Cross country coach Tom Moul is really enjoying himself this season, although it’s not just because both the boys’ and girls’ teams finished with 7-1 records and he has some of the best young talent in the state. His heightened mood also can be attributed to the pride he feels for his runners, whom he describes as “genuinely good and kind, and a joy to coach.”
Pleasing him just as much are the number of student athletes, especially underclassmen, whose leadership, positivity, and strong work ethic are driving the teams to success.
Those achievements include three members of the girls’ team who medaled at the highly prestigious 2016 PIAA Foundation Invitational in Hershey, Pa. Nearly 620 female and male runners participated, including all of Pennsylvania’s top competitors. In addition to Fox Chapel Area High School medalists Annika Urban and Sarena Seeger, both sophomores, and junior Caelan Miller, Christian Fitch had the top time among all freshmen. His performance began a rapid and somewhat surprising trajectory that now places him among the upper echelon of all runners in the area.
At the Red, White, and Blue Invitational, five runners earned medals, and then later in the season, both teams won the Gateway and Mack Cooper invitationals. At the Gateway meet, Sarena, Annika, and Caelan were the first, second, and third place winners, respectively, and Christian finished third among all age groups. At the final meet of the season – the Mack Cooper Invitational – both teams placed first. Annika and Serena shared first-place with an emotional (and somewhat premediated) victory, and Caelan placed third.
“Our teams are really motivated to make it to states, and it’s great to have a coach who is so dedicated to the sport and challenges us to run a little longer and faster than we think we can,” says Sarena, whose thoughts are mirrored by running mate Annika. “He even runs with us so he can see where we can improve or do things differently in our training,” Annika says.
Girls Are a “Dream Team”
“The girls’ team is a special group,” remarks Coach Moul. “Ideally, cross country runners should begin training right after the previous school year ends, but typically only a few girls participate. In all my years of coaching, I never had this much preseason participation. We have a lot of dedicated girls who have done well this season because they trained very hard to put themselves in a position to do extremely well. Because they came into the season so well prepared, we have been able to work on the finer details of training and individualize their workouts to bring out the best in each runner.”
This year’s top female runners are Annika, Sarena, and Caelan. Caelan is an all around athlete who participates in track, but made her first appearance as a cross country runner only this season. Sarena and Annika ran in the PIAA championships last year and finished as the second and third overall freshmen in that race. The three girls have easily taken on leadership roles and serve as role models in many ways, including the art of sportsmanship.
“At most meets, Annika and I are usually running at about the same pace, and she always looks look over at me and says, ‘How are you feeling? Do to want to go for it?’ meaning, ‘do we want to finish together if we have a pretty good lead,’” Sarena says. “We hadn’t done it before, but at Mack Cooper, we had a good lead and were able to tie for first place. It was so much fun!”
Sarena is quick to give credit to the remaining girls on the varsity team: juniors Margaret Edgecombe and Megan Stafford, sophomores Anna Folkerts and Ziya Xu, and freshmen Izzy Doerr, Brooke Krally, and Grace Sisson. She says, “We wouldn’t be where we are today without them.”
Boys’ Team a “Pleasant Surprise”
Coach Moul wasn’t sure how the boys would do this season, especially with such a young squad and only one returning senior. “I didn’t predict it, but am pleasantly surprised by the boys performance and how well they’ve jelled as a cohesive unit. They are determined to be among the top-5 Class AAA teams at the WPIAL championships, and I’m optimistic they can do that it if they continue to work hard and with a single-minded focus on reaching their goal.”
Senior Adam Cook, who had the best race of his career at the 2016 PIAA Foundation Invitational, has been a team leader this season, along with junior John Folkerts. Adam admits the team started out as “nothing special,” but by putting in the time required to improve, they have advanced throughout the season. “Hard work does pay off in the long run, even if you don’t think it does in the short-term,” he admits.
Perhaps the most unexpected occurrence was the rapid emergence of newcomer, Christian, who’s not just one of the top freshmen, he’s actually one of the top cross country runners, period. From the beginning of the season, he demonstrated natural leadership skills and could well become the team’s new top pacer. “Christian is a born leader and if he continues to work hard, I think the sky is the limit for him,” predicts Coach Moul.
In addition to Adam, John, and Christian, other runners who have made contributions to the varsity squad are sophomores Ian Brown, Avery Bursick, and Greg Overbeck.
What’s Next
Next up is the WPIAL Cross Country Championships at Cooper’s Lake in Slippery Rock, PA, on October 27, and then the PIAA championships in Hershey on November 5.
Coach Moul believes their training has them peaking at the right time, and if talent and buckets full of determination are indicators of success, they should experience good things in the weeks ahead. But whatever happens, two results are certain: Coach Moul will be very proud of his runners, no matter what, and he is looking forward to many more pleasurable years mentoring his young, talented runners.