School: Council Rock North
Cross Country, Track
Favorite athlete: Hollis Conway
Favorite memory competing in sports: “In a dual meet against Hatboro during my sophomore year, the meet came down to the triple jump. I ended up setting a new personal record of over a foot and a half in the event, helping my team score enough points to win the meet.”
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “Right before the start of the state final in the 110m high hurdles last year, the starter asked everyone to stand in his lane. I was walking back from a practice start when he said this, so I didn’t really hear him because I was going through the race I was about to run in my head. When I got back to the starting line, I stood in the lane of the eventual winner until an official pointed out to me that I was in the wrong place. The fastest kids in the state were probably thinking that they were about to race with an idiot.”*
Most on iPod: “Pretty much every type of music except country. I’m a huge fan of French rap.”
Future plans: “Go to college, get a good job, make a difference in the world, avoid being cliché.”
Words to live by: “The euphoria that comes with achieving a goal is worth any amount of work required to attain it.”
One goal before turning 30: “I want to become fluent in French, maybe even marry a French woman too.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “My favorite color is purple.”
*Editor’s Note: Fram finished second in the 110m hurdles at the state meet.
By Nate Oxman
Stu Fram was looking forward to another fall of training with the cross country team at Council Rock North.
After all, it was his first season participating in cross country one year earlier that provided the springboard for Fram’s phenomenal junior season outdoors.
A soccer player throughout his youth, Fram, now a senior, decided to focus on his budding talents on the track and put his soccer career in the past. He initially intended to work out on his own until track and field coach Dave Marrington, who also coaches the cross country squad in the fall, informed about the program he ran and how it could aid Fram’s development.
“We run it sort of like a fall track program,” said Marrington. “We have some throwers and a number of sprinters [on the team]. Anyone who doesn’t play another sport is encouraged to come out. It’s a modified program. If the distance guys run 10 or 12 miles, the other guys will run five or six.”
In addition to the conditioning help cross country provides for athletes like Fram, it also plays a key role in creating team chemistry.
“The kids really get along well,” said Marrington. “Having the hurdlers, and throwers, and sprinters work out together is great. The kids are closer than a lot of track programs where they don’t ever see each other compete or ever practice together. This way they appreciate each other’s efforts. They get to know each other in the fall and pull for each other. I think it’s an important part of the sport.”
Fram was strictly a jumper when he joined the CR North track and field team as a freshman, showing strong potential by clearing six feet in the high jump.
In his sophomore season, Fram experimented in more events and eventually found a promising niche as a hurdler. Performing in the shadows of state-qualifiers Bill Kern and Corey Morris, Fram tasted success in the form of a fifth-place finish at districts.
The following fall was Fram’s aforementioned first foray into cross country, which provided the foundation for the break-out junior season outdoors.
“He just blossomed and became the best hurdler around,” said Marrington. “He worked hard at it. He ran cross country and worked hard all winter and by the spring he just surprised a lot of people last year with how good he became. Cross country allowed him to do more work. He could handle a lot of it. Most kids might do four or five sets. He could do so much more.”
Fram’s work paid off with a stellar season that included an impressive district title and was capped by a second-place finish at the state meet in the 110-meter hurdles with a PR of 14.30.
“He’s probably the only medalist in hurdles last year who ran cross country,” said Marrington.
“Last year it [cross country] really helped me a lot,” said Fram, who has also benefited by working with long-time hurdles coach Bill Walker. “It helped me build a base for the winter season and for the spring, not only in hurdles but for anything.”
So with last year’s success setting the stage for a promising senior season, Fram joined the cross country team once again last fall, ready to put in another few months of hard work. Instead, he ended up on the sidelines.
“It was weird,” said Fram. “I was doing everything normally. I had a normal week of practice. But the track in the stadium was getting redone so I had to do plyometrics on a hill nearby instead of the stairs [in the stadium]. I was doing bounds up the hill and I must have landed weird or something. I still don’t know what really happened. But for the next few days I started to feel pain on the outside of my knee. I got an MRI and that didn’t reveal anything. The doctors didn’t know what it was and I still don’t know, which is frustrating, but I don’t have any pain at all now.”
Fram spent three months in physical therapy instead of on the track. He didn’t return to full strength until the beginning of January. But with the injury came one benefit.
“While I was undergoing physical therapy I got to do a lot of lifting, especially my legs, so that has actually helped a lot,” said Fram.
Fram also credits the early-morning team weightlifting sessions as a key to his development as well. Three days each week, a still-sleepy Fram shows up at 6 a.m. to work out with his teammates and throwing coach Tom Vivacqua.
“I have to stay that it is terrible getting up that early,” said Fram. “It’s hard enough to wake up for school at 7:30 on a normal day. It makes for some long days with practice or meets after school, but it really has paid off. Today, I really noticed it for the first time. After running the 300 hurdles I wasn’t tired at all. Before, I could never have run a race afterwards. I needed at least 20 minutes to recover.”
All of that has allowed Fram to focus on one thing this spring: a state championship.
“I would say so,” said Fram of the state title being his goal. “I can’t say that I expected to do as well as I did last year, but because of my success my goal is first place. As they say, second place is the first loser.”
Standing in Fram’s way is last year’s state champion in the 110 hurdles, Michael Brown of Lower Dauphin.
“I’ve been thinking about beating that kid ever since that meet last year,” said Fram. “He’s a really fast runner and it’s going to be tough, but I’ll definitely be disappointed if I don’t win a state title.”
State title or not, Fram will continue his career next fall at Middlebury College in Vermont, which he chose over Cornell University.
“I picked the school that was a perfect fit for me,” said Fram. “Cornell was definitely up there. The coach recruited me pretty heavily, which really was a flattering experience, not expecting to have coaches asking you to come to their school, but I decided Middlebury was where I wanted to go regardless of if I ran or not. I’m excited to run up there and just looking forward to the whole experience.”
