Cross Country, Track
Favorite athlete: Abdi Abdirahman
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: League championship win, junior year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: A kid tried to pass me in the woods and gets clothes lined by a tree branch when we were racing at Briarwood my sophomore year.
Music on iPod: Everything
Future plans: Work on Wall Street
Words to live by: Live más
One goal before turning 30: Do something that my grandkids will tell their kids about one day.
One thing people don’t know about me: I played soccer for a long time before I started running. I played soccer my freshman year instead of running cross country and almost did the same my sophomore year until Coach Coleman talked some sense into me.
By GORDON GLANTZ
When Casey Comber gave up the team sport of soccer to take up cross-country and become a year-round runner, he did anything but fall into the trap of being a narcissist.
The Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week credits his teammates, past and present, for pushing him to be better and for teaching him to be the leader he became as an upperclassman.
“It was all about the team,” he said of the transition from soccer to cross-country. “All the runners always got along real well.”
As his coach, Russ Coleman saw value in the Villanova-bound runner beyond his record-setting career at Hatboro-Horsham.
“Casey has been an outstanding young man to work with the last four years,” said the coach who coaxed Comber into running cross-country, which became his key to the collegiate level. “He leads by example, by his words and by his outstanding character. Casey often puts his teammates before himself. He has been an outstanding role model for the underclassmen and his peers. I have found working with Casey a pleasure as he is extremely coachable and always looking to improve and open to instruction.“
When asked for examples of how the incoming Villanova freshman led, Coleman pointed to the times when he finished ahead of the pack in a cross-country race and then doubled-back to cheer on the rest of his teammates or to occasions when he volunteered to join relay teams to bolster teammates’ chances of qualifying for championship races.
“The old captains here before me showed me what it meant to be a leader,” said Comber. “I just like to see my teammates get better. It was definitely part of being captain this year, part of the responsibility. It wasn’t just at meets, but at practice every day.
“They have all been there for me, and I just wanted to be there for them.”
Refusing to Quit
When Comber entered high school, he was barely five-feet and, literally, a 90-pound weakling. He credits hard training, and a fortuitous growth spurt between his sophomore and junior seasons, for moving onto the radar screen as a junior.
The results - with a litany of district and state medals and school records - are self-evident.
And with the success, and his stellar work in the classroom, came opportunities.
“I always knew I wanted to keep running (after high school),” said Comber, who selected Villanova for its combination of a renowned track program and business and finance program, saying it was “the best fit, both academically and track-wise.”
But his other options included the likes of Georgetown, Iona, Penn State, Cornell and Penn. The common denominator was that each sets a high academic bar.
Comber – who earned a fifth place medal in the 3200m at the state meet last weekend - is well-aware that he gave himself more opportunities by keeping his academic house in order.
“Absolutely,” said Comber, who was active in H-H’s National Honor Society . “Grades are important. You see it a lot with students being good students - it’s because they’re willing to put in the work. They aren’t going to quit. They’re willing to do what it takes to be successful in life, which is only going to help later in life.”
‘Great Kid With a Big Heart’
Aside from his parents – John and Amy -- Comber is quick to point to his coaches for being part of his support system and keys to his success.
That group includes not only Coleman, but his assistants – Mike Mahoney, Derek Fromal and Mike Harmon.
And when the opportunity came to give back to Coleman, he pounced.
Coleman’s 7-year-old niece, Bronwyn, is currently in remission from Leukemia.
As a senior project, Comber took on the role of organizer for a 5K run. It took place on April 12 at Deep Meadow Park and raised $500.
“(Coach Coleman) gave me so much,” said Comber. “He got me into running. It was the least I could do for him. It was a lot of fun. I would have loved for it to have been bigger, but it was great. It’s something I’m going to remember for a long time.”
So will his coach and his family.
“I was thankful for Casey organizing the 5K run and his willingness to donate the proceeds to the Leukemia foundation in honor of my niece,” said Coleman. “She is in remission right now and is improving.
“I was deeply impressed that Casey would consider organizing a 5K run in her honor. He is a great kid with a big heart.”
His empathy toward others was revealed in other ways as well, through the Partnership Club.
“We went to the Broad Street Ministry once a month,” said Comber, who explained the responsibilities ran the gamut from opening mail to serving meals to cleaning.
“We do whatever they need us to do. It’s an awesome club. It really opens up horizons to what’s going on around you.”
This may explain why Comber did not want to dwell on any form of adversity he faced and overcame as a student-athlete.
“It’s been smooth sailing, compared to what other people go through,” said Comber.
The ‘Spark’ and ‘It’
In his family, Comber has set the bar high. He has two brothers – Quinn, 16, and Devon, 12 – but welcomes them to make their own headlines.
Quinn plays soccer and tennis, and Devon is a soccer and baseball player – or so he thinks.
“I think the coaches are going to encourage him to run, too,” he said. “He may take down some of my records before he is done.”
Be that as it may, Comber can look at his list of accomplishments and move on from Coleman and H-H to Marcus O’Sullivan and Villanova with a sense of accomplishment.
For a spindly soccer player to be transformed into a 6-0 and 145-pound Division I runner has been quite a ride – or run.
“My sophomore year, I was on the varsity and finished second to fourth (in cross-country),” he recalled, adding that he came of age that summer. “I grew a little bit and started training harder. I grew three inches in three years.
“It was the combination of training harder and growing a little bit. I just needed that maturity with my body.”
Still, a lot had to fall into place to get to the right place.
“Up until this past summer, I didn’t think it was possible,” he said. “After I met (O’Sullivan), I knew ‘Nova was the right fit. It’s going to be awesome.
“It’s been really great to see my times come down. It’s been an awesome experience. It definitely did go by fast. I’m proud of what I could accomplish these last four years.”
It was especially satisfying for Coleman, who envisioned the mission that Comber made possible.
“When it came to Casey’s freshman year, I coached him that spring in track,” said Coleman. “He was young and his times were good but not outstanding, but I saw in him the ‘spark’ that you recognize as a coach. That spark that you know could lead to greatness. Most importantly, the ‘spark’ that you cannot coach or create in someone. I knew immediately he had ‘it.’
“So, I spoke with him. I really thought he should join the cross-country team and that he could be very successful. But I am a low-pressure type of guy and I told him the choice was his. He had to make it and if he had any doubts to continue with soccer. He made the choice to run and now holds the 3000, 3200, and 5k records at our school.”
