Freshman Year: 2006-2007

Defining Runners

Jason Weller, Boyertown

Paul Springer, Unionville

As you will see from the rest of this post, the 2006-2007 was owned by Weller and Springer. There were other great runners, don’t get me wrong, but these two guys were the talk of the town. Over the years, I’ve written countless posts about these two runners on this version of my blog, which is pretty wild considering that I didn’t start this site until November 2013. They’ve got multiple chapters in my autobiography/history book “All My Friends Are Runners”, pepper the greatest races/all-time lists and even lend their names to two of the greatest runners in this blog’s fictional history within “The Running Diaries”.

For those of you who need a refresher, Weller and Springer were both long distance super stars. They were good since their sophomore seasons (both guys grabbing XC state medals), but junior year was where they really started to shine. Springer won the indoor mile state championship and then doubled down on that gold with a 3200 state gold in a time of 9:01.72. That time, within inches of the long coveted state meet record of 8:58, launched Paul into all-time discussions as he entered his senior season.

Springer and Weller were the clear 1-2 in the state during the XC season, but we had to wait until Districts for the boys to go head to head. It was here, at Lehigh, that the Springer-Weller legend really gets going. Paul and Jason ran 14:47 and 14:54 respectively on this course, blowing the mind of a 14 year-old Jarrett Felix who was hoping to break 20 for the first time on that same day (we will get to that). Then, after Springer seemed superhuman, Weller somehow beat him at Hershey a week later, running 15:04. Yes, 15:04 at some version of Hershey (not the exact same one as today, but still).

Indoors, Weller won the Millrose Games in the mile, but Springer defeated Weller for a second straight indoor state title in the same event. Paul’s time of 4:12 was a meet record (which stood until Sam Ritz came along). Even though Springer got the head to head victory, Weller ended up doubling back with a solo 8:26 3k for the gold (and almost his own meet record). Add in a DMR medal and Weller left PSU with athlete of the meet honors.

Outdoors would be the final battle between the two and, based on the early months, it didn’t seem like it would be close. Springer dusted Weller at the Henderson Invite en route to a new state record in the 2 Mile (8:52 for the full two miles) and then smashed the last mile in their district 3200 duel, running 4:19 for the second half. So it appeared that Paul would roll to a second straight state title in the 32 and break that state meet record.

Nope. Weller put on the clutch gene and outsprinted Springer in hot conditions, dropping a new PR of 9:02 with a sub 60 last lap. Weller was super clutch, an unreal doubler and a really fast runner. He left with three state titles, including an XC-Indoor 3k-Outdoor 32 triple crown (when’s the last time somebody did that?). Springer also graduated with three state titles and a state record (which he still holds-kind of). He ran the fastest time in his class for the mile and the 3200 (plus he split a 1:52 for 800 apparently). Springer also ran 14:47 and made Footlocker Nationals.

Defining Teams

Coatesville

There were other teams that deserve to be mentioned (mainly Henderson who was runners-up at XC states, 1^st indoors in the DMR at states … and nationals and had multiple medalists outdoors), but Coatesville was so dang good they kinda deserve their own section.

This XC squad was the greatest PA has ever seen-and probably ever will see. Coatesville’s #1 guy, Kyle Dawson, ran 14:58 at Lehigh and led a team of 5 runners who all finished under 15:50. A week later, Coatesville’s top 5 all placed in the top 18 at states. That’s not team scoring-that’s out of everyone. How about 3-6-8-12-18 overall in a year that included two all-time greats in the aforementioned Springer and Weller. Pretty good, right? Well it was so good that they went on to Nationals where Coatesville took 1^st overall. As in no one in the country beat them. A more complete breakdown of these guys is also a chapter in “All My Friends Are Runners”. I can link that as well as the Weller-Springer stuff in the comment section if people are interested.

By the way, Coatesville wasn’t finished after XC. Indoors, their marquee twins (Kyle and Owen Dawson) were swimming so they didn’t do much (besides a state medal in the DMR and another in the 3k). However, by the time Penn Relays rolled around, these boys were fit. They held off a surging Craig Forys (4:04 split) to win the Championship of America in the DMR over the indoor national champs from nearby Henderson. Coatesville also stretched their distance acumen down to the 4x8 where they placed 5^th in the state at 7:48.31. Kyle Dawson and Sean Ward medaled in the 3200 and Owen Dawson qualified for finals in the 1600 (4:18 in the prelims to do it).

