Senior puts down golf clubs to lead Hun cross country
By: Justin Feil
Zach LaPalme leisurely walked through the spring season in that game called golf. LaPalme has picked up the pace considerably as captain of the Hun School boys’ cross country team.
"It’s a lot more physical. It’s completely different from golf," said the Montgomery resident. "It’s strange, but I love it."
LaPalme points out that there are plenty of highly conditioned golfers who attribute their consistent play to being physically fit. But for every Tiger Woods or David Duval, there’s a Colin Montgomerie or Craig Stadler. And none of them would be willing to put down the clubs to burn their lungs for 3.1 miles every week, but LaPalme has been getting more serious with each year that he’s run for the Raiders.
"At this point, golf is still my strongest suit," he said. "I’ve been playing golf ever since sixth grade and I’ve had really strong showings since I’ve been playing in tournaments.
"With cross country, I’ve gotten a lot more serious about it. I attribute a lot of it to Morgan (Seybert, Hun’s graduated Mercer County champion). He was my neighbor and he gave me rides to practices and talked to me a lot about it. I ran with him and he made me stronger. He made me like cross country more."
Now LaPalme is trying to do the same for a Hun team that has continued to improve though it lost Seybert. LaPalme looks to lead the way when Hun races at Blair Academy 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Prep A Championships.
The Raiders have been preparing for it all year by racing on a hilly Rosedale Park course. They lost their regular-season finale, 19-38, there Saturday to fall to 4-3 this season.
"The course at Blair is remarkably similar," LaPalme said. "I actually like it a lot. It’s on their golf course. I’ve played that golf course a lot. I know all the parts of it from golf. I know what’s coming up. I like the layout of it."
Blair’s course doesn’t have nearly as treacherous footing as the Rosedale course does, which should be a benefit for LaPalme. He raced Saturday with a bone contusion and slight fracture of his toe.
"I was walking around my room in the dark and I slammed it on my heater," LaPalme said. "It’s all black and nasty and swollen."
LaPalme missed a week of conditioning because of it, then returned last week to prepare for the Lawrenceville meet. But the uneven Rosedale course didn’t help him or his toe.
"It’s very hilly and has all these holes so when I was running I was trying to stabilize myself and you need your toes to do that," LaPalme said. "Every time I did that, my toe would just get killed. Then, at the 1K-mark on Saturday, I tripped on my toe and took a spill."
LaPalme finished with blood running down his knee, but got up to finish fifth overall, 23 seconds behind Hun’s Will Christiansen who was fourth.
"Zach just started running in the middle of last week," said Hun head coach Will Porter. "Normally, he’s faster than Will. Will had a really good race though. He ran 19:31 there. He did his best time by 30 or 35 seconds."
LaPalme has seen many of the Raiders close the gap this season, and it’s made the team stronger. Considering that Matt Smith, who led the Raiders with the overall win against Peddie the week before, and consistent Top-7 Hun finisher Kyle Bremer were out with injuries against the Big Red, Hun was encouraged by Saturday’s finish.
"I feel like we’re stronger than we were last year," LaPalme said. "We had Morgan, but whoever we were racing (last year) had Nos. 2 through 6 then. We can still win some races. We’ve gotten No. 1 against Rutgers Prep and against Peddie and we’ve gotten a lot more depth. Matt Smith is really good. He’s a crew guy who’s fast.
"That depth has really displaced Morgan’s absence. Now we can do more pack running. Last year, we were both running alone. Now I run with Matt and Will, at least in the beginning and we break up later. It’s better to run as a team."
It’s a team that has just one more week with LaPalme. After states, the Raiders conclude potentially with the Mercer Counties on Friday, though with so many injuries they may rest their team for it, and the Mid-Atlantic Prep League meet at Peddie the following week.
Then it’s on to golf for LaPalme, the top returning golfer for the Raiders. But first, he’ll be looking to conclude a senior season on a high note. The only Hun senior won’t be leaving the cupboard bare upon graduation.
"He’s had a really good season," Porter said. "He’s a really good captain. He’s helped to build the team a lot and get the kids excited about it. If we can get them running year-round, that’ll help. It’s nice to have someone with that infectious excitement."
That excitement has grown every year to the point where Zach LaPalme can’t wait to see how fast he can cover a Blair course that he’s more accustomed to walking on during springtime.