States Stories: The Second Coming

As a track and field fan, I can think of nothing better than two super stars of the sport going head to against one another. My favorite race I have ever had the privilege to witness was a battle between Robby Andrews and Andrew Wheating, the two best 800m runners in the NCAA, in the 4x800 at Penn Relays. So naturally, I was drawn to the potential for the PA equivalent of this match up in 2012: Drew Magaha vs. Ned Willig. Both were under 4:12 as Juniors at the state meet and Drew destroyed the old state meet record rocketing off a 4:07.32. Ned responded with an indoor state championship in the mile and an indoor state record in the 800m. To which Drew responded with an outdoor state record in the 800m. However, despite the impressive performances of these two and a metaphorical back and forth chasing records and times, there were 0 head to head match ups between Ned and Drew and in the end injuries and sickness held the two back from matching their epic 1600m performances from a year ago. It was a bit of a let down for me that I never got to see this potentially historic duel.

But if I had altered my focus, I could have been watching an epic duel unfold all season long with head to head match ups between the two new stars of the mile in PA. I am of course talking about Tom Coyle from LaSalle and Jack Huemmler from Strath Haven. 

For anyone who didn’t have a crystal ball, at the end of the Spring of 2011, Tom Coyle and Jack Huemmler certainly didn’t seem like the super star pairing of the outdoor state meet. Coyle came into his junior year just looking to stay competitive in the PCL and maybe win a league titles. Witnessing the achievements of the state’s elite, the marks seemed inhuman. Coyle reminiscences, “I still remember last year catching the last two laps of that 1600 outdoors and asking myself if that was even possible. Last summer I honestly thought Drew and Ned were going to duel it out for a sub 4 minute mile, never did I think that I would be in the mix for a state championship!” 

Coyle entered a local 5k I was watching and introduced himself. He told me after the race he wanted to get his name out there for Top 50 consideration because, at the time, he wasn’t even on my list (not that I didn’t know who he was, I mean I am etrain). But as cross country developed Coyle’s confidence only increased with top finishes at Carlisle and Paul Short, his impressive Junior season ending with a trip to Hershey where he realized his potential was beyond just mixing it up for state medals, but racing smart and going for Gold. Coyle finished the season an impressive 8th at the state meet after being a complete non factor in 2010 at Hershey. 

Huemmler too surprised in XC. After dropping from 4:58 to 4:25, Huemmler set his goals high for his XC season, trying to continue his dramatic improvement. He wanted to break 17 minutes and maybe, if things went well, ride along with his buddy Jeff Seelaus to the state meet at Hershey. Quickly, Huemmler jumped up to the state XC level and jumped on etrain’s Top 50 (although originally I incorrectly called him Jake). He ended up finishing 13th at the always competitive District One meet clocking a time of 16:07. My friend from Dickinson made sure I knew that his Strath Haven boys were on the rise.

Indoors Huemmler continued his meteoric rise starting his season with a 4:25.18 at the Hispanic Games and helping his Strath Haven distance medley relay mix it up with XC state champions North Penn. Huemmler still hadn’t realized, as Coyle had with his impressive XC states performance, that he was on a state caliber level. “I only started to set my sights on states when I saw the standings and saw that few people were running those times. I didn't know what upper level times were until then, so I assumed that people were running 4:18s and the like indoor.” 

But Coyle was grabbing headlines as well. He and his LaSalle teammates were quickly becoming favorites for state gold in the DMR and eventually Stone and Coyle were thrown into the individual gold medal conversation. After an impressive performance at Kevin Dare and state championship aspirations as a team, Huemmler was also thrown into the open mile as a title contender.

In that state championship mile, Ned Willig, the heavy favorite, took care of business and won the race, but behind him the real race was for 2nd. Huemmler and Coyle pushed each other all the way to the line and in a dive Coyle ended up taking the victory 4:16.42 to 4:16.50, but neither man could go home upset. Both ran massive PRs and had their top finish at a state championship.

At indoor states a friendship and a rivalry were born, although Coyle prefers camaraderie rather than rivalry. But as Jack said, “Clearly we kind of have to have a rivalry.” Feeding off each other’s times mid season, the two were motivated to continue to drop time, battling against one another in an 800m at Coatesville, where Coyle was the victor, but Huemmler had earlier dropped a 4:13 DMR split. There next race wouldn’t be until the outdoor state championships.

It’s a classic runner relationship: you want to beat everyone you race against, but ultimately you are each running to try and hit the fastest time you can, and both individuals can celebrate the others successes. Even before the biggest race of their lives (so far) the two were hanging out talking about all sorts of things, not just limited to the race and track and field. Huemmler says, “Our relationship is weird. I'm friends with a lot of PA track kids, including Tom, but with Tom I know that I have to compete against him”. 

On race day, things unfolded surprisingly slow considering this was hyped as a record chase and Jack felt he had to do the work and lead the pace out front, an interesting change from the prior week where Drew was out front. As the group approached the bell with Huemmler still in command, Coyle could be seen looking around trying to spot Drew, gearing up for a final kick. Off a slow pace Coyle thought, “Drew was going to burn us in the last 400”. 

But it was Alex Moran who made the push at the bell that helped the racers get going with a lap to go. Huemmler, finally challenged for the lead, battled with Moran on the back stretch while Coyle tried to hang tough to the move. Ultimately, Coyle and his coach knew he needed to have something left for the final 150m, and he did. Both men were grateful and impressed by Moran’s effort. 

The flashbacks to indoor states were instant. The two once again battled to the line in a thrilling finish and once again were separated by an extremely small amount. The two men were clocked at 4:11.97 and 4:12.54, both PRs and both massive drops of 10+ seconds from the previous season. 

So now the comparisons begin to pour in between “Drew and Ned” and “Tom and Jack”. Both Tom and Jack are honored by the comparison, knowing that Drew and Ned are two of the greatest PA has ever seen. As Jack reminds me, Drew and Ned did drop times faster than Coyle and Huemmler during that state race in 2011. Naturally, there has to be questions about whether these two will drop down to faster marks or whether they will meet the same unfortunate look as past Juniors with fast times Sam Bair, Craig Miller, Drew Magaha, Wade Endress and Ned Willig, who failed to stay healthy come their senior campaign. Both Jack and Tom do a lot of injury prevention and stretching and neither are worried about suffering similar fates to these greats. As Huemmler claims, there is no use worrying about injuries, if it happens, it happens. 

Coyle is looking for Gold again in 2012-2013, but this time he wants to be sharing the gold with his teammates come the cross country state championships in November. For Huemmler, his eyes are set on a team berth at XC states, a fast DMR indoors, and a continued effort to crack the 4:10 mark. The future for PA looks bright with these two stars heading a very strong class of distance runners in 2013. In the words of Tom Coyle, I hope they rise to the occasion and push each other to some very fast times.