Chapter 14: First Impressions
My
sophomore year, our cross country team was on the cusp of history as we tried
to qualify for the state championships (and, perhaps more important, finally
usurp our girl’s squad as tops in the school). We returned five of our top
seven from the previous year, each of whom had run 16:30 or faster the previous
season. However, we had heavily relied on that fantastic pack, without a breakout
star to help carry us into the top six teams. If we wanted to make states this
season, that would definitely have to change.
Further
down the roster, we added some new faces to the team. My best friend Todd
joined the squad after a brief soccer career and brought with him his friend
Ian McGrath. We also added my pal Eric Lau, who had done well during the past
track season and had solid sprint speed. The last newcomer was Ryan Desch who,
as far as I knew, had never run at any level before. The addition of these four
sophomores was important as no freshmen joined our team that season[1].
I knew
basically nothing about Ian or Ryan. I knew they hadn’t been in the top spots
in our middle school Turkey Trots[2] and neither of them had
run school track the past three years. Admittedly, Ian and I were on the same
basketball team a few years prior through the intermural league, but we had
essentially zero interaction. The only major thing I knew about him was that he
was Irish and celebrated big on St. Patrick’s Day[3].
Ryan
was one of the cooler kids in school. I was briefly friends with him in 2nd
or 3rd grade before he switched elementary schools. When we met back
up in middle school, we were friendly in 7th grade sharing the same
homeroom and social studies class, but we didn’t really travel in the same
circles. Some of the kids I associated with him were drinkers or smokers and
slackers or bullies. Basically, it felt like a seriously damaging move to his
reputation if he was hanging out with us dorky runners.
Who
would have thought that the Irishmen and the popular kid, neither of which had
shown me any signs that they would be runners in their previous fifteen years
of life would play such major roles in my cross country career. And become two great
friends that I will always remember.
First
impressions count for a lot in this world. When I was applying to college and
looking for jobs I was constantly reminded of it by my parents and teachers.
But as I learned during my sophomore season, first impressions are not reliable
indicators of who a person is. Running with Ryan over the summer and through
the fall, I realized that he was a kind, approachable and down to earth
individual. He didn’t fit the mold I had set aside for him based on the
experience I had with some of his friends. I also quickly learned that Desch[4] was going to be a good
runner. He was motivated, hardworking and competitive. He accepted coaching, he
asked questions and he learned a lot in a brief span.
When
Ian McGrath first joined the team, he was slow. Undeniably slow. The slowest
one on the team in practice and so dreadfully slow that our Coach was thinking
about straight up telling him to quit. But Ian was also an incredibly driven
runner with perhaps the most heart of any teammate I’ve ever had. At the first
race of his career he outkicked Tanzer[5] and then vomited all over
the course. He broke six minutes for the first time in the mile during a 5k at
William Tennent. And before long he was mid pack on the team, carving out a
space to show he clearly belonged.
***
After I
spent my entire freshman year as the top cross country runner on the team, I
was in for a rude awakening. Desch smacked me around in our first race. At the
hilly Belmont Plateau course, I went out over my head and Ryan rolled past me
on the down hills. Todd also defeated me for the second straight race,
finishing as the second best sophomore on the team. I had hoped that with a
year’s experience under my belt, I would start to climb up through the ranks as
a sophomore. My fitness was well ahead of where it had been a year earlier and
I was setting a ton of personal bests. But after one meet, I someone found
myself going backwards on the depth chart.
But, as
was all too often the case in my running career, just when I thought things were
spiraling downward, things picked back up. The addition of Ryan and Todd pushed
me to be better and race smarter. Gradually over the course of the next few
races, I started to get some swagger back, taking a brief turn back in the #1
sophomore spot. Ryan, Todd and I were even selected to go with the Varsity guys
on an overnight trip to our team’s most coveted invitational at Carlisle High
School[6].
Of
course the Carlisle Invite was not just a big deal for us JV guys. The varsity
guys went there with hopes of testing themselves against some of the best teams
in the state. We had realized very quickly that we had a special talent as a
front runner. Mike Palmisano had emerged as a state medal contender from the
first race where he excelled at the Briarwood Invitational with a top 10 finish[7]. He then followed that up
with a very tight battle alongside 4:13 miler Nick Crits in our dual meet[8].
At
Carlisle, Mike officially cemented his elite status. He dipped under 16 minutes
for 5,000 meters for the first time in his career. Behind him, Pat McLaughlin
and Matt Lorenzo had terrific races, finishing 12th and 13th,
and then the Reilly twins brought things home. When the points were tallied, it
was revealed that we had defeated Pre-Season state title favorites North
Allegheny[9] and finished second
overall.
The
winners? A familiar team by the name of North Penn.
[1] Since there were no new freshmen,
that meant Brian Lee, Matt Tanzer and I ended up with two years’ worth of
freshmen duties. We still had to carry the tent, get the water, be the smallest
guys on the team, all that good stuff. Tanzer used to hate carrying the tent.
It probably didn’t help that he was about 85 pounds.
[2] You may remember the middle school
mile race known as the Turkey Trot from Chapter 1. Back then, I was all about
Turkey Trot placing and how it would correlate to future results. I could
remember everyone who beat me as an 8th grader. Looking back, it
meant close to nothing about who our top guys would be on the track. The top
guys my senior year were James Stein (never ran in high school), Matt Gordon
(never ran in high school), Sam Ellison (we’ll get to him), Evan Saltzman
(dabbled as a 400 guy but never panned out) and Alex Stine (never ran in high
school).
[3] Turns out he was only like 25%
Irish. He got a lot of crap for that.
[4] In High School it feels like
everybody goes by their last name. It’s just the way it is and it feels wrong
to type out “Ryan” or “Ian”. That season we had Felix, Desch, McGrath, Tanzer,
Stortz and Jensen just to name a few. Most people who went by their first names
had legit excuses. Like Todd’s last name was Warszawski. So that’s going to get
you called by your first name nine times out of ten.
[5] The McGrath-Tanzer animosity is
legendary. If there was anyone that Ian was going to vomit to defeat it was
Tanzer.
[6] I always sucked at Carlisle. I
don’t know what it was, but I couldn’t run that course for the life of me. On
race day, I got an early lead on Desch but he came charging back on me during the
signature final downhill. There was a video on Penntrack of the finishing
straight that shows me hobbling toward the line, then looking blatantly to my
left, seeing Desch come up on me and suddenly kicking furiously to stay ahead.
Also ironically, I raced two future Muhlenberg teammates in that race without
even knowing it. But we’ll get to that. In like 20 chapters probably. But we’ll
get there.
[7] I made another bet with Tanzer
during indoor track about who our top guy would be the next cross country
season. I bet on Mike and he bet on Pat McLaughlin who had been our top
non-senior during the fall and qualified for states individually. Tanzer and I
made a lot of bets. I lost most of them, but I’m gonna try and mention all the
ones I won.
[8] I think every league has that guy
who is just dominant and each league thinks “Wow, how could anybody be better
than this guy?”. Well our guy was Crits so when Mike battled him all the way to
the finish line, he had kinda “arrived” as a star.
[9] So here’s what I heard happened to
NA. The starting gun went up before they were ready and they were still doing
their team cheer (I think it was the “Is there pain in the dojo?” cheer which
is an awesome one) so they missed the start and slipped down the standings.
They also raced at Hershey the week before. We learned how much effect that
could have a year later.
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