The Etrain 11: The Roman Empire

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

You’ve probably heard that expression before. It’s that annoying saying that your dad said when you struck out at your first baseball game. It’s that sarcastic comment your more fashionable friends make when they convince you to stop wearing sweat pants and start wearing jeans-but you’re still wearing the race t-shirts.

However, if you’re a runner, it’s more than a throwaway. It’s the definition of training. Much like Rome (or, you know, basically any city), a runner’s fitness is not accumulated in a day. Or a week. Or even a year. People may be amazed by how far or fast you run, but to you this level of fitness is surprisingly ordinary. It snuck up on you as part of a long, gradual transition. Running is a process. And you have to trust it.

Oh goodness, I did not mean to do that. Pretend I said evolution or progression or something.

For the Spring Ford Rams, that-um-advancement has been years in the making. It’s hard to pinpoint where anything starts, but I look at the 2011 season. Spring Ford was 37^th in the District that year with 982 points. But look a little closer and you can see the start of something. Senior Joseph O’Such became the first state qualifier from Spring Ford in recent memory. It was a break through the program needed to show others what was possible.

The next year, the Spring Ford boys jumped from 37^th to 19^th in the district. This time they had two state qualifiers: senior Michael Cassidy and sophomore Paul Power, perhaps the most important piece of them all.

Paul Power may have graduated in 2013, but his impact on the Spring Ford program is still felt to this day. And that’s not just through his Power siblings. In 2014, Power was a state title contender. He had already qualified twice for states and medaled there in 2013. But now he was the Foundation Champion, running a blazing fast 15:50. Seeing his breakthroughs was inspiring, especially for a young core of runners. With Power at the helm, Spring Ford took 12^th at Paul Short and 17^th at Districts. The young squad included two freshmen among their scorers: Zach Smith and Shane Ainscoe.

And so the dominoes continued to topple over. One moment builds off the next. But that doesn’t guarantee that all pieces will fall in succession. Things looked great for Spring Ford in 2015 as a squad that prominently featured three star sophomores ran away with their league title. At districts, they finished in the agonizing 6^th spot. However, they were young. With the exception of senior standout John Conner, Spring Ford was bringing back everybody from their varsity, including those three talented sophomores. Surely, the 2016 season would continue to bring big strides forward.

But it wasn’t meant to be. Something was off in the formula as Spring Ford took 6^th yet again at the next year’s district championships. The narrative of prior years where Spring Ford was a “young team on the rise” was replaced by the fear of being “chokers”. The legacy of the class of 2018 could end up as “what could have been”.

Yet as we all know, Rome was not built in a day. Armed with the devastation of years prior, Spring Ford came back with a vengeance in 2017. After Shane Ainscoe made a big leap in 2016, his now senior teammate Jacob McKenna followed suit a year later. At Paul Short, McKenna provided a huge front running edge with a 15:48 while teammate Zach Smith followed in behind him under 16 minutes. Overall, Spring Ford won the Paul Short Invite, defeating emerging powerhouse Downingtown West.

The team was led by four battle tested seniors. Along with McKenna, Smith and Ainscoe, the Rams also boasted Milan Sharma, an 800 speedster who had made a very successful transition to the trails in 2016. However, the real x-factor was their youngest runner. A guy who hadn’t been around back in the Paul Power days and was likely in elementary school back when Joseph O’Such punched his ticket to states. John Zawislak, a freshman sensation, took this team’s ceiling to another level. Learning from his senior mentors, Zawislak nearly broke 16 minutes at Paul Short and then, in arguably the most pressure filled meet of the season, provided a key #2 leg for the Rams as they finished 4^th in the district. After three years of struggle, Spring Ford finally punched their ticket to Hershey.

With the proverbial monkey off their back, Spring Ford raced across the Parkview hills with a sense of freedom. Almost across the board, the team saw breakthroughs. McKenna, who had finished just 23^rd at districts, took 20^th overall at states. Ironically, his finish matched exactly to Paul Power’s all-important first medal for Spring Ford in 2013. After finishing a disappointing 63^rd at Lehigh, Shane Ainscoe rallied with a huge performance at Hershey, taking 57^th overall. Their freshman, Zawislak, took an incredible 50^th overall, making him just the 5^th runner his age to break into the top 50 at AAA states in the last decade. With Zach Smith moving up 24 spots on the last mile and Milan Sharma bringing it home strong, Spring Ford jumped from 7^th at the 2-mile all the way to 4^th at the finish.

In a span of just six years, Spring Ford had gone from an afterthought in the district to the #4 team in the state.

***

In 2012, Bishop Shanahan was 45^th in the district. They scored 1,109 points at Lehigh’s championships. But what they had on that season’s roster were freshmen Chris Kolimago and Seamus Breslin. In a few years time, those two would be critical pieces on a state caliber team. Starting in the 2014, Shanahan made the switch to AA for XC. The small school made a nice jump, moving from 40^th in AAA to 3^rd in AA during the first year. Seamus Breslin was a state qualifier for Shanahan with his 4^th place finish.

