OCEAN COUNTY – Point Pleasant Boro’s Devin Hart and Brick’s Damian Dilcher will be flying cross country to San Diego, California to compete in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships Saturday, Dec. 9 after qualifying at the Northeast Regionals at Van Cortland Park, New York.
Dilcher, a senior, placed second behind Tristan Shelgren of St. John’s Prep (Mass.), with a time of 15:37.0, 0.8 seconds ahead of another Massachusetts runner, Lucas Aramburu, while Hart, only a junior, will also be making the trip to San Diego after placing sixth in 15:42.5, edging out Drew Thompson of Connecticut by 0.1 seconds.
“He’s excited by it,” said Hart’s coach, Kevin Conheeny, about going to San Diego. “Devin’s personality was to go for the win but I tried to tell him if you can count to 10 that’s all you need to do. He was also kind of run out a little bit from three hard races and it was kind of a psychological exhale after the Meet of Champions. So he needed a break mentally and physically from trying to be the winner and I was very pleased he did what he needed to do and didn’t gut it out like he normally does.
“I would love for him to be in the top 20 (at the nationals) but I don’t really know his competition out there. I really feel that he can run with the best kids in the country but it’s going to be a very different format for him. It’s a challenging course and I think there will be a learning curve for all the kids on the course for the first time. So I think a top 20 finish would be respectable for him but he always surprises me and he’s not one to shy away from any competition.”
The top 10 runners of the seeded boys qualified to make the trip for the Nationals at San Diego’s Balboa Park. Hart was one of two non-senior runners to qualify.
Hart’s sixth-place finish was his only race of the cross country season that he didn’t win. His resume of wins is one, if not the, most impressive in the state.
He placed first in the prestigious Baldwin Park Classic (15:58.5) and the Shore Coaches Invitational (15:57.0) before recording his personal best time of 14:51.0 to win the Ocean County championship distancing himself from Dilcher, who placed second with a time of 15:14.0, by a good 23 seconds.
“He’s an incredibly focused young man both academically and athletically,” Conheeny said of his star harrier. “He has a mission and this has been a culmination of his focus and determination. He’s had a target on his back with everyone trying to knock him off and that’s a big burden for anybody going into competition knowing everyone’s gunning for you. He’s only a junior, so I think that just shows a lot of depth of character to be able to deflect that pressure at that age.”
After Hart’s win in the Ocean County championships Conheeny decided not to race him in the Shore Conference championships the following week.
“He really went for it the week before (Ocean County championships) trying to break the record as well as to make a statement, and after the race he told me his hamstring was tight,” said Conheeny about his decision to hold Hart out of the Shore Conference championships. “So I gave him the weekend to see how he felt. The next week it was still there and it was definitely tweaked with the possibility of pushing it to the next level, so we shut him down the whole week. He finally pulled the plug on it and agreed with me the Wednesday night before the race to sit out. He was determined to get into that race and I was determined not to get him in. It’s a delicate balance between having an athlete performing at their peak and pushing them over the edge.”
Skipping the Shore Conference championships paid off handsomely as Hart went on to win the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championship (15:35.5) and the NJSIAA Group III title (15:34.0) before taking home the coveted New Jersey Meet of Champions title with a time of 15:35 beating out second-place finisher Chris Romero of Voorhees by 9.1 seconds.
“The Shore Conference championships are a nice venue, but I hold the philosophy that the races people are going to remember are the state championships and then the Meet of Champions.” Conheeny added. “It always a gamble and you hope you made the right decision for your athlete to get them to the next level. The Meet of Champions is the pinnacle of distance running in New Jersey and this was a statement win for him. Devin’s always about pushing the envelope and as his coach I’m always reminding him it isn’t about the time but the win and entering the legendary category by winning the Meet of Champions. It’s a great honor for him but it’s also a testimony to his hard work.”
Hart was a 2016 first-team All-Shore selection as a sophomore after placing first in the Thompson Park Class Meet, the South Jersey Open, the Ocean County championships, and the South Jersey Group II title. He also placed second in the Shore Coaches Invitational and the NJSIAA Group II championships and third in the Shore Conference championships.
Dilcher – a 2016 second-team All-Shore selection when he won the Battle of Ocean County (15:53.0) and placed second in the Ocean County championships (15:36.0) and the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championships – added three wins to his resume in 2017.
He won his second consecutive Battle of Ocean County (15:28.0) then recorded his personal best time in winning the Shore Conference championship (15:02.0) before winning the Central Jersey Group III championship with a time of 15:32.8.
In the NJSIAA Group III championships, Dilcher placed sixth, 20 seconds off the pace. He then ran a 16:28.0 in the Meet of Champions for a disappointing 31st place finish after hanging with Hart for almost two miles into the race before fading.
However, he made up for his disheartening finish in the MOC with his monumental second-place finish in the Northeast Regionals and a trip to the Nationals.
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