PHS sophomore feeling better for Group III meet
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Princeton High School boys cross country team had a goal for Alex Roth’s first two races of the season, an acronym that they use.
F.W.O.P.
Roth, the sophomore who set PHS’ freshman record for Holmdel Park last year, achieved the acronym for Finish Without Pain. He is hoping he will be even better in his third race of the season, the Group III state championship, Saturday at Holmdel Park.
”I’m feeling pretty confident,” Roth said. “I’ve gotten back into training which is definitely a huge milestone. After racing well this last week, I feel pretty good.”
Roth suffered a knee injury — coincidentally it came to a head during a workout at Holmdel — in mid-September, and had to stop training after a doctor discovered an imbalance in his hips.
”I still have a little,” Roth said. “It doesn’t really show or result in injury until the mileage goes up a lot. That’s what happened. It didn’t really show before when I was doing less mileage. The official diagnosis was tendinitis in the knee.”
Roth began physical therapy with the hopes of returning by season’s end. He wasn’t ready in time to test himself at the Mercer County Championships, but he was OK to try to run finally for the JV state championships at Thompson Park.
”I got very impatient,” Roth said. “I could handle a week or two off, but after that it was hard to control myself. I wanted to run really badly. I managed to work through it slowly, trying to improve something every day.”
Roth’s first race of the year was also his biggest. The Little Tigers were using the JV race at Thompson Park to gauge his readiness to contribute to their varsity in the sectionals.
”I know he has as much natural ability as anybody we have in our program,” said PHS boys coach Mark Shelley. “There’s a reality when you’ve been out that long, you’re not sure what you’re going to get in a race. He always has a better third mile than first two. Our big thing was trying to improve that start and make it faster.
”In the JV race, he looked great at two miles, and he held it. My expectation was he would run 17:30-17:40, but that was a wild guess. It’s a testament to the diligence of his physical therapy that he ran so well. He ran a time good enough that it wasn’t a question. He was our first finisher there. That simplified our decision about what to do going forward.”
The Little Tigers welcomed Roth back to the varsity lineup three days later for the Central Jersey Group III state championship, also held at Thompson Park. Roth ran just a little slower than he had at the JV meet, but was PHS’ third finisher overall in 17:14 to complete a long road back to the lineup.
”About a week before the county meet, I started running again, slowly but surely with guidance from the physical therapist,” Roth said. “After counties, I started to get back into things and started to do some more volume, and a few selective and very precise workouts.
”The goal when I was doing workouts was to get myself ready for the JV state meet the Wednesday before sectionals. The goal was to run well enough there to earn a spot on sectionals.”
His next goal comes Saturday in the Group III states. He will be hoping to be a bigger factor for PHS.
”I feel like if I’m running as well as I can that I could be a major contribution,” Roth said. “I’m definitely not certain. I can’t take anything for granted.”
The uncertainty comes from taking so long off from training. Roth knows he isn’t as fit as he was coming off a summer that saw his mileage jump from 25 miles per week as a freshman to 40-45 coming into this fall.
”It’s definitely very apparent that when you’ve been injured this long,” Roth began, “you definitely lack consistency more than when you’re in top physical condition.”
Roth is hoping to put together another good week of racing, and he would love nothing more than to try to help PHS reach the Meet of Champions. The top three teams from each group race advance along with the next two fastest teams from all groups combined. PHS comes into the race healthier than at any time this season, which makes the choices of who to run varsity the toughest of the season.
”I feel like it’s definitely where we need to be,” Roth said. “It’s rare you end up where you have this many of your top guys being able to run. If Jacob (Rist) runs as well as we think he can, and everybody does well, it could be a very good race.”
Rist, too, was out for the county meet. He was back at the front of PHS’ pack for sectionals, and the Little Tigers placed second overall in the team standings. Roth would have liked to have contributed more by being a higher placing finisher, but he was happy to have the chance to race again, even starting with a JV race.
”It actually felt really good,” Roth said. “I felt better than I did on Saturday. I’m not sure why. I think for sectionals afterwards, it was a long week of training which maybe affected my performance. Wednesday I felt good. It was a good tune-up race before this Saturday.
”It was definitely excellent because the fact I was able to run well gave me some confidence. It said I was able to do that and more. I was really surprised I able to run that well after not racing for over a month.”
Roth has raced at Holmdel last year in the Shore Coaches and the Group III state meets. He knows the course and expects that to benefit him. He just has to remember to hold back from his instinct to take it out as though his training had never been interrupted.
”I have to be careful,” Roth said. “The plan is not to go crazy at the beginning and kind of cruise into it. I feel like I’m at a much better state than when I was going into that workout. I was going into that workout (at Holmdel) feeling a little pain in my knee, but I ignored it. I’m feeling healthy, which is good.
”It’s kind of difficult to hold back,” he added. “I know if I was to go and race the same way I would if I was healthy, I wouldn’t be able to finish the race.”
Shelley’s only concern is the effect of the hills, which Roth was asked to ease into with his training. From everything else, Roth looks like he’s well on track, including a solid workout he finished Tuesday.
”Some of the guys that have been training more consistently were going faster,” Shelley said. “He hit every time goal we set. He’s very smart. He’s very, very coachable. We were setting intervals for 16:30 pace. Some of the guys went out too fast in the first couple and couldn’t hold the pace at the end. He’s like clockwork. He made them all.”
Roth is happiest to be running again. The chance to compete for the Little Tigers again is a bonus of sorts. He isn’t quite where he would have been without his injury, but he is starting to head that direction, which is all he can ask for at this point.
”I feel like I’m definitely better this week than I was last week,” Roth said. “I feel like I’m not at my peak performance. I have spring track to work toward that.”