Race Stories: Chris Kazanjian

Penncrest's Chris Kazanjian flew under the radar for a majority of the early part of this season. He was mixing it up at the front of a variety of different invitationals but failed to break through with that big time race. Until Championship season that is.

Kazanjian and his Penncrest teammates aimed to keep their squad fresh until the important meets of the season and it paid off. According to him, it wasn't until the district meet that he felt ready to run in the 15:40-15:50 range. And that's just what happened. Kazanjian ran down a slew of talented runners in route to a top 10 finish at the District Championships in a sizable PR. The next weekend things would be no different.

Kazanjian was out in one of the slowest times of all the AAA medalists, crossing in just a tick under 5 minutes for the first mile. Having never run at the state meet before, Chris went out conservatively, running smooth and having something for the hills. It worked out well as he picked off a lot of guys in the second half of the race and kicked his way up poop out to finish in 20th place. It was a valuable learning experience for him as well as a great race. Chris is a Junior this year and is optimistic for his return to the state course next year.

"One thing i will say is that i regret not getting out fast enough, both districts and states were too hard of a finish" Chris said about his race. 
Its a tactic that he and his brother Matt, who also finished in the top 50 at states, will look to work on in practice. Chris really values having his brother as a training partner and he believes that on the track, he and his brother will be ready to run with the top guys in District One.

"That's what track is for haha, I consider myself a track guy over an XC runner, and I hope to have a season to be proud of in the 3k and 3200"