Cross Country
Favorite athlete: Matt Centrowitz
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Being part of the first CB West team to run at states.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: During my 
first indoor track season, the concept of a 200-meter track was still foreign to me, even in my first few races in the 1600m. One time I ran a solid 4:30 or so. That was until I looked up and saw my coach screaming, “You’re not done!” I still had another lap to go. The embarrassment was unreal. On the brighter side, since then I have never again miscounted laps.
Music on iPod: Indie rock, alternative, trap
Future plans: Teach high school English and coach distance.
Words to live by: “The real purpose of running isn’t to win a race, it’s to test the limits of the human heart.” – Bill Bowerman
One goal before turning 30: Break my older brother’s PR.
One thing people don’t know about me: I used to play basketball and baseball.
By Denny Dyroff
Year after year at the PIAA Class AAA Cross Country Championships, District One always manages to uphold its reputation as one of the top districts in the state.
At the 2014 PIAA meet, which was held in Hershey on November 1, District One accounted for four teams in the top six -- and five of the top nine.
This year, District One was the best district in the state, and Central Bucks West’s Ian Davies was one of the best runners in the district. At the District One Class AAA Championships, which were held at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus course, Davies placed 15th and helped the Bucks finish third in the team standings.
Three factors played a major role in Davies’ ascent to excellence in the sport -- running in his brother’s footsteps, learning to love Belmont Plateau and having the fortitude to come back from what could have been a career-ending injury.
“I started running when I was in kindergarten,” said Davies. “I watched my brother C.J. run. I wanted to be like him so I wanted to run too. He would take me out on runs with him. He was seven years older than me, but we were both in CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) running at the same time.
“Obviously, he was a lot older and was running with the varsity at Our Lady of Mount Carmel grade school in Doylestown when I was just getting started in first and second grade. Almost all of the CYO meets were held at Belmont Plateau. It seemed like every Sunday, we’d go to Belmont Plateau to run.”
Belmont Plateau is an area in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park that features several cross country courses -- from a 3000-meter course for young runners to a very challenging 5000-meter course for older runners (ranging from CYO varsity to college).
Ian Davies’ brother was C.J. Davies, a 2008 Central Bucks West grad who went on to run at the United States Naval Academy.
“Ian’s older brother C.J. was an elite runner,” said Central Bucks West coach Greg Wetzel, who coached both the Davies boys. “He was on the 4x800 relay that set a school record and finished fourth in the state in 2008.”
Ian Davies added to his family’s reputation for providing the Bucks with top-flight runners.
“C.J. played a big role in my early interest in running,” said Davies. “He graduated from the Naval Academy and now is in the Navy. He’s stationed in Texas and is working with fighter jets.”
Like his older brother, Davies ran 3K races at Our Lady of Mount Carmel until eighth grade when the distance for the races changed to 5K.
“I did all right in CYO,” said Davies. “My biggest progress was the jump from eighth grade to ninth grade. All the CYO races were run at Belmont Plateau, which is a very hilly and very challenging course.
“Back then, I didn’t realize that all the courses were different -- that they all weren’t so difficult. Running on courses that were a little easier helped give me confidence.”
Davies did develop a love for Belmont Plateau despite the challenges.
“The Briarwood Invitational is held at Belmont Plateau each year and C.B. West runs there,” said Davies. “Every year, when we went there, I was prepared for it. I actually love the course. I grew up with it so coming back there was fun because it was familiar.
“I love hills -- that’s one of my strengths -- and Belmont Plateau is a very hilly course. Parachute Hill is the most challenging part. Suicide Hill is very steep, but the hardest part is the second time going up Parachute Hill. That’s the guts part of the race.”
Davies began to show his potential as his freshman season progressed.
“In my first time trial in ninth grade, my time was in the 24s (above 24 minutes),” said Davies. “I dropped to the 18s by districts. Leagues and districts were great. They were my first races at Lehigh.”
Obviously, the two races were memorable for that reason. Davies’ race there in his sophomore year proved to be even more memorable.
“At league champs, I had a full fracture in my right hip,” said Davies. “I had a stress fracture a few weeks before, but I have a high pain tolerance so I didn’t feel it very much. Then at leagues, the pain got worse as the race went on. Still, I kept going until I finished the race.
“After I crossed the finish line, I went to the medical tent. They said that since I was able to walk in there that it was probably my IT band (a ligament injury known as Iliotibial Band Syndrome). They asked me if I was okay to walk and I said ‘not really.’ I couldn’t walk. They took me to my dad’s car in a golf cart and told me to get X-rays.
