Brian Soder, Senior, Harbor Creek
PTXC: Beginning your season by breaking a former state champ\'s course record (Andy Weilacher\'s record @ McDowell), what other goals are you setting for this season?
Soder: I\'m just trying to be prepared to do well at States, and I want to go to Regionals (Foot Locker Northeast), and hopefully rebound off of my bad race I had there last year. As far as place in States, I just want to do the best I can do. I\'m not trying to pick a place, but ultimately I want to be state champ, and that\'s what I\'m working for.
PTXC: What happened at Foot Lockers in 2002?
Soder: My breathing just collapsed. I came in like 107th, and that\'s definitely not what I was expecting. I know were some kids I was beating all season last year, and they were finishing 25th, 26th, so I know I could have been right there, at least in the top 15. But I just had a bad race.
PTXC: Talk about the race in which you broke Andy Weilacher\'s McDowell course record?
Soder: Ever since he broke it when I was a sophomore, that became my goal, and my brother\'s goal, to break his record. The course is only about 20-25 minutes from my house so I run it a few times in the summer just to see where I\'m at in training, and since my freshman year, I have been racing there 30 seconds faster each year. So last year I had a 16:01, so I was hoping I could keep lowering my time. But I really didn\'t think getting down to 15:30 was possible considering how good a runner Andy is. But in the summer, I ran a 15:59 my myself, so I figured I only had 17 seconds to come down from there. And when the race came, I just felt good. I felt great. And everything just came together. It was a beautiful day.
PTXC: How\'d your race go today?
Soder: I knew Chris Spooner was going to be hear today, and I knew he was going to be with me. And we went out side by side the whole race, until I fell, and that took away my momentum. I tried to catch up with him, but that just took it out of me.
PTXC: What\'s the rest of your race schedule this season?
Soder: Next week I\'m going to Slippery Rock, then we go to our District course, Buhl Park for the Sharpsville Invitational. And then we go to St. Boniventure in New York. Then County Champs and Districts.
PTXC: What colleges are you considering?
Soder: I\'m looking at Clemson because Eric (Brian\'s older brother, who is a freshman at the school), because my brother wants me to come down there. We both miss running with each other. Plus, he\'s looking into sports marketing, and that sounds like a good career to go into. I\'m also looking at Penn State and William & Mary. I know they have a great program down there. I\'d like to go somewhere where they\'re going to be good in running and academically.
Francis Koons, Senior, Allentown Central Catholic
PTXC: Last week you broke the course record of a legend (Janelle Thomas), going out in the first mile in 5:12, so you must have had a great summer of training?
Koons: Yes, I did. I did a lot of long, slow mileage. And I run with the boys, so I run hard. It\'s been quality more than quantity. We did 35 miles, occasionally up to 40 miles a week. And in the summer, I got up to 50. Going into that race, I wasn\'t going for time, so I was a little surprised. But with Loretta (Duzubay, Freedom HS) right there with me in a 5:14 first mile, it helped. I was really proud of her too. We\'re good friends, and she had a great first XC race. I just wanted to get that point for my team. That\'s pretty much all I was going for.
PTXC: That puts you in some pretty good company.
Koons: Oh yeah, definitely. I had never broken 18 before, and it puts me up there, I guess. And I\'m looking forward to the rest of the season.
PTXC: When did you find out that Bay Shore was going to be here today?
Koons: I think it was two days ago, my coach told me that Saratoga Springs was coming, and I thought it was great I would get to run with Nicole (Blood). Then we found out they weren\'t, but they wouldn\'t have been in the race anyway (because of the varsity teams split alphabetically). But I went on the Penn State web site and saw Bay Shore, the second rated team in the Northeast, and they have Laura Cummings, who was 4th at Nationals. I thought this was going to be a great race for us. My dad said that if you need a substitute for Saratoga Springs, Bay Shore\'s a pretty good one.
PTXC: How\'d the race go today?
