Coupeville Sports

Sam Landau

   Landau (far right, front) and friends share a moment with Santa. In back, Luke Pelant (left) and Danny Savalza. Up front, Ben Wehrman.

The Terminator. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

This is an exciting time in the Landau house.

The Oscars are less than 12 hours away, and if you know anything about mom Julie, you know she’s girding for good-natured, winner-take-all competition against fellow movie buff Val (Jones) Flack.

Their battles for Oscar supremacy at Videoville and David’s DVD Den were legendary, and I’d like to hope they’re still fighting for possession of the custom-designed trophy they used to hand back-and-forth depending on each year’s winner. Let it ever be so.

Meanwhile, oldest son Sam Landau is gearing up for his senior season of track at Coupeville High School and a final run at garnering some headlines of his own.

He’s a veteran on the track oval — he’s been competing since the 7th grade (“I started because running is what I was good at”) but first picked up the bug back in the fourth grade, when dad Noah started him down the runner’s path.

A distance ace who runs the 1600 and 3200, he also took a stab at relay races last season and was an immediate hit. Teaming with Larry Hurlburt, Matthew Hampton and Mitch Pelroy in the 4 x 400, Landau helped pace the Wolves to strong showings all season, with the quartet coming up just short of advancing to state.

Willing to run wherever coach Randy King might put him, Landau knows his strengths generally lie in the distance races.

“I’m good at running for extended periods of time, hours on end, with no problem,” Landau said. “I need to work on keeping a fast pace.”

When it comes to goals, he’d like to bust out a sub-five-minute mile (his PR is 5:06) and a farewell trip to the state meet in Cheney in any of his events wouldn’t be half bad.

“I’d like to go to state. That would be pretty sweet!,” he said.

As his high school track career winds down, Landau can look back and enjoy the great races, the unexpected pleasures and the chance to be a vital part of a team.

“Getting to try a steeplechase in my sophomore year was pretty fun,” Landau said. “I enjoy the camaraderie, as well as improving my running.”

Away from the track oval, he’s a bit of a self-proclaimed nerd who enjoys skiing, aerospace sciences, Tom Clancy novels and SuperWhoLock (which combines TV favorites “Supernatural,” “Dr. Who” and “Sherlock.”

An avid student, he competes on both the sports and intellectual planes.

“I do Science Olympiad and that’s pretty fun,” Landau said. “But I think I enjoy track a little better.”