But this year seems positive for the valley boys of D11. Colin Abert is a superstar in XC, maybe the best the district has ever known. He was 2nd at states last year as a junior, the best finish since Sam Luff was runner up to Craig Miller in 2004. Much like Luff in 04, Abert ran into an All Timer who was at the peak of his ability and looking to defend his title. It's hard to imagine anyone beating Miller in 04, just like it's hard to imagine anyone defeating Russell last year.
Abert proved himself even after the state meet, placing in the top 15 at Regionals and positioning himself to take a shot at nationals this year. He also gets one more shot at that elusive state title for D11.
That's the defining difference between Luff and Abert. Luff didn't have a chance to come back one more time with no Miller in the field. Abert does.
Abert has been the top man from the class of 2015 at each of the last two state championships, an impressive achievement. The last two people to accomplish it? Conner Quinn and Sam Hibbs, both from Hatboro Horsham. Unfortunately, the boys both finished a disappointing 13th as Seniors. Before these two it was Jason Weller of Boyertown and Craig Miller of Manheim Township. Both won state titles as Seniors, with Weller's title being his first of two career defining upsets over 14:47/8:48 man Paul Springer.
Abert was 2nd at states last year as a Junior, another impressive mark. The most recent second place Juniors? Well there have actually been a lot ... Brent Kennedy, Dan Jaskowak, and Will Kellar were the last three. Kennedy suffered an injury that held him out of his Senior season, Jaskowak switched to AA and lost a tough one to Todaro and Shearn. Kellar ended up 6th as a Senior but ran a smart, impressive race and got himself a team gold medal with Henderson.
Abert has been at the top stage for two years now: extremely valuable experience. You could see his tactics improve substantially from his Sophomore to Junior year. And he made a state final in the 1600m last year and cracked 4:17. He ran 9:20 in the 32, and I'm convinced if he ran that race at states he would have run somewhere under 9:15 which puts him right in league with most of the states top returnerers in that event (but notice it probably finishes out of the medals which is why running the 16 was the right choice for him).
I feel the big problem for District 11 runners is this lack of experience against top guys. I think back to Matt Kacyon's sophomore year, the last district 11 medalist before Abert. In 2008, D11 had 3 medalists and another guy in the top 30. It was their best year. Kacyon wasn't one of those guys, as a soph he went out with the leaders through the mile in sub 4:50. He crumbled over the last half of the race and finished way out of the medals. The next two years he learned his lesson, finished 17th and 8th. Those crazy front running tactics that worked against inferior competition weren't as effective against the states elite.
When I saw Abert in 2012, I thought I was watching Kacyon 2.0, that my prediction for a top 25 spot for Abert would prove to be wrong if he couldn't hang from a very brisk sub 4:50 first mile that put him way out in front of the field. But Abert hung on valiantly. He finished 12th, one spot ahead of the defending state champ. Ahead of Webb and James. He was 4:42 at the mile, 6 seconds ahead of the field. Then he was in 15th at 2 miles, looking spent and then he dug down and found the gear the last mile.
That's what Abert has that is truly impressive to me. For two straight years he has looked on the verge of crumbling the second mile, only to rally impressively over the course of the final 800m, crest the final hill and finish strong. Despite his blazing first miles, he has actually improved his finish from 2 to 3 miles for back to back seasons. That's a remarkable display of heart and something that gives D11 fans hope for a title.
But beyond Abert, D11 has a team to get excited about. The boys from Freedom return 6 of their 7 boys from a 12th place finish last year. That may not sound like much, but keep in mind D11 has not had a top 10 team in the past decade. Their best finish in the last 12 seasons is 11th by Parkland. They have had a slew of teams finish in the 20s at states back when more teams were accepted to the state meet (which brings me to a slight tangent that I feel is important. D11 still sends two teams to states in AAA, the same amount as d12 and d6 combined. Think about that. LaSalle and Altoona are smacking themselves right now. And I think d11 is big enough they deserve 2 teams, honestly, but we need a slight change to this system because how can d12 and d6 not get a second team if d11 does? But I digress ...)
Freedom was a very solid team, that you could probably argue had an off day at the state meet and was a few better breaks from cracking the top 10. With most guys back and finding themselves with two straight years of valuable experience at the state level.
The state course takes a time or two to get used to it. And running a big race takes a time or two to get used to. That's why D1 teams tend to dominate these kind of meets. Yeah they are the biggest, but they see the best competition week in and week out. D1 guys have seen a variety of types of races and strategies, D11 guys have rarely ever been in a race that even remotely compares to states. Go out too hard youre cooked at the hills. Go out too slow you're buried and never moving up. You have to find your sweet spot and ride it. That takes practice. Look how much better Henderson was the second time around. Look how much better NA was the second time around. They were 5th and 4th at states with their young squads before getting a pair of golds and silver respectively. Russell is the only guy in the last decade who didn't medal at states the year before he won the state title. And he was 27th the year before they diluted the competition so he was a psuedo medalist in my opinion.
So that puts the D11 boys in a hole right away. One of my friends who ran for Nazareth hammered this point home to me and I agree. But Freedom has worked hard to erase that disadvantage, and it is a disadvantage you can combat with a carefully chosen schedule. Getting in Pre States and Paul Short are nice races that provide key experience and aren't horrible trips for D11 squads. Carlisle would be another nice meet for these squads to get involved with. I also think moving the district championships back to Lehigh would help them out a bit. Fast times, more confidence, less of a crazy, windy course. ( that's not windy as in wind that's windy as in lots of turns btw)
So what's so great about this freedom squad? Well last year they placed their top guy in the top 50 at the state meet, a big step forward. That was Ben Zeigler who will serve as the teams Senior leader. Freedom ran one of their best races of the year at pre states last year. They were 4th, ahead of Pennsbury and Lebo and just 18 points behind State College. Dan Quigley ran 17:03 at Pre States, a mark he failed to match at states. If he manages to come close to that mark at states, you are probably looking at a top 10 team. At pre states they averaged 17:30 and had a 59 second spread. At states they averaged 17:31 and had a 50 second spread. If they can time their peak better and have a better drop for the state meet, they will jump up a few spots. Certainly this could be a coaching issue, but remember coaches are learning a lot during this period too. The Freedom coach has turned these youngsters into studs and is slowly learning what kind of training it will take to peak at states. A lot of the best coaching methods are developed by educated trial and error. Then you get a system and churn out guys year after year.
At districts last year, Freedom dropped 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 13th on everybody. That's quite impressive. Zeigler beat out Gabe Lamm and Kevin Lapansky, too solid runners. Their spread was just 42 seconds. This was the kind of race they needed to have just a week later. This year that just may happen.
Beyond Abert and Freedom D11 has lots to be excited about. They return 13 of the top 14 from last years championships, including the top 8 finishers. Kev Lapansky has improved substantially training with Abert at Easton and ran in the 9:30s this past year. Gave Lamm was another break out guy for Whitehall last year. Whitehall and Emmaus both put together some excellent 4x8 squads as well.
I'm excited to see what d11 can bring to the table this year.
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