Race Stories: Tony Russell

Expectations can be the death of some runners at the state championship. There is a lot of pressure on guys who are the favorites coming into the state meet and sometimes that pressure is too much to overcome. Just ask guys like Drew Magaha, Zach Hebda, Ben Furcht, Chris Campbell and many more. So when Tony Russell came into the 2012 XC state meet fresh off a 15:11 dominating performance at Lehigh, many saw him as a prime target for pressure. But Russell fought off all the expectations and all the nerves and ran a perfect race en route to a new course record state championship performance and led Henderson to a surprise team title victory in the process.

After Van Cortlandt Park, a meet in which Russell ran the fastest time of any PA runner in the course's famed history, he was confident and ready to roll during the championship season. He used that confidence to run with poise in the state championship meet. He hung back while the others blasted the early pace and then held his spot in the hills before erasing the rest of the field in his final push for home. By the time Russell climbed the final small hill before poop-out, he was in the lead and feeling too good to worry about being caught. At the point it was merely a race between himself, the clock, and the rest of the Henderson and O'Hara boys.

For Russell the individual title was quite the experience, but taking home the team title dwarfed his individual achievements. At the annunciation of the champions Russell said the joy that his team was feeling was "priceless". After seeing the performance by both teams at the state championship, Russell is confident that Henderson and O'Hara have top 10 potential for the national meet. He hopes to lead the team to Portland to experience the course before next season, where almost the entire squad will be back with some high hopes for a bright future.

It will be a lot of pressure, but Russell has proved that its nothing the Henderson boys can't handle.