In basketball, one player can dominate a game. We are fresh off an NBA Finals where Lebron James dominated the series, nearly carrying a team of misfit toys to the title. Against a team that was one of the best, most efficient and deepest teams of all time. And I'm not just saying that because they have Steph Curry. Although that helps.
In track we have seen some similar Herculean efforts to carry a team with one man and there have been successes from it. But ultimately, it seems all too often that we are reminded that this is truly a team sport and each member contributed equally to team success (unless you are talking about the "team" state championship which one person can do all by him/her self, but that's a rant for another day).
Think about it, in basketball one player can dominate the ball. In football, you run plays for one special athlete over and over. In a relay like the 4x800m, no matter what order you trot your runners out in, each still has to run the exact same distance. There is no spreading of the distance around so one guy runs less.
In Cross Country, each of the 5 runners finish is recorded and each runner runs the same distance. In dual meets you can get by with three guys, but in Invitationals you need all 5. Sometimes we forget that but we could have been reminded as recently as this past fall.
But what I find interesting, is that despite these facts each team and relay is still different. There are different ways to achieve success. Look no further than the 2015 AAA and AA 4x800m champions.
Pennsbury, the AAA champs, ran one of the fastest marks in state history at Shippensburg, running 7:38 for gold. Pennsbury's team was built around two studs: Alek Sauer and Sam Webb. Both had individual state medals around their necks from the previous year and had been a part of Pennsbury's previous two state medal winning squads. These pillars were crucial to the team's success. In fact, for three straight years Webb ran second leg for PB and Sauer ran 4th on their state 4x8. This final year, they split the team's two fastest legs and both times broke the race open in favor of the Orange men.
It wasn't all easy for Pennsbury. Although they had an historic year on the track as a team in 2015, their school year started with heart break in XC. Despite being one of the top teams in D1, at Lehigh they suffered a close call in a loaded field and ended up out of the state qualifying picture. Alek Sauer, who had broken 16 a year before, had an uncharacteristic off day and ended up failing to qualify individually in a big twist. It was a heartbreaking turn.
But while some teams would have let this bring them down, Pennsbury used it to build themselves back up and Sauer came out with a vengeance during indoor track. Always a strong and gutsy relay runner, Sauer recorded a mind blowing 1:52 split indoors at the Armory. He also recorded a huge 1:51 split at the Penn Relays, running an incredibly impressive 2nd leg to pull the team to first in the COA. Then, to close things out, Sauer split what our own Caleb Gatchell clocked at 1:49.7 to anchor Pennsbury to the state title in epic fashion. Without a doubt, Sauer is one of the best relay runners the state has ever seen.
Sam Webb was, in my opinion, always more of a distance man than a sprinter. He was excellent at the 3200m for his entire career, a state contender since his sophomore year. He ran 9:08 in 2014 despite the fact that he spent the spring recovering from injury. He was poised to be a sub 9 contender in a loaded field. Individual glory could have been his.
But Webb was a unique runner. He is one of the best doublers the state has seen and he was willing to make a huge sacrifices for the relay in 2015, choosing a tired effort in the mile over a chance at history in the 3200. All during that process he transformed himself from a 4:20/1:58 type to a 4:12/1:53 type.
Throw those two guys at the top of the itinerary and things are looking pretty good. That's a duo that can get you on the medal stand. But to be a state champion takes something more. It takes four guys. Or, in Pennsbury's case, you can argue it took five.
One of the biggest developments was that of sophomore Eric Kersten. He started the indoor season as something of a bubble guy for the stacked relay. He ran some solid individual races at Lehigh and slowly worked his way into the line up. Once he was there, he established himself as a natural lead off leg and an unflappable 800m runner.
Leading off the 4x8 is one of the most difficult tasks in the business (trust me, I've failed it a few times myself) and Kersten was only a sophomore racing in some of the biggest meets in the sport. He led off indoor states, penn relays trials and finals, and outdoor states. And he did a great job in each of them, splitting 1:55 at states and, most importantly, putting his team in excellent position to compete.