But where this XC team really found its strength was, funny enough, on the track. In 2015, Shanahan surprised everybody with a 7:53 at the District One Championships. The upstart 4x8 nearly found themselves in the state final before people even had time to realize where they came from. Chris Kolimago was the strong lead-off runner for the squad that season and his heart set the tone for the relay behind him.

After their emergence on the track, the proceeding XC season seemed like a great opportunity to prove that wasn’t a fluke. Using a pack mentality, the Shanahan boys won the White Race at Paul Short and then survived a 1-2 finish by HG Prep to qualify for states out of the AA classification. Freshman Jack Ettien along with his brother Blake provided a killer 1-2 punch at the district meet. Sophomore Logan Yoquinto was also coming on strong at the right time. At states, Ettien and Yoquinto were the #1 and #2 runners for Shanahan. Despite the fact that their #1 runner was just 35^th, Shanahan rolled to 3^rd in the state and posted a strong spread to take the bronze.

Still, this was in AA. Most AAA schools in District 1 will dismiss those results without much consideration. So a year later, when Shanahan moved back to the largest classification, they would have the chance to really show what they could do. Of course the big news in 2016 wasn’t Shanahan’s transfer to AAA, it was the transfer of Josh and Jonah Hoey to their program.

In a quick span, Shanahan had went from obscurity to the center of attention for the distance running community. Josh Hoey, the reigning Penn Relays champion in the mile as only a sophomore, was perhaps the biggest star in the sport and after he and his brother Jaxson had led DT West to a state title in 2015, expectations were very high for Josh and his brother Jonah. But Shanahan’s 2016 season was shaky and things didn’t gel quite the way many were (ambitiously) projecting. Injuries loomed and a small school needs everything to click to make noise against the bigger ones.

However, Shanahan didn’t throw away the 2016 district meet. They had the chance to rest up and switch over to track, but all of their varsity runners raced. Josh Hoey gutted out a 15:53 and the team got clutch races from Jon McGrory and Logan Yoquinto to pair with Jonah Hoey and Jack Ettien’s best races of the year. In a somewhat surprising finish, Shanahan had 5 guys under 17 minutes and took 12^th in the district, one spot ahead of Ches-mont Champions West Chester Rustin. And, as many noticed, their whole top 5 was coming back in 2017.

After spending years near the back of the AAA field, Shanahan found itself full-fledged contenders in 2017. From the first meet, it was clear that Shanahan was clicking better than they had the previous year. But depth was still a concern. One injury to someone in their top 5 and that could crush their hopes of state qualifying. To further complicate their state qualifying hopes, Shanahan faded from 2^nd at the mile to 8^th at the finish in the Paul Short Invite, losing to 4 other District One teams. On top of all that, it looked like Logan Yoquinto, one of the team’s most reliable and clutch performers, would miss the district meet.

But this program was ready for the challenge. Just as they had the previous year, Shanahan entered the district meet looking like they had no momentum. The absence of Yoquinto made qualifying for states a real long shot. However, the boys came to play. Josh Hoey set the tone with a 15:12 time and a close 2^nd place finish individually. Then came his brother Jonah, posting his best race of the year in 10^th. Jonathan McGrory, who learned a lot starting his sophomore season as a varsity member of the state qualifying 2015 squad, delivered a 16:24 as the team’s #3 and that set the team up well. Now they just needed someone to fill the shoes of Yoquinto. That role came to Ryan Doherty who stepped up with the pressure on and delivered a 16:56 mark. With Doherty in the clubhouse under 17, Shanahan was in to the state championship despite the fact that it was one of the district’s smallest schools.

But no. They weren’t finished. Shanahan entered the state meet with what was still a long list of question marks. They had snuck into the state field, but at Hershey some thought their depth could be exposed. However, Shanahan didn’t come to the Parkview course to get exposed. The squad stormed through the course and got themselves in a strong position early. The top 3 delivered big performances as expected, but the #4-5 punch was the difference maker. Jack Ettien, who had first come to states as a freshman in 2015, raced incredibly clutch just as he did that day. Ettien finished 60^th in the team standings as the team’s #4 runner and edged out 9 other team scorers by 2 seconds in the final stretch. Those 9 points ended up being quite critical as Shanahan placed 5^th in the state, edging out WPIAL champs Seneca Valley by just 3.

3^rd in AA and 5^th in AAA. All that coming shortly after this squad was 45^th in the district. It’s one of the greatest turnarounds we’ve seen in the state.

***

In 2013, Owen J Roberts was 34^th in the district. The team had no finishers outside the triple digits. But this was a young team with three sophomores and a freshman in the top seven. There was room to grow. And, oh by the way, they were about to add one of the best runners in state history to the equation.

Freshman Liam Conway burst onto the scene in 2014 with a 16:10 run at Paul Short. He helped elevate OJR to 24^th in the standings at the meet. A few weeks later, when the school returned to Lehigh, Conway became the team’s first state qualifier since 2007. But he wasn’t alone. Junior Abe Van Helmond ran a fantastic race to take 34^th overall and snag one of the last five qualifying spots to states. The previous year, Abe had finished 264^th in the district, meaning he made a 230 spot jump in the final standings. Although Conway’s arrival was important, it was perhaps this breakthrough that changed the tone of Owen J Roberts XC for the years that followed.

