A fourth-place finish at the Weedsport Invitational might not look all that impressive on paper. Especially when you're Moravia's Jason Phillips, whose season resume includes a first-place finish at the Auburn Invitational, first at the Cato-Meridian Invitational, second at Whitney Point, and second at the Section IV, Class D championships.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Jason Phillips, junior cross country runner at Moravia, poses at Fillmore Golf Club in Locke, where the team runs.
Jason Phillips, junior cross country runner at Moravia, poses at Fillmore Golf Club in Locke, where the team runs.
Despite that, the Weedsport race might have been Phillips' most remarkable race of the season.
“He sprained his ankle in the first mile of the race and still went on to finish,” Moravia coach Jan Hunsinger said. “He was pretty determined. He really wanted to win - he won it last year. The ankle hampered him, but it was still a gritty race.”
Gritty could be used to describe the junior's entire season.
He missed a Section IV Class D title by mere inches on Nov. 1, when he crossed the finish line 0.6 seconds behind the winner. His next performance was at the state championships, where he finished sixth in Class D - just 0.5 seconds away from a fourth-place finish. It was a three-spot jump from his finish a year ago, and a 16-spot improvement from his freshman season.
Though Phillips was pleased with his performance, he still came up just shy of his ultimate goal, which is the Federation Meet.
“That was something we had talked about for this year, but the competition in Section IV was very, very difficult,” Hunsinger said. “That'll be motivation for next year.”
And don't think he'll forget about it during the offseason. This year, for the first time, Phillips will participate in indoor track and field instead of basketball during the winter, and he'll also compete during the spring outdoor track and field season, which he missed last year due to injury.
All that should make him even more dangerous for his senior campaign, especially when you combine that with his diligence.
“He is willing to work hard, and he put in a lit of miles over the summer,” Hunsinger said. “The biggest thing with Jason is worrying about him doing too much. He does like to run - he likes to run even more than what we do in practice.
“Hopefully he can continue to improve. Sometimes that can be difficult; sometimes runners do plateau, so the goal will be for him to do a little bit better, try to make it to the federation meet.”
“He sprained his ankle in the first mile of the race and still went on to finish,” Moravia coach Jan Hunsinger said. “He was pretty determined. He really wanted to win - he won it last year. The ankle hampered him, but it was still a gritty race.”
Gritty could be used to describe the junior's entire season.
He missed a Section IV Class D title by mere inches on Nov. 1, when he crossed the finish line 0.6 seconds behind the winner. His next performance was at the state championships, where he finished sixth in Class D - just 0.5 seconds away from a fourth-place finish. It was a three-spot jump from his finish a year ago, and a 16-spot improvement from his freshman season.
Though Phillips was pleased with his performance, he still came up just shy of his ultimate goal, which is the Federation Meet.
“That was something we had talked about for this year, but the competition in Section IV was very, very difficult,” Hunsinger said. “That'll be motivation for next year.”
And don't think he'll forget about it during the offseason. This year, for the first time, Phillips will participate in indoor track and field instead of basketball during the winter, and he'll also compete during the spring outdoor track and field season, which he missed last year due to injury.
All that should make him even more dangerous for his senior campaign, especially when you combine that with his diligence.
“He is willing to work hard, and he put in a lit of miles over the summer,” Hunsinger said. “The biggest thing with Jason is worrying about him doing too much. He does like to run - he likes to run even more than what we do in practice.
“Hopefully he can continue to improve. Sometimes that can be difficult; sometimes runners do plateau, so the goal will be for him to do a little bit better, try to make it to the federation meet.”
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