Koons: I was with Laura up until the two mile mark. We went out in something like 5:22 or 5:24. And then we were at 11:08 at the second mile (5:44). So that was pretty fast. The up the hill, she put some distance on me, and I tried to get her on the hill, which was probably a mistake, because you\'re supposed to get people downhill. I just didn\'t have enough strength to stay with her. And then at the end, I think she opened up even more. But I\'ll learn for the next race to try not to let her go in the third mile. But I was happy. I wasn\'t strong enough yet.
PTXC: After a really great start, have you set your goals for the year?
Koons: Yes I have. I would definitely love to make the national meet. And there\'s Northeast and States of course, where I\'ll have excellent competition with Kate and Kylee and tons of other girls including some freshmen who are doing great. I definitely want to improve from last year and just go for it. Nationals is San Diego! I mean States is great, you get a medal, but with Nationals, you get a trip to San Diego if you're in the top eight. And I\'ve been going there (Northeast) the past few years. It\'s been a goal for me. Sometimes a sophomore says \"maybe some day\", but now I think this is the time. And I not only want to make it, I want to do really well. I just need to figure out how to maintain that peak from States to Northeast. That\'s not an easy thing. But we\'re going to figure it out this year.
PTXC: How\'s the college search going?
Koons: Pretty well. There are a lot of them, but right now, probably the University of Pittsburgh and Duke are the two big ones I\'m interested in. Ivy League-wise, we still have to find out financially how that\'s going to work. But Yale and Cornell are the two Ivy League. And there are others like Providence. Kate and I are looking at a lot of the same colleges. I want to get my boards up a bit, and my GPA is good, a 3.96, and I take harder classes. I want to major in biomedical engineering, which is kind of specific.
David Mock, Senior, Westmont Hilltop
PTXC: We you surprised not to be running in one varsity race this year?
Mock: Yeah, the only reason I came was to race against Spooner and Soder, some of the guys I see at States. I don\'t get to see them any other time of the year. So I was disappointed.
PTXC: What was your race plan for today?
Mock: I wanted to go out slow, and then be able to push the rest of the race. I took over a little bit after the 800, then opened up some distance. I pushed the pace until after the two mile mark, and then I fell. That took my momentum away. It was the exact same place Brian fell.
PTXC: After finishing 3rd at States in 2002, what did you do different this summer to try to improve on that?
Mock: Well, I had a stress fracture last track season. I didn't start running until about mid-June. So through early August I was just trying to get back into it, where I left off last year. Then I started some faster workouts to try to get my speed up a bit. And this year I\'m trying to enter races with more competition than the local races around Johnstown so I can see some of these guys I only see at States. After this I\'m going to the Altoona Invitational. the Penn State-Altoona Invitational and I want to run at Steel City.
PTXC: What are your college choices at this point?
Mock: I want to go to Bucknell, St. Francis. Mainly PA schools with a good program and good acacemics.
Chris Spooner, Senior, Lewisburg
PTXC: When did you hear about the split varsity races?
Spooner: I was surprised when my coach told me the races were going to be split in half. I was looking forward to a big race like last year with everybody together, so you can really tell who is going to be #1. Teamwise, as well. I was hoping they\'d separate it by elite teams and individuals. But they did allow 12 runner per team.
PTXC: You and Brian Soder have gotten off to good starts. Did you know he\'d be here?
Spooner: He was here last year and beat me. I was 7th I think. I just had a bad race. AA is definitely good this year. There are going to be some good races at States… and beyond.
PTXC: I read you were sick earlier this week when you helped you team break up Shikellamy\'s win streak in league meets? Were you feeling better today?
Spooner: I\'m still sick actually. I coughed during the race. We had two races this week, and I tried to take it as easy as possible. But I\'ve finally started getting better. Hopefully by next weekend at Bloomsburg I\'ll be over it.
PTXC: In addition to defending your state championship, what are your goals this season?
Spooner: Definitely to make it to Cross Country Nationals. That would be incredible. That\'s my goal for this season. My training is geared to that. Both my sophomore and junior years I had a terrible race at Northeast. I\'m going to go up early and run the course and get prepared this year.
Brian Soder, Senior, Harbor Creek