After finished 24^th in the district in 2014, Owen J. Roberts came out with a vengeance in 2015. They were completely off the radar for most teams, but quickly announced their presence at the Foundation Invitational. OJR took 4^th overall in the team standings, defeating proven powers like State College and Cardinal O’Hara. Liam Conway and Abe Van Helmond led the squad as expected, but the pack behind them was what really brought things home. Only proven pack powers North Allegheny and LaSalle had a better pack as Ethan Conway, Sean Barone and Andrew Griffin bolstered the back half of the scorers.

However, the 2015 squad may not have been ready for the spotlight. After their hot start at Foundation and Paul Short, OJR slipped back at their league championships and lost to Spring Ford by a score of 38-70. The result likely meant their state qualifying dreams were over. However, the Roberts boys rallied at the District Championships and held on for 10^th in the final standings. It was a huge achievement for the program and, even if they weren’t heading to Hershey, it was something to be proud of for this program.

After graduating most of the core from that team, the 2016 OJR squad wasn’t expected to make waves. Only standout junior Liam Conway was in the state spotlight and he continued to excel. But the team was quietly accumulating young talent. At Foundation, a nice crop of returners got some experience on the Hershey hills. At Paul Short, the team finished a sneaky good 13^th place. They were second again at the Pioneer Championships and ended the season strong by taking 17^th at the district championship. Although the result wasn’t particularly head turning, you could tell that OJR was proud of that mark. Particularly, Andrew Malmstrom’s 16:37 breakthrough time caught some attention. Still, they had a long way to go to surpass the teams ahead of them, including not just perennial powers like CR North and DT West, but also league rivals in Spring Ford and Boyertown.

Feeling confident, Owen J. Roberts entered the 2017 season with dreams of making it to states. To see their passion, one only had to check out the comment section of the blog. Freshly graduated senior Sean Barone told everyone that Owen J would be “put on the map this year”. Some could have seen this as homerism, but in due time, it would prove to be a sign of things to come.

From the first major invite at Foundation, it was clear this team had improved. They placed 6^th in the varsity race and 2^nd in the JV race. This was a level of depth we had not previously seen from this program. However, there was still reason to be cautious. OJR was over 100 points back from those two league rivals in Boyertown and Spring Ford. It was hard to ignore the fact that front-runner Liam Conway had finished 57 seconds ahead of their #2 and Spring Ford had put 6 guys in front of their #3.

But Roberts worked through those concerns. Quickly. A week later at Paul Short, Linus Blatz delivered a huge day and ran 16:19 as team’s #3. In a blink, they had narrowed the gap on both Spring Ford and Boyertown. The depth that first caught my attention was on display again with their entire top 7 under 17 minutes. Then, at the Pioneer Championships, Andrew Malmstrom stepped up as the team’s #2. After finishing roughly a minute behind Liam Conway in the first two meets, he pulled that spread down to just 19 seconds at leagues. His teammates followed as the entire top 5 finished within a minute of Conway and OJR came within 2 points of knocking off Spring Ford.

Next came the moment of truth. OJR was now officially mentioned with the biggest names in the district. This school had finished in double digits for years in the crowded D1. Could they have a big breakthrough in 2017? The answer was a resounding “Yes”. Andrew Malmstrom doubled down on his breakthrough at leagues with a 15:48 and 9^th place finish. Kyle Malmstrom, who had his own big day at Pioneer, delivered a monster #3 performance in 28^th. Vincent Fennell was the man to step up in the #5 spot as his 16:53 made their state qualifying performance an easy lock. However, it wasn’t just a state qualifier. They took 3^rd in the district, defeating Spring Ford in a tight battle.

At states the next weekend, OJR brought home their first individual state medals since 2006 as Liam Conway and Andrew Malmstrom both cracked the podium. Thanks to another big day from Fennell and step up performance from David Brunton, Roberts finished an impressive 7^th place overall in the state.

In one year, Owen J Roberts went from 17^th in the District to 7^th in the state! To the untrained eye, that would look like Rome was built pretty quickly. But we know the foundation for this team was built a long time ago with a big piece, ironically, coming at a meet called Foundation.

***

Each of these three teams overcame the weight of history to place in the top 5 in a loaded district and the top 7 of the entire state. It didn’t happen with just one runner or just one race, but that didn’t mean that each runner and each race didn’t matter. During a race, most people don’t think about every individual step they take. But without every single step, you don’t get to the finish.

Some team right now is already taking their steps. If you scroll down the district one standings the next Spring Ford may already be hiding. Maybe it’s Oxford at 21. Maybe it’s Souderton at 33. Heck, it could even be Kennett at 38. It wouldn’t be the craziest story we’ve heard. All it takes is a couple well placed dominoes so that when one falls …

Well, you know how the saying goes.