What do you do for an encore after you’ve just broken an 11-year-old national record on a huge stage in Boston and come back to your small hometown in Central Point, Oregon?

For Crater High senior Tyrone Gorze, that answer is easy.

You just simply get back to work and prepare to win your next race.

“It’s definitely a good indicator,” the 18-year-old runner said of winning the 5,000 meters at the New Balance indoor nationals in 13 minutes, 56.82 seconds, “but I would say there’s definitely room for improvement and I’m just looking forward to racing again.”

When that will be and how often that will be as the Comets open the spring high school season is still being determined by Gorze and his Crater coach Justin Loftus.

“I think (Loftus) has a better idea of what I’m going to do,” said Gorze, who has already signed with the University of Washington. “I kind of just race at the meets that he wants me at. I don’t know how much or what events I’ll be doing, but obviously state is a priority. That meet has definitely been marked on my calendar for a while. That’s going to be the one meet that’s a focus, for sure.”

It’s a tough balancing act, to be sure, for Gorze and Loftus, who wants his young runner to celebrate being a high schooler while also not losing sight of running in elite events moving forward.

“I don’t want to undercut any of the high school invitationals or dual meets, I want to make sure they’re all celebrated just as much,” said Loftus,

“and that becomes harder when you go out to a meet like (the New Balance indoor championships) and have a kid that wins a national title and sets a record.”

“People want to see him, and that’s why did the Crater Twilight last year and why we’ll definitely have a couple local events,” he added, “but it is hard, honestly, to look at this all because I don’t have a lot of races that we’re focused on. I’d like to see him focus on some of the bigger stuff — and we haven’t talked 100% about the season — but we definitely will be trying to run at home, it just may not be Thursday.”

Crater is set to host the Crater Twilight at 4 p.m. on its home track at Dutch Meyer Stadium, with athletes from North Medford, South Medford, Grants Pass, Ashland, Eagle Point and Cascade Christian, among others, slated to compete.

Loftus said the duo has been flirting with the idea of competing in the 10,000 meters during Friday night’s Oregon Preview in Eugene, so that’s what leaves his status in doubt for Thursday.

“We can race him every week and he would be fine with it,” said Loftus of the hard-charging Gorze, “but I really want to set up some of these races with a purpose. Not to undercut any of the local stuff, that’s what we want to see, right? That’s what it’s about, to be in high school and enjoy those moments.”

“The No. 1 race on his schedule is state, and that’s what I like to hear,” added the coach. “All of this other stuff will be cool one day but when you look back at high school, you’re looking back at a banner on the wall and the hard work with your teammates.”

Whether he’s competing at a vaunted venue like Hayward Field or he’s touring the black track surface at Crater High seems to make no matter for Gorze, who simply just loves to compete.

“I feel like that’s happened a lot for me where one week you’re at Hayward Field and running in that massive stadium and the next week you’re racing at Crater,” he said. “I’m used to going back and forth to meets like that. It’s definitely different types of racing and different events between smaller scale track meets and those national meets. There is a difference, but racing is racing, it’s not too different.”

“You always set out goals and to meet those goals, whether it be at a smaller meet or what happened last week at a national meet, it’s just cool to see you achieve them,” he added. “I feel like you can accomplish that feeling just about on any track, really.”

With that mindset, you gain a little insight into who Gorze is as a runner and competitor.

“What he has is uncoachable,” said Loftus. “It’s just something you don’t see every day in a high school athlete. You see it in the pros because they’re super focused and get paid for what they do, but Ty is self-driven.”

“He always wants more,” added the coach. “That’s just refreshing when you’re at that level and you just crush it and the next statement that we talk about he’s like, ‘I can’t wait to get to the next day of training or the next race.’”

Last Saturday, however, was a thrill that neither Gorze nor Loftus will forget anytime soon.

Running among the best of the best at the high school level, Gorze stayed true to a plan set up by Loftus and then found another gear in the end to break the 14-minute barrier for the first time in a meet.

“I knew it was going to probably take a fast effort to compete in a meet like that,” said Gorze, “especially considering there were people in the field who had gone under 14 minutes before already. It was a pretty deep field so I knew this was the kind of meet where going sub-14 was possible, but I couldn’t imagine that my first experience going under 14 minutes would be in a meet like that. It was really fun to do it.”

Daniel Simmons of American Fork High in Utah set the pace for the first few kilometers, with Gorze among a leading group of runners that included Lex Young of Newbury Park High in California and Patrick Koon of Leon High in Florida.

With one kilometer remaining, Gorze made his move and the rest is history.

“It didn’t go out as fast as anticipated,” he said of the race, “but I feel like I closed well enough to chase down the pace lights. I wouldn’t say it went perfect to plan, but with a K to go I made my move right when coach told me to and it worked out well in that sense.”

Taking down Edward Cheserek’s record that was established in 2012 (13:57.04) wasn’t on Gorze’s mind when he took to the starting line but the pace lights that echoed Cheserek’s journey called to him more and more as he was coming down the stretch.

“When I started to catch it,” Gorze said of the pace lights, “it was really helpful to know that I was getting close. I wasn’t really thinking much for most of the race about the record or the pace lights, I was more thinking about getting the win, but for that last lap I was thinking more about catching that pace light.”

When he accomplished the feat and crossed the finish line in record time, Gorze said the feeling was incredible.

“It was pure joy,” he said. “I think it was good to see a time on the board that I felt was a testament to my fitness and where I was at. I think it’s definitely a good indicator and it’s a good starting point. It’s only indoor track and there’s still a lot of races to be left to run for the outdoor season. I definitely feel like there’s a lot more room for improvement and a lot more races to come. At that moment, though, it was really nice to get that record and just a really cool experience.”

The experience also included a very rare bit of celebration for Gorze, who gave high-fives to bystanders surrounding the track and even offered up a little “sleep” gesture as cameramen swarmed around him.

“He’s pretty humble,” said Loftus. “He did the whole sleep thing but that’s not Ty. There’s numerous ways to look at that, where I’m going to get a good sleep tonight or I’m putting the naysayers to sleep or whatever.

“I’ve honestly never seen him celebrate after a race. He’s not about showboating in front of other people or anything like that. If anything it was more like, hey, I do exist out here, too, after not much has really been said about him nationally.”

Making Gorze’s effort even more gratifying was that it came on the heels of helping the Comets to the eighth-best finish in event history one night prior in the distance medley relay. Crater just barely missed eclipsing 10 minutes in finishing at 10:00.20.

The quick turnaround and elite efforts were just a testament to the type of runner Gorze is and how well he takes care of the little things like water intake, eating healthy, getting good rest and an ultimate focus on his recovery.

“Honestly, that was just a snapshot of what I see day to day,” said Loftus. “It’s a pleasure to be a part of just managing his day to day activities and runs and everything.”

“I’ve said it before but what he does outside of running to take care of himself and honing in on his craft is incredible,” he added. “I just feel like he’s always going to be ready to go on that day, and that is super incredible. I see his workouts and I see how he responds the next day as we lead into a big race. I try not to let him do too much — and we talk about that quite a bit as far as resting and workouts — but he can bounce back and wants to, honestly, within hours.”

Which is why all Gorze can think about is what’s next, not necessarily what he just accomplished.

“I’m definitely looking forward to getting more opportunities to race and obviously see how much I can improve just over these next few months,” he said. “I’m looking forward to just racing. Just to keep on being consistent in training — getting really good workouts in and showing up on race day — I feel like is also important. I’m looking forward to doing that.”