Chapter 16: Don’t Doubt Dennin
A year
after Jason Weller made headlines with his upset victory at the state
championships, his Boyertown teammate Mark Dennin set his sights on state gold.
However, Dennin, who finished 10th at the previous year’s state
championship, was overshadowed by two bigger names in Chris Aldrich and Vince
McNally. Dennin picked up a big earlier season win at the brand new “Pre-State”
Meet, but he was defeated by Aldrich at the district championships. Chris
dropped a 15:02 to win the title, besting Dennin by about 6 seconds. Meanwhile,
the national caliber miler Vince McNally clocked a 15:02 of his own at the
Lebanon Lancaster League Championships before winning his district championship
comfortably over Carlisle Invitational champ Greg Kareis[1].
McNally
was my pick to win, followed by Aldrich and then Dennin. But in my eyes there
was a clear divide between the top two and the field. McNally had run 15:02 on
a more difficult course and both runners had defeated Dennin head to head
during the season. It was obvious that the Boyertown senior had little chance. But
obviously Dennin didn’t feel that way. On race day, the top three runners, led
by Dennin, charged forward through to the mile mark in 4 minutes and 38
seconds. It was a break neck pace, but Dennin refused to take his foot off the pedal.
He, McNally and Aldrich rolled away from the field, moving through two miles in
under 10 minutes. They were the only three under that barrier. But still Dennin
kept the pressure on. And eventually, he broke them. And man did he break them.
Dennin
finished the new course lay out in 15 minutes and 30 seconds. Second place was
a dramatic 29 seconds behind in Chris Aldrich. McNally? He faded all the way
back to 18th overall as a result of the blistering early pace. After
the race Dennin was ecstatic while his primary competition, Aldrich, was
understandably disappointed. Aldrich did mention that his main focus was
qualifying for the Footlocker National meet at Regionals in a few weeks. Both
Dennin and McNally were planning to attend the meet as well so a rematch was in
store.
In the
weeks leading up to Footlocker, people still doubted Dennin’s superiority. Some
suspected that, similar to Weller a year earlier, Dennin would falter at
Regionals and Aldrich and/or McNally would jump him the same way that Paul
Springer had. Aldrich had already indicated Regionals was his goal and McNally
had clearly been bizarrely off his game. The rematch at Van Cortlandt Park
would restore order.
Of
course just outside all the Footlocker fuss was perhaps an equally talented
runner in Max Kaulbach of Germantown Friends. Kaulbach’s school was not a part
of the PIAA and so he did not face off against Dennin, Adlrich and McNally at
the state championships. Instead competed at a separate Independent League
Championships, which he won handily for the second straight season. Earlier in
the year, Kaulbach had defeated Aldrich at the Manhattan Invitational in New
York, the same course that houses Footlocker Northeast Regionals. So his odds
at a National Qualifier seemed probable.
However,
for the first time, Nike Team Nationals was offering regional qualifying meets.
GFS had hopes of making it to the national championship as a team. They had
clocked a monster workout in practice, led by Kaulbach. Max had done 4x200 with
1 minute rest at 35-36 seconds. A mile at 4:59 with 3-4 minutes rest. An 800 at
2:30 with 3-4 minutes rest and then a mile with splits of 70-70-68 and then a
60 last lap to complete a 4:28. His teammates were close behind with a 4:45
close (Isaac Ortiz) and a 4:50 (Jake McKenzie).
Unfortunately,
despite a second place individual finish at the Regional Meet, Kaulbach could
not lead his squad to a qualifying spot for the NTN Championships. GFS finished
just behind PIAA Champs North Penn, who also missed out on a qualifying honor.
At the time, NTN did not offer individual qualifying spots for Nationals,
meaning that Kaulbach missed out on the opportunity to go to Nationals despite
an impressive performance. When he saw the results at Footlocker, he was
probably kicking himself.
At Van
Cortlandt Park in New York, a variety of PA’s top athletes lined up in
preparation for the Regional Qualifying Meet to the prestigious Footlocker
National Championships. In Milesplit’s preview of the race, the website picked
McNally and Aldrich to qualify but left Dennin as simply an honorable mention.
Much
like the state championships, the race went out very fast. At the mile mark,
the leaders clocked a blazing 4:33 opener. Brandon Jarrett of New Jersey had
the lead along with Don Cabral of Connecticut. Over the second part of the
race, Cabral really turned it on and took advantage of the early help to finish
in 15:09. He just missed the course record held by future NCAA Champ Josh
McDougal. But the man just behind Cabral was the story for Pennsylvania.
Mark
Dennin came through in 2nd overall at the Footlocker Regional Meet,
proving he was no fluke. He stopped the clock in a blazing fast 15:24, one of
PA’s fastest times ever on the course. In 5th place, Chris Aldrich
punched his ticket for San Diego, and then Vince McNally crossed in 7th
to give PA three individual qualifiers for the National Championships.
And for
those still doubting? Dennin went to San Diego and finished in 13th
overall in a race that included a variety of future record holders and
Olympians[2]. McNally was 27th
and Aldrich was 31st.
The
Boyertown boys were now officially kings of the post-season.
[1] Now here’s what you need to know
about the District 3 Championships that season. First, it was run at Hershey,
the site of the updated and more difficult state championship course. Second,
it rained horribly during district weekend, forcing the meet organizers to push
the meet back to Sunday. That meant the competitors who qualified for states not
only had a muddy run through a hilly course in their legs, but also had just
six days to recover.
[2] The 2007 Footlocker Championships
included Chris Derrick, German Fernandez, Colby Lowe, Luke Puskedra, Don
Cabral, Rob Finnerty, Maverick Darling and Ryan Hill among others. But Mike
Fout beat all those guys with a 14:50 in less than ideal conditions.
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