By Alex Frazier
A year ago Wissahickon’s Dillon Farrell was chasing the frontrunners.
This year he’s one of them.
As a first-year sophomore runner, Farrell’s best time on a 5K course was 17:15.
Last Saturday at the William Tennent Invitational, he recorded a PR of 16:13 to finish second by nine seconds to Great Valley’s Ned Willig.
So what’s the junior’s secret?
“Something just triggered this summer,” he said. “My times started dropping down by almost a full minute.”
No doubt that had something to do with the 320 miles he logged over the summer, including one week when he ran 50 miles.
“Last year it was like every single race I’d go out and almost never feel good,” he said. “It was like one in 10 races I’d feel OK. It kind of made me angry last year. This summer I put that anger into my running, and I was like, ‘I have to start cracking down on this running.’”
Farrell played soccer as a freshman and then ran track in the spring. It was a sport he had started in seventh grade, running the mile and the 4x1200 relays. His best mile time was a 6:15 and he was encouraged by that.
As a freshman, his track coach Bill Gallagher recognized that he was a better distance runner and put him in the two-mile. His first time was a 10:21, which was six seconds off the freshman record.
“You’re staying in the distance events,” Gallagher told Farrell.
That prompted him to quit soccer and run cross country the falling fall.
“I had to get my time down,” he said.
Farrell comes from a family with a running tradition. His father ran track in high school and college, recording a 4:06 in the mile as a college senior. His brother Rory was also a good distance runner who had a PR of 4:34 in the mile.
“As soon as I started hearing those times, I had to start living up to that,” said Farrell.
After running fourth and fifth last year, Farrell has moved up to the No. 1 position. He finished undefeated in the league; and in invitationals, he has placed second at the Viking, eighth at Abington, third at the Bulldog, seventh at Salesianum and second at Wm. Tennent.
“He’s running extremely well,” said Gallagher. “We’re very pleased. He’s running with a lot of confidence. He put a lot of work in over the summer, and to have a successful cross country season, you have to do your homework over the summer. It’s really playing off for him right now.”
Farrell is no sprinter. He won’t set any records in the 400, but he does get out fast and keeps contact with the leaders in longer races, like the two-mile and the 5K.
“He’s a perfect cross country runner,” said Gallagher. “He’s steady. He’s come a long way this season. He really has.”
Farrell has his sights set on winning the league championship and qualifying for states.
“Dillon really has a good chance of making the state championship meet,” said Gallagher. “He’s a deserving kid and has come a long ways this year.”
The team hopes to also win leagues and place top five in the district.
In the spring, Farrell hopes to lower his PR in the mile from 4:40 to 4:30.
Although college is still two years away, he is planning on running, although he has not yet made up his mind between track and cross country.
“Running in college is definitely something I’ve thought about doing,” he said. “I’m thinking it’s going to be cross country. I definitely like the two-mile, but it seems every race I run the longer it gets the faster I get.”
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