Picking up the pace
BY
PETER GOBIS SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
TUESDAY
DECEMBER 8, 2009
Patrick
McGowan is the kind of kid that you root
for.
 |
At
125 pounds or so, he was absorbing
plenty of punishment at football
tryouts.
He
couldn't hit a curveball.
He
just didn't have that saviour faire on
the wrestling mat.
And
at 5-foot-9, he wasn't all that well
equipped to become a basketball
player.
However,
McGowan could always run. He could
always get his feet to fly out from
under him, to move him along at a
brisk rate. "I found that running
was the one sport that I could succeed
in, that I could get results - I kind
of liked it, it was fun, I kept saying
to myself, this is cool." |
Well
McGowan is the cool ruler of cross country
in the Commonwealth.
He
won the Hockomock League Championship Meet
title at Borderlands Park over in Easton.
McGowan
won the MIAA Division 2 Championship Meet
title at Franklin Park in Boston.
He
won the MIAA State Championship Meet title
in Northfield.
And
at the NIKE Northeast Regional Meet at
Wappinger Falls in upstate New York, McGowan
came across the finish line in 11th place
among the elite field.
"I
don't look to break a course record, I just
race to win," said the Mansfield High
School senior, who separated himself from
the crowd this fall, burst away from the
pack of runners at the two-mile mark and led
the Hornets to the Hockomock League title,
the Division 2 title, the MIAA State Meet
title.
Not
bad for a kid who dislocated his fibula and
strained his Achilles tendon last fall to
the point where he could barely walk; a kid
who had to keep reminding himself that the
sacrifices, the pain, the misery of piling
up all those base miles would one day be
rewarded.
"My
thing is to have control of my races, to
stay relaxed," said McGowan, who had an
inclination that his senior cross country
season could become something special during
the spring track season, as a junior. Back
in June, he finished fourth in the two mile
run at the MIAA State Meet and second at the
New England Meet.
"That
was the turning point, I had done
well," said McGowan. "I remember
my freshman year, in the spring when I first
started running that I had no idea how to
pace myself. After I beat all those kids in
the spring, I said to myself that it'd be
nice to be a state champ."
At
the Hockomock League Meet, McGowan clocked a
then personal-best time of 16:11 on a 3.1
mile course, having a seven-second margin of
victory over teammate Brendan Boyle and a
10-second margin over another Hornet,
third-place finisher Shayne Collins.
At
the Division 2 Meet, McGowan secured the
first "major" win of his career,
covering the course at a field-best,
personal-best 16:02 - being chased by Top 10
teammates Boyle and Collins, helping
Mansfield produce its fewest point (58)
total ever, helping the Hornets win their
fourth title over the past five seasons.
At
the State Meet, McGowan plugged along on the
hilly course at a championship pace of
16:06, once again being pushed by Top 10
teammates, Boyle and Collins, helping the
Hornets take home their second straight
title.
"My
coach's (Julie Collins) plan was for me to
save myself for the big races," said
McGowan, who fulfilled the strategy.
"During the dual meets, we didn't go
all out. At the Hockomock Meet, I ran with
the pack for two miles. At Franklin Park
(the first race during a monsoon-like rain),
I knew the frontrunners, so I ran a relaxed
first mile, stayed with the frontrunners at
the two mile mark and then beat (Arlington's
Anthony) Taylor.
"At
Northfield, I had run the Bay State
Invitational Meet there earlier in the
season. I knew the course, I was confident
on it. Some kids go out hard on that (hilly)
course, so I just chilled for the first
mile. I knew that I had done all the
(preparatory) work, so the last mile was
just me, Miller and Jarrod Ruddy of
Methuen."
And
once again McGowan was "The Man,"
the ruler of the cross country paths.
Last
year at this time, McGowan was recovering.
He had taken second place to OA's Mark
Moverman at the Hockomock League Meet, had
finished 13th at the MIAA State Meet. But
his left leg didn't feel right. "My
hamstring was incredibly tight, my fibula
had shifted and locked so that I couldn't
absorb any impact," said McGowan. So it
was therapy and massages, "it was kind
of weird because my foot couldn't move
outward."
In
truth, McGowan didn't run at all last
winter. "I limited my running," he
said, non-casually mentioning that his
summer of 2009 schedule was similarly
stunted after contacting Lyme Disease.
"Again, I didn't do much for three or
four weeks."
McGowan's
original path for athletic success was going
to be as a football player and a wrestler.
"Somehow, I just fit in with those
(track) guys better, the upper classmen when
I was a freshman said that I was good - I
had run a 5:01 mile."
Some
strength work, some speed work, 40-60 miles
a week, "I never focus on a time, I
don't look to break a course record,"
he continued. McGowan's focus has been on
winning, not on the clock. "Like my
focus this year was to win the state
championship, for us to win as a team. I
have to congratulate my teammates, they drag
me along."
McGowan,
who intends to major in graphic illustration
at either Syracuse, UMass-Amherst or La
Salle, painted his championship picture
because of his endeavors in other sports,
because of his coaches, because of who he
was running alongside with in practice.
"My
thinking has been to just win at all
cost," said McGowan. "Growing up
as a kid, I played other sports, but I was
terrible at them. Last winter, I didn't
think of myself as a good runner, I almost
gave up on myself. I reminded myself that
I'm a good runner, to tell myself t hat I'm
out there to win, I'm out there not to
quit."
And to become a champion. |
