Running in Centre County has slowly been coming back. The Tussey Mountainback took place a few weeks ago, featuring the ageless wonder George Etzweiler. A few other local races have taken place; some in-person, some virtually. Another sense of normalcy started in early September when high school cross country was allowed to begin practices.
This year I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the new assistant coaches for the State College Area High School boys cross country team. As we finish up our season this week, I can only wonder why I waited so long. All of our boys had great attitudes all season and were appreciative of the opportunities given to them. This was exemplified when one of our runners, Ethan Morningstar, found out he would have to miss the chance to run at the Foundations meet (on the state championship course) due to COVID-19 limitations. Instead, he would have to run at a Saturday dual meet.
His response: “I’m just excited to race.” This attitude permeated throughout the team.
The season certainly had its challenges. First, the season started late and many runners didn’t get to have the traditional preseason two-a-days to prepare for the season. OK, well maybe they didn’t miss running in the State College heat too much. Once we started our season workouts, the boys and coaches had to wear a mask unless they were 6 feet apart outside. This became commonplace to the point where some of the boys would wear their masks during a race, even though they were not required to wear one while racing.
Typically for mid-week cross country meets, we would be able to send the entire team to run at dual meets. This season we were only allowed to take 12 runners due to travel restrictions. While some teams would always send their faster runners, as coaches, we knew that wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the team. This led to us winning only one dual meet — our home meet where all of our runners could compete. Also, traveling required runners to wear their masks while on the bus. This meant runners would have to wear their masks for four plus hours on a bus just to be able to run for 20 minutes. Yet, not one complaint from any of the boys. Maybe that post-race dinner stop at Sheetz (that we had to eat in a parking lot due to not being able to eat on a bus) helped.
Going into our first big competition, the Mid Penn Championship, our team wasn’t given much of a chance to win by some who scout high school cross country. Well, apparently they didn’t know our team very well because we crushed the competition. Our runners Brady Bigger, Sean Adams, Trent Dinant, Nick Sloff, Bennett Norton, Tony Tzolov, and Jacob Messner finished 1st, 11th, 12th, 14th, 21st, 40th, and 58th out of a field of 112 runners. We ended up winning the Mid Penn Championship with a team total of 59 points, beating the second-place team by 48 points. That was a good day.
This past Saturday we had a repeat performance at the District 6 Championship. For the eighth year in a row, the State High boys won the team title and for the second year in a row, Brady Bigger won the individual championship. Even more impressive was that a majority of our team was able to run some personal best times. As I told the team at the beginning of the season, it doesn’t matter if you are the fastest or the slowest runner on the team, cross country is a chance to improve yourself. Many of our boys did just that.
As we prepare to take on the best teams in Pennsylvania on Saturday in Hershey, I am reminded of what I tell the team before most of our practices. Control what you can control. We could have an outbreak in the school and be forced to shut down tomorrow. We might get to Hershey and have to run in terrible weather. Don’t waste your time on worrying about those things. Focus on what you can control. You can control wearing your mask and distancing yourself from other runners while on a run. You can control how you are doing academically in school. You can control your attitude when it comes to running in 2020. Whatever the outcome is on Saturday, I know I will be proud of the young men I had the privilege to coach in my first season of being an assistant cross country coach.
These feelings and success were matched by State High’s girls cross country team. Here are some words from their head coach Rebecca Donaghue:
The State College girls cross country team won its 18th consecutive District 6 championship in 2020.
State College girls’ cross country has been on a roller coaster of a ride this fall, but they’re ready to take on one more ride this Saturday at the PIAA state meet in Hershey.
A runner up team finish in 2019, third place in 2018, and top-five finishes in the past five years, leaves us with one more spot to fill. It’s been 26 years since State College girls have been on top of the podium. Winning this year would prove to be the ultimate challenge due to the added obstacles every team has been faced with during the pandemic.
It’s really been a day-by-day and even hour-by-hour kind of season. We’ve had to be on our toes ready to face what new changes we’re dealt and just roll with them. Our girls have been just incredible with how they’ve handled everything. They’ve been positive and enthusiastic from the start and you can really feel their excitement to just be out there with each other doing what they love. As a coach, it’s been truly inspiring to witness.
Our girls have had their eyes on the PIAA state meet for a very, very long time. We lost three of our top seven to graduation last year but they paved the way very nicely for our current crew who have been diligent about doing everything they can to ensure that they get to that starting line on Saturday safely and at their very best. It takes an immense amount of sacrifice by everyone to get to this point but to have the added stress of maneuvering through a pandemic will make being on top of that podium that much sweeter.
This team has already made history, no matter what the outcome is on Saturday. We won our sixth consecutive Mid-Penn Championships this fall, and our 18th consecutive District 6 Championships. We also have girls consistently breaking 19 minutes this season. One in particular, senior Jordan Reed, just ran the fastest 5k by a State High girl in over 15 years by winning the individual crown at districts with her time of 18:34. She’s been on a roll this season and she has sophomore teammate Marlee Kwasnica right on her heels. Two low sticks from them on Saturday would be a huge boost for our team score. Our team average time has been faster than any team I’ve ever coached in the past 15 years.
The many months of hard work, smart training, and smart choices outside of practice time have been crucial to our success. All of these things set us up for a good day on Saturday but when it comes down to it, the journey and that roller coaster of a ride this team has gone through is what will be remembered for years to come.