“I was in humungous pain-- but I didn’t think it was broken. When we got back home, my dad took me to Doylestown Hospital for X-rays. They told me that it was a broken hip, gave me better crutches and scheduled me for surgery a few days later. Surgery only lasted about an hour. They had to drill two screws in.”
After that, it was an “All’s well that ends well” scenario.
“The surgery was a complete success,” said Davies. “What kept me positive was that they told me I would be able to run again. I asked them if I could have the screws after they were taken out, and they said yes. Now, both screws are on my dresser along with my medals from cross country.”
Wetzel said, “With an injury to the hip like that, you legitimately wonder if a kid can come back from it. We were kind of shaken by this experience because there were no outward signs it was going to happen. And it’s potentially a really dangerous injury because of one of the veins in the hip. If that had gotten ruptured, he could have bled out.”
The Bucks’ coach was referring to the great saphenous vein -- a large, subcutaneous leg vein. It runs along the length of the leg and is the longest vein in the body.
“The fracture was in the neck of the hip,” said Davies, who suffered a femoral neck fracture (which occurs in or near the socket of the hip joint). “It developed from the stress fracture I had. The stress fracture was caused by me pushing too hard and pushing too fast when I was running.
“I was able to start running again the summer before my junior season. It was definitely baby steps -- first walking and then taking little runs. But, by the end of August, I was up to running 40-50 miles a week. It wasn’t my best season because I had to remain cautious. Then, I was running well in the mile in winter track and that helped me get my confidence back.”
Wetzel said, “The neat thing about Ian is that he fractured his hip and never gave up. It obviously took him a long time to recover -- more than a year. Even though junior year didn’t live up to his expectations, he decided that cross country was what he wanted to do.
“He cut back a lot of his other activities and put more eggs in the cross country basket. He was our second runner at leagues this year and was a big reason that we were able to qualify for states as a team.”
Davies arrived for the 2014 season with a healthy body and a healthy state of mind.
“This summer, I did a lot more mileage than I ever did before,” said Davies. “I felt like I was extremely prepared. Our first dual meet was against North Penn and Central Bucks East. They are our two major rivals so we knew we had to be ready.
“I got a PR (personal record) with a 16:30. It was a great race for me and for the team as a whole. We won both and went on to have an undefeated league season. Then, we won the league meet.
“At leagues, I came in sixth place and had a new PR at 16:22. It was a real sense of accomplishment because it was at Lehigh -- on the same course I got my broken hip. I really do like running on that course. One week later at districts, which were on the same course at Lehigh, I ran another PR (16:08).”
At the this year’s district meet, Davies finished 15th.
“Districts was an incredible race,” he said. “It was the closest race I ever had with Rock (Fortna). We stuck with each other for the majority of the race. It was great to finally hang with him. I finished second on our team and 15thoverall.”
In addition to being a standout athlete, Davies is also a top-flight academic student and a participant in a number of extra-curricular activities. He has been on West’s student council for the last three years and was junior class president. He is also a key member of Central Bucks West’s Select Ensemble Chamber Choir.
“Singing in the choir takes up a lot of time but I love it,” said Davies, who sings tenor. “We sing in the Thanksgiving Parade in Philadelphia every year and we also travel a lot. We did a Virginia tour and we’ve performed in Gettysburg.
“We went to the White House last year to sing Christmas carols, but we didn’t get to see the President. We’re going again this year so maybe we’ll get a chance to see him this time.”
Davies, in his own way, knows how time-consuming being a president can be.
“Being class president last year also took up a lot of my time,” said Davies. “Planning homecoming and the prom -- that’s a lot of work. I was also in the Boy Scouts but I gave that up in my junior year. I just didn’t have the time.”
Davies also devotes a lot of time to his studies. He has taken a number of AP courses, including AP English Literature, AP English and AP Spanish. He had somewhat of an advantage with the Spanish course.
“My mom, Mariann Davies, is 100 percent Ecuadorian,” said Davies. ”At times, I’ll talk with her at home in Spanish. I’ve never been to Ecuador but I plan on going. My mom still has a lot of family there and they’re involved in mission work. I’d like to go there to help them.
“I plan on being an English major in college. I’m looking at a number of colleges and it’s a toss-up right now. My goal is to teach high school English -- and to be a coach for cross country and track.’’