Best “The 11” Story

The 800m

Strath Haven

There were two good options here (apart from writing about Weller-Springer or Coatesville, which would obviously be really fun). The first was the 800 meters. Andrew Rotz was probably the #3 on my “Defining Runners” list, but didn’t quite make the cut. The Central Dauphin senior split 1:51 to anchor his relay into third place in the 4x8 in 7:47. Then he doubled back and cruised to a state title in 1:51.65 in the AAA championship. But Rotz missed out on the chance to battle his biggest rivals outdoors. Jamar Jones of E&S, the indoor state champ with a 1:51.94 personal best, raced in the AA field (and won the title easily in 1:53). You also had the best runner from the independent league, junior Elliot Rhodes, who had clocked a 1:52.3 that season. Obviously, as an independent leaguer, he wasn’t at PIAA’s state meet. Lastly, you have Andrew Lobb. The West Chester East senior was the defending champ at 800 (ran 1:51.99), but an injury kept him out of the finals at states. So we had the chance to have a dream race between four amazing 800 runners, but none of them ended up facing any of the others in the state championship.

The other story was the Strath Haven boys. Rob Speare and Ryan Fink both went on absolute tears to end the season. Fink was a solid miler, but nothing crazy. However, over the home stretch of the season, he dipped from above 4:20 all the way down to 4:13. That 4:13 got him 2^nd in the state championship. Speare’s drop wasn’t quite as dramatic, but he ended up clocking 8:32 for 3k and 9:10 in the heat for 3200 and took 3^rd at states when all was said and done.

And, by the way, the Strath Haven story was almost completely different. The Haven 4x8 ran 7:58 and finished one spot out of the 4x8 finals (missing by 0.09 seconds). If they make the 4x8 finals, that could have meant both Speare and Fink would have had to double and that could have really damaged their medal hopes in the individual events. It would be a solid “What If” as well.

Best Race

Indoor States DMR

WPIAL AAA 3200m

The best race of the year was, undoubtedly, Weller vs. Springer in the 3200 at outdoor states. However, there’s been plenty of Weller-Springer talk in this post already, so I spared you another recap (but there is a post floating around out there with a full break down that I can find and link for those who care). Instead, I thought of two other great races. First was the Indoor States DMR. Henderson, the eventual national champions, nearly had disaster strike as usual anchor Chris Aldrich was sick on race day. That meant Henderson’s usual 12, Chris Ferry, had to step up to the 1600 leg (after having already run the open 800). The door was open for teams from GFS, Wissahickon and Upper Dublin, each of which had saved all of their legs to be fresh for this race. Ferry had a lead early, but Max Kaulbach and Nick Crits (along with UD’s Joe Dorris) made things very interesting in the later stages of the race. Ultimately, Ferry kicked away from the field to give Henderson the title.

The other was a race I’ve never actually seen-the WPIAL Outdoor 3200. The Western part of the state had two main distance stars: Scott VanKooten and Lucas Zarzeczny. These two guys had pushed each other to some jaw dropping performances at Coopers and RWB and Lucas was the reigning AA XC state champ. During track season, Avonworth jumped up to AAA and Zarzeczny and VanKooten were finally head to head at a major championship. Lucas decided to skip the 1600, focusing instead on the 3200 while Scott loaded up on both distance events. Even with SVK doubling, the stage was set for an epic match up.

However, Seneca Valley junior Chris Cipro nearly stole the show. Not bowing to the two WPIAL kings, Cipro through his nose in the race and went for the W against the front runners. It was a near blanket finish after 8 laps of battling with VanKooten, Cipro and Zarzeczny crossing the line in 9:19.06-9:19.19-9:19.45. Three other runners also broke 9:30 and qualified for the state meet at Shippensburg the next week.

Biggest “What If”

State Schedule

For those of you who don’t know the PIAA State Meet Distance schedule used to be 4x8, 32, 16 rather than 32, 4x8, 16 like it is today. So in 2007, we were looking at a different state landscape than what I’ve typically thought about it. But what if the schedule in 2007 was the same as it was in 2017? How would the meet have played out differently?

