Cross Country, Track
Favorite athlete: Allen Iverson
Favorite team: 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Running at the cross country national championship in San Diego
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Many funny moments, but most notably throwing more interceptions than complete passes in seventh grade as quarterback for Newtown Middle School. (Obviously, my football career was short-lived.)
Music on iPod: Kid Cudi, The Dirty Heads, The Killers, Aer, Atmosphere
Future plans: I’ll be going to college at the University of Pennsylvania, and most likely majoring in mathematics.
Words to live by: “I’ve always believed if you put the work into something, the results will come.” Michael Jordan
One goal before turning 30: Run in an Olympic trial.
One thing people don’t know about me: My front tooth got knocked out by a hockey stick. My right front tooth is actually fake.
By GORDON GLANTZ
A funny thing happened to the Council Rock North track team on the way to West Chester Henderson for a meet last Friday.
The bus driver got lost.
The meet was looming, and the team was nowhere near the facility.
That’s when Ross Wilson, the Univest Featured Male Athletic of the Week, did what he does best.
He stepped up, made his move and took the lead.
“We made a wrong turn on the way down to Henderson Friday night, and Ross came up with his smart phone navigation device, and talked the bus driver back on the right road,” said coach Dave Marrington. “The bus driver was extremely grateful.
“He is always looking for ways to help.”
While his personal accolades in an individualized sport are superlative – he set school records later on in the 3000 and 3200, and broke his own 3200 and 2-mile record – the team captain was thinking about the team.
“I wasn’t running for six hours,” said Wilson. “But we had guys literally warming up on the bus, not exactly ideal conditions but they had to make the most of it.
“We were late. I guess we just have to be thankful for smart phones. Not many other guys were willing to give up their phones, but I was OK with it. We had to get there.”
Paying It Forward
On the subject of his standout distance runner, Marrington focuses on the complete person that is the Penn-bound senior.
“Ross has been a leader on and off the track for us all year,” said Marrington. “He has a tremendous work ethic to go with his physical talents. Ross rarely misses a morning workout, and we go two-a-days three days a week all year. Even on vacation, or on the senior trip, Ross will find time to put on his shoes, and go out for a run.
“Ross is a team captain, and a great inspiration to our younger runners. He always takes time to congratulate them when they have good races, and to console them when they don't. He has made himself a student of the sport and can converse on race tactics, and training philosophies on a high level.”
Ask Wilson, and he will tell you that he is just paying it forward.
In some ways, his freshman year may seem like a hundred years – and literally thousands of miles – ago.
But he can remember the way the older members of the team, and one in particular, mentored him.
“When I came in as a freshman, we had a great runner here named Chris Campbell, who finished fourth in the state,” said Wilson. “He was a big role model for me, on and off the track.”
So what is the exact message, the one given to him that he is sending to the next group of young runners?
“Actions speak louder than words,” he said. “The younger runners need to pick up on that. You have to get them to buy into the process, to buy into a goal and accomplishing it. Improving is the key, no matter who you are, whether you are on varsity or the freshman team.”
Wilson admits that his first love was basketball, and that running does not provide the instant gratification of draining a three-pointer.
“It’s not a fun sport,” he said, referring to long and lonesome hours of training. “But when all your work pays off, there is not a feeling like it.”
Born To Run
While he “always wanted to play basketball in college,” Wilson gave up that dream before ever reaching the varsity level.
It didn’t have as much to with him being 5-11 as it did reading the writing on the wall. He participated in distance runs as a kid and always fared well.
His father, Paul, the longtime track coach at both CB East and CB West, could tell from the times he was posting without really training that running was his calling.
“I have a track background,” said Wilson, whose mother, Lisa, ran at Penn State. “My parents talked me into it.”
For his first two years at Council Rock North, Wilson ran cross country in the fall and shifted gears to basketball in the winter and then turned his attention back to running in the spring.
Something had to give.
“By my junior year, I knew I had to make a decision,” said Wilson. “I couldn’t afford to keep taking time off (from running) in the winter (to play basketball). It can really affect you.
“I haven’t looked back from there – although I still miss basketball.
The Finish Line
The end of his scholastic career is near, and he can see the finish line.
He wants to cross on glorious fashion, and with honor.
The focus on running over basketball has paid big dividends, as Wilson placed first in District One and second in the state in the 3200 last spring.
It carried over to the fall, where he was selected as one of the elite cross-country runners in the country, placing 26th of 40 runners in the San Diego National Championship Meet.
“That was the pinnacle of my cross-country career,” said Wilson, who placed third in the state.
Next came a winter that made training outside difficult.
“This winter was brutal,” he said. “Going out to run in that weather, it messes with your brain.”
But he is completely focused now.
Wilson believes Marrington’s training regimen has him on pace – literally and figuratively – to finish his high school career by achieving the ultimate goal of a state title in the 3200.
“That’s the goal, to be blunt,” said Wilson, who sees his primary competition as Tony Russell of West Chester Henderson. “It’s to win a state championship – and not just for me, but for the school and for coach Marrington.”
While he has trained himself to run wire to wire as a front-runner or to be more tactical, Wilson knows he needs to be under the 9-minute mark –somewhere in the range of 8:55 – to win gold.
“I have three weeks to do it,” he said. “It’s certainly nice to keep seeing improvement. I know I am nowhere near peaking, which is a great sign that I am running these times. Getting records is fun, but the key for me is to keep winning races.”
Win or lose, nothing will be left on the track.
“If you can’t do something to the best of your ability, you may as well not do it,” he said.
One Step Beyond
Beyond Campbell and Co., Wilson will not soon forget those who were the wings beneath his wings.
The list includes Marrington, who he calls “a great coach and role model” and his parents, who suggested running but never exerted pressure beyond that.
“They always said to have fun with it, and that’s the approach I have always had,” he said. “I have been surrounded by great people who have inspired me.”
Because he is excels in the classroom, Wilson gave himself options when it came time to select a school that offered both the best education opportunities and the chance to run at a high level.
He chose Penn over Michigan, Syracuse and Georgetown.
He plans to run year-round – cross-country, indoor and outdoor track – for Steve Dolan, who coached an Olympian Donn Cabra, while at Princeton.
“That’s the place I wanted to be,” said Wilson. “I liked the coach, the school and the city atmosphere. I also liked the proximity to my house. I can’t wait to start, and to be part of it. I look forward to the opportunity.”
Running for an Ivy League school will be a daunting for Wilson, who plans to study mathematics and statistics.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but it will be worth it,” he said. “I like setting goals and the challenge that comes with achieving them.”
