CROSS COUNTRY
By: John E. Powers
The Lawrence High School boys cross country team could be on the cusp of something special.
Last year’s 3-9 dual meet record and a disappointing turnout is a distant memory.
Because of vigorous effort by assistant coach Tim Collins through the supervision of head coach Dave O’Neal the Cardinals have nearly doubled their roster number from 12 to 23.
And there is experience as virtually the entire varsity lineup returns led by junior Brendan O’Brien and senior Mike Raymond.
"Tim Collins took on the challenge to recruit and bolster numbers and he did a phenomenal job," said O’Neal, who added that Collins has gone from a volunteer to full-time coach. "We’re a lot better numbers wise, but we’re still young. Of the 23 kids, nine are freshman. We’ve made a big push on the freshman and we also picked up a couple of people from the track team. These kids might not be impact guys, but it’ll be a core group of kids who are going to push people. The kids up front might think, ‘if I slack off somebody is going to get by spot.’ We’re motivating from the bottom up."
O’Brien, who ran a 10:12 for 3,200 meters last track season, appears to be the top man, but he is being pushed by Raymond, sophomore John Stever, junior Adam Hinson and senior Mike Scott.
O’Brien was 30th in the county last year and the Cardinals were eighth in the team standings.
The Cardinals graduated just one senior Mike Duke, who was either fifth or sixth in the lineup last year.
O’Brien was the top runner last year followed by Raymond and Stever and Scott, who flipped between third and fourth. Hinson and Duke were usually the fifth or sixth runners.
"I don’t know if we’re ready to crack the top three teams in the county, but a safe guess would be for us to move up to about sixth," O’Neal said. "We’ll move up because of the depth, but we basically still have the same guys. I’m thinking at least a 6-6 record is realistic for us. I’m very excited about what I see."
The Cardinals didn’t have a runner finish ahead of O’Brien at the counties last year.
"I think he’s starting to realize he has something special," O’Neal said. "Brendan has got some internal motivation and he has set some lofty goals, but he’s still being pushed by Raymond. Raymond came in in better shape than last year."
As did most of the other runners.
"They are innately motivated kids," the coach said. "They are kids who like to run. We had reports from gym classes where the coach just said, ‘this kid likes to run.’ It’s a natural, internal motivation. We had a productive summer and much better than last year."
O’Neal said he’s eager to see who will break out from the group of newcomers.
"It’s creating some good inner-team competition," O’Neal said. "To go from a team of 13 to 23 is really unbelievable."
The girls have also gotten a boost in numbers. Sophmores Hannah Adamy and Nicole Kelleher return and will be joined by sophomore Laura Brehm and freshmen Adrianna Gabrielle and Natalie Falk. Gabrielle is on the track team, while Falk is new to athletics.
"Right now they are running as a pack," O’Neal said. "Natalie and Adrianna are the best runner of the group. We want them to be successful. Yes, we have five girls and we can score as a team, but the reality is we have three sophomores and two freshman. We will have them run in invitationals and junior varsity and freshman meets. We’ll also have them run in dual meets, but the idea is to go and learn."