The King of Leans: Catching Up with O'Hara/Syracuse Stand Out Kevin James

I've been at this blogging thing for a long time and, as a result, I've been privileged to see a lot of fantastic running.  But despite everything I've seen, I'm still not sure there's ever been a career quite like Kevin James had at O'Hara and looks on track to have at Syracuse. There have been ups, downs, big wins, heart-breaking losses and, throughout it all, fast times and gutsy running. I had thousands of questions I wanted to ask, but managed to narrow it down to the list we have below. Kevin really gave some great answers and tells it like it is, which I am very thankful for. I think it' may be the best interview I've managed to get and it's a must read for any fan of PA distance running. So without further ado …

Cross Country

Jarrett Felix: How did you get your start in distance running? If I remember correctly, you split time with hockey in your early years of high school. What made you focus on running long term?

Kevin James: I got my start in distance running when I was in 4th grade because I decided to do cyo track with some of my friends. I actually was a sprinter at first because who in their right mind wants to run distance it sounds awful haha. But I was thrown in an 800 at one meet and did pretty well so I was put in the mile the rest of the season and it just went from there. Now the hockey thing was tricky because all through grade school I played a lot of other sports along with track and I knew coming into high school I was better at track/xc but I wanted to still play hockey because I was pretty solid at hockey also. But after freshman year the older guys on the team said they wanted me to stop because we wanted to make NXN and hockey would have interfered with that so after freshman year I focused on just running.

JF: You were a part of four different XC teams that placed in the top three at states during your high school career. Talk about how your role on the team changed over the years and how your early experiences helped prepare you to become a leader. How has O'Hara been able to stay among the top programs in the state each year?

KJ: Being on a team that was in contention for a state title every year was truly a special thing to be apart of. I have had many different roles on those teams, whether it was being the 5th man closing out the scoring freshman year, to being apart of a nasty rotating top 3 sophomore year, to being the top guy and leader of the team junior and senior year I have seen it all an been through it all and I think I was able to help the team out each year due to my teammates always being supportive and helping me learn and having a great coach like my man Tom Kennedy. He helped us all grow every year and he got the program to where it is now and we can't give him enough credit for what he does for us.

JF: In 2012, your O'Hara team finished 5th at Nationals, the top finish besides Coatesville's championship run in 2006. What was that season like including a now famous state meet? What made that team so special?

KJ: That season was a special one because of how hyped up it was going into the season. The battles between us and Henderson that whole year in my opinion have to go down as possibly the greatest head to head rivalry between any two teams in the state because of how close we were to each other all season and the way we competed on a national level against each other is something that really made it special. That state meet was a hard one to swallow for awhile because of how we lost on the tiebreaker for the 2nd straight year. But looking back on it now I feel honored to have been a part of such an epic state meet with two teams unthinkably scoring under 70 points and being so close. I think both teams delivered the show everyone was looking for. Our team that year though was really a special group of guys who always laid it all out there for each other. That team helped me develop into the athlete that I am today and I couldn't thank them anymore for that.

JF: You qualified for the NXN championships three times (twice as an individual). What do you think helped you train the extra month of the season and continue to be successful? What was the NXN experience like?

KJ: I think what helped me train hard for that extra month was just that I was able to stay focused and know that I was running for my team and not running for myself. I think that was a huge advantage for me. The NXN experience was a great one every year and I am thankful that I was able to experience it 3 times. Also S/O to the PA people for killing it today at NXN!

JF: You've raced Jake Brophy a couple times in some big meets. Sometimes he got the best of you, other times you turned the tables on him. What makes this guy such a special racer? Any advice for someone trying to beat  him?

KJ: Man Jake is definitely a tough kid to race against and we definitely had some epic races last year. Jake is just a big time gamer and always shows up ready to race and you know that every time you line up against him you better bring your A game or he's going to make you look stupid. If I had to give any advice on how to beat Jake I would say you have to find some way to get away from him mid race because if you people haven't noticed yet his closing wheels are insane so I'd say if you can put a gap on him do it or you’re screwed.

Track

JF: Switching gears to track, you proved at various moments that you had a knack for running the 1200m, one of the most difficult and intriguing events in track. What's your secret? Do you prefer running the 12 leg or the 1600 anchor leg (which you ran as a senior)?

KJ: The 1200 was definitely a weird race to run and it took me a few runs at it to figure out the best way for me to run it. The race that helped me develop the best way for me to be successful at the event was Penn Relays my soph year. Before that race I was always kind of scared to take the first 800 way too fast and die so I would kind of be conservative but at Penn the race went out in 2:02 and I felt great doing it and ended up handing off in 2nd splitting 3:04 and PR'ing by 4 seconds. So after that I would just go right to the front and make it a balls to the wall grind from the get go. Now if I had to pick the 1600 or 1200 leg I'd pick the 1600 just because I like being able to ice a W for my boys on the end instead of sitting on the infield watching someone else try to do it.