Well, for starters, the 3200 would have been contested earlier in the day. Maybe that would have made the heat a little bit more manageable for Springer and he would have had that much extra left for a kick at the end of the two mile. That could have swung one of the most pivotal titles in the pair’s rivalry.

But there’s more to consider. Nick Crits of Wissahickon anchored his squad’s 4x8 at the first meet of the day and then doubled back for the 1600. Back then, he had some extra rest between events which made the double a bit more doable (but still very hard). Crits took advantage and clocked a big PR to earn the bronze medal at states. It was a huge confidence boost for the junior who, spoiler alert, would go on to use that confidence to his advantage a year later in the same race.

On the flip side, if the order had been changed Jason Weller would have had more time in between his 3200 and 1600 runs. Weller made a hard surge on the 3^rd lap of the 16 to close the gap between himself and eventual champ Vince McNally, but faded to 5^th in the final standings. If you give Weller a bit more time to recover, maybe he could have been a hero again and competed for gold (or at least silver). Remember, Weller beat Fink, Crits, Bryan and Aldrich (the 2^nd through 6^th place finishers) at the District One championships the week before in the 1600, doubling off the 32. He also clocked an 8:26 3k indoors on the double from a 4:15 mile.

The same could have been true for AA’s Ben Hahn. The senior from Smethport won the 3200 and was the top qualifier for the 1600 meters in the prelims, but Hahn didn’t have enough in the tank to contend in his second final. With more rest, he might have been able to compete for gold. The AA title that season went to Mark Bucklaw of Lakeland in 4:20.03. Hahn ran 4:20.31 in the prelims, indicating his fitness. And, by the way, Bucklaw ran the 4x8 to start the day. If Hahn gets more time that means Mark gets less and the Lakeland senior would have been a little more tired when it was time for that finishing kick.

My Personal Best Running Moment

Running 19:12

Getting Cut

I know this only supposed to be one moment, but I’ve opted for two. The first was my freshman year time of 19:12. Doesn’t sound like much, but I spent the entire year (dating back to the summer) trying to break 20 minutes on a course that I was confident was 5,000 meters long. I had come close in a variety of ways, but never quite broken through until the district championships at Lehigh when I ran a big PR and finished things off with a smile.

But the best thing that happened to my running career was during the winter. I tried out for my freshman basketball team and got cut. In the first round of cuts. So I wasn’t really all that close. I didn’t suck at basketball, but I wasn’t all that great at it either. Ultimately, getting cut led to joining the track team and the winter and spring seasons cemented my enthusiasm. Plus, the fact that I started the year a month behind my other freshmen teammates made things hard for me. I had to fight back to get onto their level which made me hungry to prove myself heading into my sophomore campaign.

I suppose everything happens for a reason …

PA’s Fastest Seniors

800m (1:55)

1. Andrew Rotz, Central Dauphin 1:51.65

2. Jamar Jones, E&S 1:51.94

3. Andrew Lobb, WC East 1:51.99*

4. Matt Wikler, CR North 1:53.50

5. Chris Ferry, Henderson 1:54.09

6. Mike Kimmel, Northern 1:54.39

7. Andrew Kontra, Hempfield 1:54.55

8. Corey Grove, Chambersburg 1:54.91

9. Chris Wolfe, Baldwin 1:54.98

1600m (4:17)

1. Paul Springer, Unionville 4:08.88c

2. Jason Weller, Boyertown 4:12.26

T-3. Nick Hilton, Exeter 4:13.89

T-3. Ryan Fink, Strath Haven 4:13.89

5. Lucas Zarzeczny, Avonworth 4:14.83ic

6. Isaac Bryan, Pennridge 4:15.16

7. Tim Stepp, Parkland 4:16.87

3200m (9:20)

1. Paul Springer, Unionville 8:49.68e

2. Jason Weller, Boyertonw 9:02.75

3. Kyle Dawson, Coatesville 9:07.2

4. Ben Hahn, Smethport 9:09.75

5. Rob Speare, Strath Haven 9:10.09

6. Bryan Beegle, Gettysburg 9:15.83

7. Zac Ross, Meadville 9:18.30

8. Sean Ward 9:18.79

9. Mike Stolar 9:18.82*

10. Scott VanKooten 9:19.06

11. Lucas Zarzeczny 9:19.45

4x800m (7:47)

1. North Penn 7:43.22

2. Baldwin 7:44.08

3. Central Dauphin 7:47.08