Susan suddenly in Meet of Champions
By: Justin Feil
At times, Matt Susan must try to think back to when he broke a mirror. The Princeton High sprinter has had that much bad luck in the last two years.
Susan injured his shoulder as a junior while playing football for the Little Tigers. The injury prevented him from competing in winter track and hurt his preparation for the spring track season. Early in the spring season, he pulled a hamstring, then pulled the same one to cost him more than half the season. By the end of last spring, however, Susan was regaining his form, yet he finished seventh, one spot and one-tenth of a second away from advancing to the state Group III meet in the 400 meters.
Susan was to commit more time to preparing for his senior year over the summer when a toe injury and subsequent infection slowed him. In the fall, he did not play football, but his precaution didn’t exactly pay off when the winter track season hit.
In a meet at Lehigh University over the winter track, Susan got spiked, tried to catch himself and ended up pulling his groin when he landed awkwardly.
"I’m relatively inflexible," Susan said. "I’ve never had that gift, and I think that’s the No. 1 key other than fast-twitch muscles for speed."
Since straining his groin muscle in late December, Susan’s training hasn’t been the same, and he’s been limited to one 400 race per meet, eliminating his chance to run both the individual and the relay events.
"I’m still doing modified workouts," the 18-year-old said. "I’m doing maybe 90 percent of the workouts."
He’s still contributing to the team, still earning plenty of points for PHS, but 90 percent isn’t the way that Matt Susan usually goes about his business.
"He’s very competitive," said PHS head coach John Woodside. "It’s almost like he only knows two speeds on and off."
Despite his inability to train all-out, Susan was again a leading contender in the boys’ 55-meter dash in the state Group III championships at Jadwin Gym on Sunday. Just when it appeared that his stretch of bad luck would continue when he finished two-hundredths of a second out of sixth place in eighth place, Susan caught his first break in a while.
He found out that he’ll be running as a wild card entry in the Meet of Champions on Feb. 15 at Jadwin Gym. Susan’s eighth place finishing time ranks him tied for 11th out of the 32 entries in what will be his first trip to the MOC.
"It means a lot," Susan said. "I wanted to do it a lot. I’ve been so close before. It’s going to be a neat experience."
Susan is hoping to go 2-for-2 in the luck column when he competes in one more meet before the MOC. Though he’ll be facing Ewing sprint star Aiden Sanderson among others, Susan has one of the best chances of any of the Little Tigers though he’ll be running in the most competitive event of the Mercer County Championships at Widener (Pa.) University on Sunday.
"In the dash, I might have a chance to get second or third depending on how the Trenton guys do," said Susan, who finished in 6.78 seconds in the Group III finals and has a season-best hand-held time of 6.50 seconds. "Freddy (Vaneus of Trenton) beat me at the batch meet, but I beat his time at states. And Basil Campbell (of Ewing), he’s a good athlete.
"My 400 hasn’t been what I want it this year, but I’ve been coming through in the dash. My groin has finally stopped hurting. The 400 is still an event I have to do some squats for. In the dash, my start carries me through the race. I don’t have to worry about my leg giving out."
There’s little from the looks of the 6-foot-3, 195-pound sprinter to indicate anything fragile.
"He’s a very strong, very powerful runners," Woodside said. "He’s clearly a talented kid who’s ahead of a lot of kids on our team. Having someone in your relay like that really, really pushes you over the top."
Susan is hoping to carry the Little Tigers to strong Mercer County Championship showing. In all likelihood, he’ll forego personal glory in the open 400 for a leg of the 4×400.
"As a team, our coach is always saying that we have a lot of potential with so many young guys," Susan said. "Some of the distance guys like Mike Huse and Carlos Espichan have a chance to really step it up. Mike did really well at states. If we are going to do well, everyone has to contribute."
Schools like defending outdoor track Heptagonals champion Penn and Bucknell are hoping to attract Susan’s contributions for next year. It’s exciting for them to think what he could do when he’s healthy. It’s something that the Little Tigers are hoping to see more of this spring.
"He’s kept training, but not at the highest level, not what I wanted to do with him," Woodside said. "Even with that, he’s been very good. If we can get him healthy, he could do great things in the spring. He’s already doing some great things."
Susan is just as firmly focused on healing in preparation for a monster outdoor track season in which he’ll run the 100, 200 and 400, and is considering trying some long jumping. His taller frame and powerful running style is more suited the more gradual turns of the outdoor track. He’s actually come out of his lane at times while training indoors.
"I’d still like to hit 49, which was my goal last year too," said Susan, who owns a personal outdoor best of 50.0 seconds in the 400 that he ran as a sophomore in North Carolina. "Last year, I hit 50.3 at the end of the season so I think it’s possible."
Woodside is just hoping that Susan’s first year of indoor track since his freshman year will have the senior better prepared for outdoor.
"He even did a little running this fall," Woodside said. "I think it’s really going to pay off in the spring and it’s helping the team a lot in the winter."
The only trick is for Little Tigers to keep him healthy through the Mercer County Championship and Meet of Champions. It may mean a little lighter workload than he’d like, or perhaps some extra time for stretching and strengthening.
Or, maybe for Matt Susan, it just comes down to avoiding ladders, black cats and anything with the No. 13.

