Patrick = Relentless = 3rd Best in PA
There are few people you meet in life that truly show you what relentless pursuit looks like. Patrick is one of those people.
You may recall from last year his disappointment of missing XC & Track states as a sophomore.
He worked relentlessly to earn that state ranking improving to 14th in XC and 15th in the 1 mile as a junior at the state XC and TF meets.
Even with those accolades... Patrick envisioned a bigger impact.
All summer & fall. Mile after mile. Weight after weight. Jump after jump. With his team. With GHP. On his own. He worked. And he worked. His coaches at Elizabeth Forward are wonderful and curated a path of success.
At the end of the summer I pressed Patrick after a track workout: “why not aim to be #1 in the state and run sub 15 minutes?”
An unreasonably high task to do in a few months. He embraced the challenge.
He literally fell a few times. Got sick. Groaned, moaned, fussed, even made excuses. He could have settled and had an underachieving season despite so much talent. He could have proven his doubts about not being the cream of the crop.
Instead, Patrick went out and had the season of his life, and capped it off with the race of his life. Patrick earned himself a new personal best of 15:11 (for 3.1 miles). At his speed, you don’t just shave off “dozens” of seconds of a PB by chance.
He won several invitationals throughout the season. Then he earned 3rd place at PIAA XC State Championships with no one in sight behind him against the best XC runners in PA.
Few runners make it to states. Fewer earn a top 25 medal. Increasingly fewer come back the next year to earn a better top 25 spot. And only 3 can ever get a top 3 medal.
You are that guy, Patrick. Congratulations 💪🏽