The final pieces were Matt Mulvaney and Zach Yeger. Although neither one was getting the accolades of their stat teammates, but runners spent the entire year behaving like champions. Both men fought hard for the final spot on their state relay and neither was a poor sport or team chemistry breaker. They sacrificed when it was important for the good of the team.
And they had their moments to shine. At Penn Relays, Yeger took the stick from Sam Webb in a battle for first place on the anchor leg. He held his own in the stacked race and helped the team run a blazing fast school record. Mulvaney also delivered in a big spot on the third leg at states. He too got the baton from Webb in the lead and then ran a poised third leg, despite some blazing fast opening 400m around him, keeping the team at the front of the pack and getting the baton to Sauer in perfect position for a victory.
Both men were consistent sub 2 minutes in the two lapper, performances that would make them stars at most schools, but instead they shared a smaller role on a great team and were rewarded when it counted. Kinda like Andre Iguodala.
Wyomissing, the AA champs, came into states as the fastest team in AA. But they still had something to prove. The previous year, the team suffered a near miss for state gold and that squad graduated stud runner Andrew Miller, the outdoor champ at 400m in 2014. It would be hard to replace Miller's 1:55 open 800m speed, especially when so many teams were focusing all their energy into the relay, including a slew of teams that beat Wyomissing's time from district.
Instead of building around two returning stars like PB, Wyomissing was tasked with building a new identity. They had an extremely well balanced squad, with 4 runners who had the potential to break 2 minutes in the line up. They had no weak legs that their opponents could attack and that proved to be the difference at Shippensburg.
The team was aided by the development of its two best distance runners, Jack DiCintio and Kyle Shinn. Both men had run extremely clutch races down the stretch in XC, including a 2-5 finish at Hershey in the biggest race of the year. The team finished 7th at cross states after so called experts predicted they wouldn't be able to make it out of District 3. This big time running set the tone for the track season.
Shinn continued to roll indoors, adding a 7th place finish in a record setting mile field at states to his accomplishments. By the spring, he and his teammates were training again at a high level and clicking extremely well. Freshman Joe Cullen, the team's #3 man from XC, had become an individual sub 2 minute runner as only a freshman. Heriberto Colon joined with DiCintio and Shinn to round out a squad that would finish the year each holding PRs sub 2 minutes.
At states, despite the fact that they had a variety of pieces doubling, they showed no signs of fatigue or being spread too thin. Frosh Joe Cullen was assigned the lead off role in the state finals as just a freshman. That's high praise, especially considering he had never done it before. He delivered, handing off to Colon in the lead pack.
Colon blasted the second leg, taking things out hard. As a successful 400m runner, Colon knew he could get out harder than the rest of the field and he broke the race open for third leg DiCintio. That was crucial because DiCintio was doubling off a very quick 3200m.
Turns out DiCintio didn't need much of a cushion as he continued to hold the lead. His race was even more impressive when you consider that he had to run completely alone with very tired legs, moments after the 32. He got the baton to Kyle Shinn and from there it was over. Shinn cruised to a 1:57 type split and crossed the line in first to earn state gold.
Shinn had his own impressive double at states, turning around to run 4:19.14 for 3rd in the 1600m in a loaded field that included four time state champ Dom Peretta, two time champ Griffin Molino and sub 16 at Hershey man Sebastian Curtin.
Both teams had unique stories, as did many of the teams at states (more on that to come). But each squad has the same goals and aspirations. However, the key to success is more than just each leg running fast, it's about becoming more than the sum of the parts.
Think about the sacrifices each runner had to make for their squad, whether it was sacrificing their individual goals or sacrificing their time or, most importantly, sacrificing their body by running all out in one of the most grueling events in track and field: the 800m (editors note: Jarrett was an 800m runner during his career).
There is more to being a good relay or a good XC team than simply individual success. It's about having a group of guys who would do anything for each other. I can't tell you how many times I've read an interview after the race and the first quote, middle quote and last quote is "I was struggling, but I knew I had to do it for these guys ... No matter what I couldn't let my teammates down."
Looking back, my teammates are like my brothers and together, we were a family. And that appears to be the case with these squads.
And nothing is stronger than family.
No comments:
Post a Comment