A Rise to Power

I first heard about Colin Abert when he was a freshman in high school. One of my college teammates was telling me how good this guy had the potential to be because he was just fearlessly destroying typical freshman PRs and beating quality district 11 names.

I first heard of Sam Webb when he was in 8th grade and dropping impressive mile times. I followed his career carefully since and became a big fan of his heart and toughness.

I first heard of Kevin James when he was a freshman and running some blazing fast times for a very good O'Hara team.

You know the first time I heard of Paul Power? About 10 minutes into last year's pre states fantasy draft.

Now to be fair, I didn't follow cross country last year during my brief retirement from the game. I had decided to enter and see if I could just quickly check a lot of results and still draft a solid team (it didn't work out so well, pretty sure I got crushed).

I drafted Power in something like the 5th round. That's probably 40 picks in or so. Here was a 15:30s guy, top 10 at districts and everybody was just letting him slide. I thought he was injured or something honestly.

He turned out to be a steal, giving me a strong 20th place, maybe the best finish in program history for Spring Ford.

Power got to the Spring Ford Rams in 2011-2012. The team was coming off a 7:50 run in the 4x8 behind Damien Boham and Joesph O'Such and a stunning runner up finish at districts behind CB West (the eventual state champs) and ahead of teams like Abington, Henderson, and CB South.

As a freshman Power ran a strong 4:47 1600m at the PAC championships. He ran with a group of guys hungry to keep their 4x8 legacy growing (and they did, getting back to states).

Perhaps those training partners inspired Power, as he made serious improvements as a sophomore. He broke 16:20 at districts for 5k and went on to run 9:38 for 3200m at districts. The time was very strong, but he ended up buried at 14th amongst all the top notch district one talent.

But Power was unphased by the lack of recognition and continued to show serious improvement. He ran 15:36 for 5k at Lehigh and finished in the medals at states as a Junior.

Despite those XC credentials he got virtually no talk this year. I remember writing that he had to be the most under appreciated guy in the state right before he became quite appreciated ... Dropping a 15:50 at the states course and beating out 3 of the best 10 guys in AAA in the process. And it wasn't a fluke either. He backed it up with a 15:24 at Paul Short where he dueled wonderfully with state champ and national qualifier Griffin Molino.

Power now finds himself in the state title conversation and national conversation. Keep in mind everybody who has run as fast as he has at this state course made nationals before they graduated.

So how did we get here? How did Power get lost in the shuffle of state elite? And should we even be surprised by his fast start this year?

Here's how I see it. Power has been consistently progressing in XC better than probably anybody in the senior class. He's kind of on an Austin Pondel progression right now, every year he just takes another step. From borderline state qualifier to state medalist and now to state title contender.

Plus go back and watch last years state meet. Check the splits, look at pictures and watch for Paul Power. He moves brilliantly through the course and finds himself in position for a top 10 finish with roughly 400m to go. Unfortunately, he gets caught by a slew of guys and ends up 20th. He was just a junior in a big moment he had never been before and his body couldn't quite cooperate. But say he does hold on (and on a different day he probably could have) ,he ends up beating Marston, Comber, Van Kooten, Brehm and maybe even Brophy. Then I bet we look at this guy a little different if he's the #3 returner at states.

Then we consider his track season. He's probably the only big name guy who didn't qualify for states or run a flashy 2 mile this past spring. Why? Well it wasn't a talent issue (he ran 9:38 the previous year and a fast 3k indoors). Unfortunately, he ended up left out of the fast section at Henderson in the 2 mile and underperformed in the slower race, possibly from having to do too much work or possibly just from a mental frustration.

Plus the Spring Ford relays had some real potential. They ran a 10:47 DMR and an 8:05 in April with Power as a key contributor. They tried hard to run fast enough to crack into Penn Relays and Power had to do a lot of speed for a two miler.

Basically his outdoor season was like Jake Brophy's. The difference was Brophy's 4x8 shined and gave Jake an opportunity for a prime time gutsy run that everyone remembered long after states.

As for Power, Spring Ford ended up being built more for a 4x4 than a 4x8 (they ran 3:19) and he was not built for a 4x4 leg. He jumped in the mile with his speed but couldn't quite get the wheels to crack the top 8 in the finals. So he ended up being a non entity at season's end, having sacrificed a chance at low 9:20s in the 32 for some early season Penn Relays dreams.

And that's how I think we overlooked Paul.

But it's clear now, no one will overlook him anymore. Even after his big win, people still had doubts, had to see more. And he delivered with an impressive showing at Paul Short, nearly holding off a 4:12 guy the last half mile.

Plus he has led his squad of youngsters, affectionately called the Power Rangers, to district relevance. They have a slew of freshman but Power has proven to be a strong leader for the crew and the team has a chance at top 10 at districts. And some are saying they could even do more than that.

Only time will tell how this story ends, but one thing is for sure: I'm not getting Paul in the 5th round of the states draft this year.