Pennypacker & Conference

For many a runner on Cherry Hill High School East's Cross Country team, today marked an end to his 4th and unfortunately, final, cross country season. It has been a long journey, but it is far from over; the potential that our seniors and underclassmen have shown over the course of the season can only serve to create stronger individuals of ourselves and others, in running and out. But today will not be justly served if we think in the future; let's start with Pennypacker.

On Wednesday, October the 24th, the sub-varsity/freshmen boy's team canoed to Pennypacker Park for just another practice; however, they were so tired of doing the course there at long run pace, as they had done for countless Saturdays, that they decided to race it. In the freshman 5k race of the Haddonfield Sub-Varsity Invitational, Kennedy Omari (18:52), Sean Finias (18:52.5) and Brett Dashevsky all broke 19 for the first time, all nailing huge prs. While Kennedy skipped the 19-20 minute range completely (until Friday) Sean ran a HUGE race, breaking up the Kenyan-Arabian duo of Kennedy and Brett whilst fulfilling Coach's "Prophesy". Others who broke 20 were Cole Parsons(19:28), Vignesh Vasu (19:36), Sam Greenberg (19:39), and Gilead "The Israeli Missile" Caspi. Ryan Federline (20:03) and Dylan Clark (20:06) just missed the 20 minute mark, meaning that Ryan and Dylan can't do Basketball and Wrestling, respectively, in the winter. Just kidding guys; well, not really. Fortunately, we will be getting back Vimalesh Vasu (20:16) for the winter, who ran a solid race. Anyway, Alex Liu (21:15) and Benji Grossman (21:25) also had big races, dropping significant seconds from their prs.

The JV race was almost identical to the freshman race in terms of relative success. Jeff Braun (17:29)led the way, fighting his way to a victory in the JV section of the race; however, Jeff did not win the race, as Penn Tech's #1 man (Remember the kid that I destroyed in the woods at County's?) somehow managed to enter into the JV race. Sean Taylor (17:52) also ran a good race, breaking 18 for the first time. Sean was followed by Lokesha Shah (18:19), who dropped a moderate pr, and Jason Decker (18:47) who dropped 142 seconds off of his 5k pr from the beginning of the season. Great job Jason.
Aaron Zucker (19:06) and Bryan Burt (19:14) also recorded prs, with Bryan dropping almost 2 minutes this season, a season that almost came to an end for him with a red bull overdose and nearly falling off a tree.

While several individuals elected not to race on Wednesday in order to save up energy for the final race of their seasons, everyone raced on Friday at the Olympic Conference meet at GCC. At 3:40 on Friday, seconds before the smoke of the gun kissed the October breeze, 7 men stepped to the line, all with separate plans but with the similar intention to succeed. Not long after, everyone was finished, finished of energy, effort, but not of promise and hype for sectionals. Minion led the way to a 6th place, 1st team all-conference finish with a blazing 16:27 on the "C" course; this fantastic time also led Minion to achieve the Njrunners Silver Standard, a huge feat in itself. Ben "Sick" Dillon (16:38) and Dan Helfand (16:39) also ran great races, earning 2nd team all-conference letters. A-Aron Groff (16:54) also had an ENORMOUS race, and was the first freshman to break 17 for East in God knows when. Varsity won second place in the varsity race with a blazing 16:45 average, second to only Twp.
Can't wait for next Saturday, boys.

The JV race, although not as positive as the varsity race, experienced lots of success. Jeff Braun (17:54) won the JV race again (this time against some competition, nice job), pulling the classic JV trifecta (SJ soph champ - Pennypack - Conference); I know its frustrating Jeff, but you've put yourself in the best position to succeed. Other notable performances were run by Alex Liu (21:08) who managed to pr again, and Aditya Kuntamukula, who managed to race without even coming to a single practice; since the race results were so screwed up, I'm going to wait until we get it cleared up to commend those who deserve it.

Going forward, the six other members of varsity and I expect everyone* to continue to run with us through states and until MOCs, as we truly appreciate all over the positive attitude that radiates from certain members of the team. Surely, if every one of my teammates had the silent humility and motivation of Jason Decker, the hidden ferocity of Jeff Braun, the desire to learn of Sean Finias, the know-your-role-ness of Sam Greenberg, and the leadership-by-example of Sean Taylor, MOCs would not even be a doubt in my mind. Something ends and something begins: the season continues.
Keep on running.