Cross Country, Track
Favorite athlete: Ryan Giggs
Favorite team: Manchester United
Favorite memory competing in sports: Running for Nike on their High School ELITE team in the 2011 USATF Junior Nationals
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: During our free time at some meets, we like to play Duck Duck Goose as a team
Music on iPod: I listen to a wide range of music from classic and hard rock to electronic and hip hop
Future plans: To attend and run for the University of Pennsylvania and pursue a career in History or Education
Words to live by: ‘You must do the things you think you cannot do.’ Eleanor Roosevelt
One goal before turning 30: To compete on the world stage for track
One thing people don’t know about me: I plan tenor saxophone in the school Concert Band.
By Alex Frazier
There won’t be many District One runners—or state runners for that matter—that will miss Drew Magaha next year.
The “big-time” runner from “little” Upper Moreland has been a dominant force in Suburban One, District One and the state for the past few years.
Two weeks ago he polished off his third American Conference title and followed that up a week later by winning the District One meet with a personal best time of 15:16.
He is the first Upper Moreland runner to win a district championship in cross country.
One of Magaha’s goals this year was to break 16 minutes. He accomplished that on four different occasions during the regular season. The first meet of the year he ran a 15:45. In another meet against Upper Dublin, he clocked a 15:56 and he turned in a 15:35 at the William Tennent Invitational to set a new course record. He continued his sub-16 performances in the post season, clocking a 15:50 in the American Conference Championship and a 15:16 at districts.
“It turned out better than I could have ever hoped,” he said. “Before this season I didn’t consider myself a cross country runner. This was my chance to show everyone that I’m not good just on the track.”
Magaha had heard criticism that he could only run track, so he worked hard to show “that I can actually turn right.”
Magaha didn’t start running cross country until 10th grade. From the time he was five until his freshman year, he played soccer. But playing on the freshman team, he tore his hamstring and that led to the demise of soccer.
“It was probably a huge mistake,” he said. “It wasn’t a very good experience for me.”
After months of physical therapy, he ran one winter track meet and earned his first medal. After spring track, he ran a 5K and won. That sealed his future.
“I realized that I belonged somewhere other than on a soccer field,” he said. “That was a catalyst for me. It gave me a new perspective on where I belonged.”
Next year Magaha will attend the University of Pennsylvania.
Penn has been a dream for him ever since he visited the archaeological museum on a field trip in second grade.
“This place is awesome,” he thought.
“I was amazed at the things they had there,” Magaha said. “I thought I would love to go to a place like this, but I never thought it was attainable.”
When he received a recruitment letter, it was “a dream come true.”
Having a successful cross country season was imperative to his chances of running at Penn.
“I was being predominantly recruited for the track program,” he said. “They didn’t want to waste a spot on me for cross country because I really didn’t do anything before. That was what this whole year was about, making sure that I want to run cross country at Penn.”
“Until this year, I would have said to anyone he’s better on the track than cross country, but in three years he’s figured out this cross country thing,” said coach John Heins. “He’s running smarter, using his talents and making good decisions.”
Magaha has already established himself as an elite track runner. He began running track in seventh grade. His first race was the 800.
“I fell in love with it ever since,” he said.
After dropping soccer in ninth grade, he just missed qualifying for districts in the 800 by a tenth of a second.
As a sophomore he won his first American Conference cross country title, following that up in spring by winning the league 800 and the District One mile.
Magaha credits Heins for putting him in the mile.
“He looked at me and said, ‘You’re not an 800 runner. You’re a mile runner,’” said Magaha. “I tried it and I think I realized I was more a mile runner than an 800 runner. I never would have done what I did without coach Heins. I owe it all to him.”
Magaha has a lot of respect for Heins, who also coached his father at Upper Moreland. Heins, who has coached the Golden Bears for 39 years, will retire after cross country season this year.
“It’s really something special that he stayed around two last years for my cross country season,” said Magaha. “He and I have had a special bond since the beginning.”
Heins watched Magaha run his first 800 race back when he was in seventh grade.
As a junior, Magaha won the league, district and state mile, setting a record in the latter for Class AAA. His time of 4:07.32 was about three seconds off the all-time record.
With all his success as a runner, Magaha has remained modest about his accomplishments.
“He’s very sincere and complimentary to the other competitors,” said Heins.
As captain of the team, he is a quiet, hard worker but also willing to step in and help the younger runners.
“The kids respect him,” said Heins. “He lets his performance do the talking. We had a freshman this year who was decent and Drew took him under his wing and tried to help the kid, ran with him a lot over the summer and always encouraged him.”
Magaha is just as serious a student as he is a runner. He is among the top 10 percent of his class at Upper Moreland.
“I work very hard when it comes to the classroom,” he said. “That’s very important. I’m not going to be running for the rest of my life. I need to be able to excel in the classroom and make myself favorable in the workplace when it comes time to enter it.”
His academic love is history, especially American history and the American Revolution.
He took advanced placement US history as a sophomore and this year he takes AP government and biology.
How appropriate is Penn to a student with his academic interests?
“There’s really no better place to study it than in Philadelphia where the Revolution was prevalent and Penn was around at that point,” he said.
He plans to enter Penn undecided so that he can explore different aspects of history and then declare history his major as a sophomore and possibly minor in education.
Becoming a teacher is a potential career goal. It’s certainly in his family. His mother is an elementary teacher in Abington. His grandfather was a principal in Abington and his grandmother was a librarian in the Central Bucks School District.
“It’s in my blood,” said Magaha. “I could see myself doing it.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Magaha also coaches a soccer team in his church league.
This Saturday, Magaha will be competing in his final cross country state championship. Motivation for him is high, considering his performances in Hershey the past two years.
As a sophomore, he was like a duck out of water.
“I was totally shell-shocked,” he said. ”There were around 300 kids on the course that’s up the side of a mountain. I didn’t know how to handle it. I fell back and was in a bad mental state.”
He finished the challenging course in 83rd place with a time of 17:24.
If he was disappointed with that, he was even more devastated with his junior year.
After winning his second SOL championship, he finished 12th at districts in a time of 16:02.
However, at the state meet he got into an altercation with two runners from the western part of the state and found himself tumbling to the ground. He managed to scramble back on his feet and pass those two, but he lost a lot of time and finished in 127th place (17:32).
“I shouldn’t have gotten myself caught up in something like that,” he said. “It was a learning experience and I’m a stronger runner because of it.”
So, this year he’s looking for some vindication. He’s due.
During the regular season, coach Heins entered the team in the Foundation Meet, which is run on the state course. Battling a minor injury, Magaha finished fourth. All three kids that finished ahead of him he beat at the district meet.
More importantly, he gained renewed confidence on a course that was nothing but bad luck for him.
“That really helped him in his mind with that course,” said Heins. “He’s better prepared to run it.”
So Saturday is redemption time.
“I’m very prepared for it,” said Magaha. “During the season I’ve been experimenting with different techniques. I’m not looking for anything spectacular. I’m looking for a good race.”
While winning the race is attainable, he knows the field will be especially deep this year.
“I have faith in my training and I have faith in the preparation that I’ve done this entire season, and it will give me the goal of a good race,” he said.
“I think he’ll do quite well,” said Heins. “He feels confident.”
