With autism, Israel Mirtil has emerged as a top runner in Polk County

EAGLE LAKE, FLORIDA – For a few hundred cross country runners, the challenge on Saturday is straightforward – win the annual Polk County Invitational meet. For one of the favorites, Israel Mirtil, the challenge has been puzzling since day one.

Mirtil, a Lake Region senior, was diagnosed with autism shortly before entering elementary school. His father, Pheto, a former cross country coach, guided Israel – known as Issy – into running at a young age. And suddenly, Issy has emerged as one of the top runners in Polk County.

He has already won two major meets this season – both on his home turf at Lake Region – and he’ll shoot for the trifecta when the gun sounds at 8 a.m. for the Polk Invitational boys varsity race, which carries a lot of bragging rights with it.

Issy won the George Whitmire Invitational on Sept. 3 with a 17:03.07 outing, beating out the second-place runner by 13.3 seconds on rough and soggy terrain. It was the first major high school win of his four-year prep career. He followed it up with his second victory, taking the Lake Region Twilight meet at 17:13.12, on an even wetter course.

But don’t expect Issy to brag, he doesn’t say much, which alerted his family about his autism in the first place.

“He was 5-years-old and he didn’t say anything,” Pheto recalled. “He didn’t make eye contact so I knew something was off. He didn’t say, ‘Dad,’ nothing. That is when we went to get him tested to figure out why. We didn’t know, we were completely ignorant.

“He was diagnosed and we found out he was on the spectrum. So we kind of had to find out what that was all about. Once that becomes the case, you have to learn about it. What does it mean? What does the future look like? I didn’t know what autism was. Obviously, no one cares about snake bites until you are bitten by one.”

Pheto wanted his son to be involved in sports, so basketball and soccer were put on the table, but they proved to be too complicated and not a practical choice.

“When you are on the spectrum, you don’t want people to be out there and pity you. If you were playing basketball, they might let you win the game. I wanted him to be competitive. I wanted him to step out there,” Pheto said. “So, I thought, running is easy. They shoot the gun, you run.”

Issy started running in the Lakeland Watermelon Series at 8-years-old and became involved in the Lakeland Runners Club.

“I started to realize he was pretty good at it. I would train with him and run with him and just notice it was kind of easy for him. So I pushed him in that direction, not because he wanted to run, because he loved soccer more. But I knew if you are going to do something you need to do your best, reach for excellence. I felt like I could help him become a decent runner and be competitive,” Pheto said.

Issy attended Lakeland Christian School during his elementary years, and then entered Pathways Autism Center at Florida Southern University in Lakeland as a seventh-grader. He just needed to find a high school cross country team to join – which was yet another challenge.

“When you are on the spectrum, and you want to get involved in sports, people don’t want to touch that. I had a hard time trying to get him into high school with a sports team. Sometimes people don’t want to touch that, and I understand,” Pheto said.

Pheto, who used to be an assistant cross country coach at Lake Region, turned to one of his former Lake Region runners, J.J. Blackburn, who was now coaching the team. He told Blackburn about Issy who was ready to enter his freshman season. He also informed Blackburn Issy would not be able to attend Lake Region practices because the schools were on different schedules, so he would have to continue to train his son later in the evenings.

“He wanted to run and that was all I needed to know,” Blackburn said. “His dad said, ‘Just so you know, he is autistic.’ But that didn’t change anything. His dad and I speak twice a week and we kind of tailor what his program needs to be. His dad rides a bike with him and other than us speaking, his dad makes sure he does what needs to be done.”

Over the next three seasons, Issy’s times began to fall, averaging about a 30-second drop per year, and he eventually qualified for the FHSAA state finals as a junior. But there were mishaps along the way because of his autism.

“When you are a young runner, we will send a runner with them who is faster or of equal time during a race. Several times, we told Israel to stay with a certain athlete. Once the other athlete fell about 150 meters into the race, and Issy stopped and waited on him instead of continuing,” Blackburn recalled.

“I can’t cheer for him during meets because he will slow down and say ‘Thank You.’ So, I will scream from a distance so he won’t know it is me.”

Now, in his fourth season, Issy is not only one of the top runners in the county, but he has become a leader on his team. Which many never saw coming.

“When his junior year arrived, he became very assertive and I knew he was a different kid,” Blackburn said. “This year, he has taken a leadership role, and we have a very young team, very inexperienced. Issy will walk up to them and say, ‘Let’s go warm up.’ And off they will go.

“It’s amazing. I spent two years watching the team basically looking out for Issy and taking care of Issy. Now I am watching guys looking after Issy, but they are also looking up to Issy.”

Blackburn was also approached by his runners just before he ordered the team t-shirts this season. They wanted to honor Issy and have the Autism Puzzle Piece – a longtime symbol of the autism community – placed on the back of the shirts.

And glancing in the rear-view mirror, Blackburn realizes just how much this special runner means to his team and the community.

“In the beginning, he made a lot of our athletes who were big on themselves to be humble, and to help him and guide him. Now it has come full circle,” Blackburn said.

Issy sits third in the rankings to win the Polk County meet. The Lake Region course was altered this week because of the muddy terrain and obstacles left in the wake of Hurricane Ian. Pheto spent much of the week riding the new course with Issy running alongside so he knows which way to turn if he takes the lead.

“With the other guys running faster times, they have the speed advantage. But he has the strength advantage through the mud,” Blackburn said. “It is not a road race but any stretch of the imagination.

“We have every known surface to run on. Rubber, grass, clay, sand, mud, concrete and asphalt, we’ve got it.” It’s not a golf course run. It is a true cross country course on a school campus as best as you can get it. He’ll use it to our advantage and hopefully it goes our way.”