"Most of the training that I've done since school got out, I've done on my own," said Collins of his upwards of 70 miles per week schedule.

For the USA Junior National Meet, Collins lead most of the way, but at a slow pace. "We went 80 seconds for the first 400, it was 4:57 for the first mile, but then we picked it up at the two-mile mark," he added.

"I was running comfortably, but I wanted to keep something in my legs for the last quarter mile," said Collins, one in the field of 13 runners.

It's all a portion of the plan, to develop Collins as an elite NCAA runner, as an elite world class runner.

He practiced and trained with the Cavalier cross country and winter track teams, being handed the imprimatur of becoming a 1500 or 5000 meter runner in the immediate future, upwards of the 10,000 meter run in a few years.

"That's what I figured I'd be doing, coming out of high school," said Collins of the 5000 meter run. He ran "unattached" in cross country and winter track meets, to expose him to the competition. "It was to help me get used to more miles, the workouts," he continued.

"In high school, I'd get up to a certain mileage and then I'd back off. I'd build up to 70 miles a week and I'd be there for a while. During the cross country season at Virginia, I consistently hit 75 miles a week - and we were running on this big farm, about eight K's (kilometers) in the Blue Ridge Mountains."

It was then that the Cavalier coaching staff and Collins decided to consider the Junior National Meet, the World Meet. Unfortunately, during the winter season, Collins' knee became inflamed a bit.

He headed out to the Junior National Cross Country Meet in San Diego (a different course from which he ran at the Foot Locker National Meet in Balboa Park a year earlier) and "ran the course," not really competing, finishing 14th - and not qualifying for the USA Junior National Meet. "After that my knee started feeling better and I upped my mileage, I got more consistent training in," said Collins. He ran the 5000 meter race at the IC4A Meet at Princeton and then clocked a personal best time of 14:33 at the ACC Meet.

A week later, he was at the Penn Relays, qualifying for the USA Junior Meet with a top 10 finish and another personal best time of 14:12. And on June 20, he was at the starting line at Ohio State. And on July 9, he'll be at the starting line in the World Junior Meet.

"It's going to be something, this being an Olympic year and all," said Collins. "I've been looking at the websites, about the teams competing, it's a big event - the Europeans love track. It'll be real cool to run in that environment.

"Some of the Africans are running world class times, it'll be humbling. It's going to be something just to witness the international field, to see what's going on. It definitely motivates you, to compete at this level - it's a huge step in your running career."

PETER GOBIS may be reached at 508-236-0375 or via e-mail at pgobis@thesunchronicle.com.