JF: On the track you had range along the lines of 1:54-4:10-8:57 in the 8/16/32. What parts of your training do you think helped you become such a versatile and effective runner? Which event was your favorite?

KJ: I think the fact that we would change workouts up a lot helped my range a good amount. We could one day do maybe a threshold run or long intervals and then later in the week do 300 repeats or something like that. Coach K did a great job changing things up for us and keeping us strong all the time but also fast. If I had to pick my favorite event it would probably have to be the 3200 just because I always felt that I was better at the longer distance.

JF: Not to bring up bad memories, but during your senior year you ran 15:38 at Hershey, 4:12 indoors and 8:57 outdoors, all times that would have been impressive meet records when you started in high school (and two were records when the race started), but ended up losing those championships. Do you think there is anything special about the way you race that helped make those races so fast? Or are you just unlucky? Looking back on it a year removed, are you happy that you were able to face such strong competition and get the most out of yourself?

KJ: Yeah this was always something that confused me and my teammates how I could run that fast and never win haha. But I'd like to think that I just brought the best out of people when I raced them at the state meet whether it was Brophy mind blowing me the last 400 meters and just walking away from me after I had thrown down a huge move, or Ritz being able to close the last 600 of a mile in 1:30 and run 4:09, or Brehm being able to close like a mad man at the end of a 3200 I think that I helped bring out the best in those guys and the other guys in the state because they were all great competitors and I have respect for all of them. Personally I do think I was a little unlucky but hey what are you going to do you have to be able to pull it out if you want to be a champion. Looking back on it I was happy to be a part of some legendary races in PA and help raise the bar of PA distance running.

JF: You made a strong sacrifice for your team indoors in 2015 when you chose the mile over the 3k and it paid off when you won the state championship in the DMR. What was more satisfying that state championship in 2015 or the national championship and 10 flat DMR the year before?

KJ: The national championship was definitely an awesome experience and we all loved it but the state title meant more to me just because of my history and my teams history of being heartbroken at states just took so much relief off of me it was such a great feeling hitting the line and just letting out a huge scream after winning it was great.

JF: Excluding the time, I signed your face, what is your favorite memory from all these years of running?

KJ: hahahah nothing can top you signing my face but other than that I'd say my favorite experience was in the states DMR when I came off he final turn knowing we had it won and seeing my teammates on the infield going crazy and naturally I made the bold move of sticking my tounge out at them up the home stretch. This was just something that makes me feel great about the whole experience because of how hype my boys were for it.

College

JF: Alright enough high school talk. Tell me how you decided on Syracuse and what your experience was like during the recruiting process.

KJ: Honestly the recruiting process was very easy for me because I pretty much knew I wanted to go to Syracuse by the end of August. I really just got along with the coaches really well and I liked what they were doing with the program and I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of and could be successful in.

JF: After all your successful teams in high school, you come to college and instantly join a national championship team. What was it like to be a part of the national champs? What have you learned from watching the varsity guys compete? Realistically, did you guys think you had a shot at Colorado from Day 1?

KJ: So far the biggest difference in college training and high school training is how much harder and longer the workouts are. My mileage really hasn't increased at all because they like to give the freshman time to adjust to the workouts and just college life in general before we start bumping up mileage which is closing in on us very quickly now. But for the most part it was an okay transition it just took time to adjust to running hard for 5-7 miles in workouts instead of 2-4 in high school.

It is definitely an unreal thing to be apart of the national championship team. We put in so much work for it this season and the guys who race deserved it because they were hungry for it all season and have been working towards it for about 5 years now. I learned a lot about racing from those guys. They taught me that I have to be patient and realize a lot of those races don't start until 3k to go and you have to just be patient and get to that point and be ready to close hard. We had thought the whole season we had a chance at beating Colorado but we knew we were going to have to have a big day at NCAA's to do it. But I think we were lucky enough to not have anyone get sick or hurt this season unlike Colorado and Stanford.

JF: You still have a lot of talent coming back, including your freshman class and a strong recruiting class coming in. Have you given any thought to a repeat? Or even, dare I say, a three-peat?

KJ: We definitely already have our eyes on the repeat and we are 100% ready to put in some serious work over the next year to get us ready to have a chance at defending our title. But we know it will be tough because everyone will be gunning for us and there will be some damn good teams coming for us with everything they have. Now as a 3 peat stands no one has talked about that because we can't afford to look that long into the future we just have to get ourselves ready for what's coming up next.

JF: Going forward, what is your next set of goals? Where should we be looking for Kev James in the future results?

KJ: For me my next set of goals are pretty simple because I won't be racing a lot due to redshirting the whole year. But I will be able to race USA junior xc champs in February and that is a big thing that the coaches are getting me ready for because they think I have a good chance to make a USA team for some international stuff this winter. So that is really what we are gearing up for these next 2 months. And that is where you should look for me in some upcoming results along with some indoor and outdoor races that I will be running unattached in.