Cross Country Season Recap

Boys Record: 7-4 (6-3 in league)

Girls Record: 7-4 (5-4 in league)

Awards/Accomplishments/Milestones: Joe O'Such - State Qualifier (first in the past five years); All-League (six total is the most SF has had in numerous years): First Team: Joe O'Such. Second Team: Jesse Magalon, . Honorable Mention: Michael Cassidy, Matthew Hininger, Audrey Burger.

Major Injuries: Ryan Maher (senior, foot)

Overall Impressions of the Season: "I was very pleased with the season," said first-year head coach Brian Sullivan. "Being my first year there, I wanted to make steps forward. It was kind of a tough thing to do. I wanted to make big steps forward with the senior class being so good, so I wanted to make big steps for them. But, I wanted to do things incrementally, but when you try to take big steps you kind of reach a little bit. I thought we made a lot of positive strides with the classes coming back next year from what we did this year. I think we went in a good direction. Both teams ended up with better wins and losses than we had in previous years and ended up with more all-leaguers than we've had in years before, and we had a state qualifier, which is something Spring-Ford hasn't done in numerous years. So, I think the way we went forward with things, we did a real good job with that. With the seniors, I would have liked to have gone forward quicker with them to send them out with more under their belt, but overall I thought it was a real positive season for both teams."

Best Meet: "The boys race at the PAC-10s was awesome. The league has it where the top four individual records get to run for the league championship. There were five teams that qualified, us included at 6-3. So, we all got to run for the league championship, and we ended up coming out of there second. We did our darndest to try to win the meet. We beat 9-0 Methacton, Upper Perk, who had beat us earlier in the season. So, I thought that was an awesome meet for the boys. It was real exciting and I was really happy about it.

"For the girls, they didn't realize they were a decent team. At the end of the season, they had a really strong dual meet against Upper Perk and Pottsgrove, where they really all ran well together with it being late in the season. They had a real decent PAC-10 meet as well. It's just that they got overshadowed by the boys that day. The last two meets they ran was their best two meets of the year."

Worst Meet: "For the boys, we opened up in Upper Perk and got ambushed with rain. But, rain or no rain, I think we would have lost that day. It was a meet where things weren't going our way from the get-go. Upper Perk took it to us pretty good. On the girls side, I think you have a choice between Methacton, where we went over to John Paul II, or the Boyertown meet at our place. Not too much that the girls ran particularly bad, but both of those teams showed us if we want to get to the upper echelon of the league, we still have a lot of work to do."

Story of the Year: "The boys went to Perkiomen Valley and managed to beat them. It was a team that I know the seniors had never beaten in their four years. I can't remember when the last time it was that Spring-Ford did beat Perk Valley. We went down to their place and really ran well as a team. It was a win that allowed us to qualify for the league championships. At that point, it was about mid-way through the season. It was at that point, I kept telling them we're going to be good, but they themselves saw how good they can be. That was a real good meet for the boys. It gave them a lot of confidence and made them run really well through the rest of the season.

"In the very beginning, when the girls went to Upper Darby for a non-league opening meet, I think the girls were kind of like 'I don't know, I don't know.' But, they ran very well. We ended up beating both teams there and they realized 'Hey, what this guy is telling us is working.' So, I think it was a real good meet for them and they found for the season that they were going to be alright this year."

Thoughts About Next Year: "I'm very excited for next year's team. Don't get me wrong, we're going to take a major, major hit with graduation on both teams. We're going to miss Jesse and Joe on the boys, and a bunch of other seniors that contributed throughout the season. Audrey and Anna, our two other seniors on the girls, as well as some other seniors - we're going to take a major hit. But, I'd really like to prove we've got a lot coming back on both teams. There's talent there and I think going through me this year once, even though we lose four of our six all-leaguers, I think we'll do really well next year. The kids are excited about it, I'm excited about it."

Last Thoughts: "I would just like to say, I came in with both teams not knowing what to expect, and I really enjoyed my year coaching these kids. They worked hard, they were good runners, but they were better kids. They really made going to practice every day enjoyable. I look forward to working with them on a long-term basis. It was a good group, really fun. It was a really good year for me. I really enjoyed it."