By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
You couldn’t blame Martin Adams if he approached last Saturday’s Newark Academy Invitational cross-country meet with a little trepidation.
After all, it was in this same race a year ago that Adams suffered a season-ended injury just prior to finishing his first high school cross-country meet.
“I was about 10 meters from the finish line and I fractured both of my hips,” recalled Adams, a junior at the Hun School. “I was either going to win or get third. I crawled the last 10 meters and I still got sixth.”
Adams played soccer as a freshman at Hun, and after running spring track that year, he decided that his athletics fortunes might be better served running than staying on the soccer field. But without the experience of a seasoned runner, Adams admittedly made some mistakes with his summer training.
“I worked so hard over the summer, but I wasn’t really smart with my training,” said Adams, a Stockton resident. “I was new to running. I started running my freshman year in the spring. I came to Hun as a soccer player. I played soccer in the middle school. My freshman year I ran track and I did well.
“I felt like if I took it seriously I could be pretty good so I ran the whole summer. I did not take one day off. I was new to it and I didn’t know to rest. I wasn’t used to running that much mileage.”
Adams was smarter with his training this past summer and came into the season in great shape. He showed that in his return to the Newark Academy Invitation – his second high school cross-country meet – as he finished first in 17:24, which was 10 seconds ahead of Blake Botelho of Pennington. The Raiders finished sixth as a team in the seven-team field. Sophomore Laim Kelso finished 20th.
“He trained a lot smarter this summer,” Hun coach Kate Butler said. “His freshman year he played soccer and then he came out for track in the spring and discovered he had a real talent for it. That summer he was pretty excited about developing that talent, but unfortunately he overtrained. He didn’t follow a specific regiment. He just went out and ran every day for pretty much as far as he could, which is not really the way that you train. This summer he went out and followed a plan and he is looking really strong.”
The injury last year forced Adams to miss the rest of the cross-country season and most of his winter training. He did come back for the spring track season and did enough good things to make him realize the injury was behind him.
“This summer my bones got stronger and I built up to a higher mileage,” Adams said. “I started off at 35 miles per week and made my way up to 50 or 60 by the end of the summer.
“In the spring my freshman year my mom said I should run track to help get in shape for soccer. That sounded good to me. So I ran track and did well. I told myself if I got a certain time I would quit soccer and run. I wanted to get a 4:55 or less and I ran 4:54 at MAPLs. So I thought I had to take this seriously and I took it too seriously and got hurt. I am really happy and I have figured out what I am doing now.”
Butler has been thrilled with the way Adams rebounded from his injury. He’s given the Raiders a solid presence at the top of their lineup and a solid inspiration for other runners.
“He had a pretty devastating injury right in the final stretch,” Butler said recalling last year’s race. “It was hard to watch. You could see when he hurt himself. It took him about 30 seconds to cover those last 10 meters. He was in so much pain at the end. He couldn’t even walk up to get his medal. We had to send someone up to get it for him. He couldn’t move.
“It was awesome to see him go out there this year and finish the race strong. He’s quite a natural. But he is also willing to put in the hard work for it. He is going to be great.”
Ironically, Adams made his cross-country return on the same course where he suffered his injury. It was certainly in the back of his mind as he stepped to the line for the start of the race.
“I remember the course pretty vividly because this is the only race I have ever run for cross-country,” Adams said. “I remember that the second mile was the hardest part because it was very hilly and the terrain was stone. I did run as fast as I could. The first mile I had two guys behind me and then the second mile I took off and the third mile I relaxed and finished the race.”
Adams has set some goals for himself as he goes through his first full cross-country season. At the top of the list is performing well at the Mid-Atlantic Prep League meet, which will conclude the season and be held on Nov. 1 at the Peddie School.
“For MAPLs, which is the last meet on our official schedule, I’d like to run a 15:50-16:00 and get top three in the MAPL,” Adams said. “That would be nice. For the Prep A meet (Oct. 25 at Blair), I would like to get top three. That would be nice. And we’ll also run the Mercer County meet (Oct. 20 at Thompson Park in Jamesburg) and I want to do well there. My sophomore year in track I ran the mile at the sophomore (Mercer) county meet and I got second in the mile. So I want to see how I do in the Mercer meet. I haven’t run on those courses so I am not sure what I am shooting for as far as a time.”
The Raiders held a tri-meet on Wednesday at Greenway Meadows, with the boys topping Stem to Civics, 15-50, and falling to Pennington, 24-35. Adams finished first overall in the meet, with Kelso finishing fifth and Paul Argiriou finishing sixth. The Hun girls lost to Pennington (15-48) and Stuart Country Day (17-42), with Cindy Qin leading the way with a ninth-place individual finish.
While Hun competed in the Newark Academy Invitational to open the season, Montgomery High competed in the PTXC-9 on the Farm Course in Kutztown, Pa. In the Boys’ Varsity Blue race, sophomore James Colagiuri was the top finisher for the Cougars, finishing 34th in 18:23. Junior Adarsh Rao was 36th in 18:28, while junior Oliver Yao finished in 46th place in 18:46.
In the Girls’ Varsity Blue race, freshman Naina Waghray was the top finisher for the Cougars, finishing 26th in 22:14. Sophomore Emma Noyelle finished 42nd in 22:47.
