- October 5th, 2006, 10:42 am
#33132
It appears Coach Tolsma is entertaining a kid from PAmedic's neck of the woods today:
Fine 50th win for Hatboro-Horsham boys
By STUART LONDON
The Intelligencer
HOLLAND — Five minutes before its meet at Council Rock South was scheduled to start, Hatboro-Horsham boys cross country coach Bob Ayton went up to senior Dan Hibbs and told him he was going to scratch him from the race as Hibbs had been suffering pain in his left knee since Sunday.
Hibbs talked Ayton into letting him run the race and see how he felt after a mile.
It turned out Hibbs felt pretty good after a mile.
As a matter of fact, he felt so good that only one other runner in the field finished the 3.1 mile course faster than he did.
Hibbs' second-place finish proved key as Hatboro-Horsham edged Council Rock North, 26-29, as well as beating the host school, 24-34, in a Suburban One League Continental Conference double dual meet Wednesday afternoon.
The two victories upped the Hatters winning streak to 50 in SOL dual meets. The last time Hatboro-Horsham lost a meet in its league was to Upper Dublin on Oct. 10, 2001.
CR North had outpointed the Hatters during an invitational meet earlier in the season so there was much concern this would be end of the streak.
“I've never been more scared before a dual meet,” Hibbs said. “I actually thought we lost because when I turned around near the finish, all I saw were North guys.”
Tom Mooney of CR South won the individual race in a time of 16:47 with Hibbs trailing him by 19 seconds. There were indeed two CR North runners behind Hibbs but, after them, there were plenty of Hatters.
Hatboro-Horsham's Ben Cutilla came in sixth, Sam Storino seventh, Steve Topper ninth and Kevin Klaas was 11th. Three CR North runners finished right behind Klaas.
“Ben Cutilla came out of nowhere and ran a great race,” Hatters coach Bob Ayton said. “Steve Topper passed some guys at the end and Sam Storino put on a kick and passed three or four guys; Kevin Klaas also had a great kick.
“We usually never have kicks at the end but everyone came through. It was a true team win.”
Hibbs woke up Sunday and felt pain in his left knee. He has not had it diagnosed yet, and won't for a few more days because he has recruiting visit at Liberty University in Virginia today.
“Originally, I was going to scratch, but I did some striders before the race and I felt OK,” said Hibbs. “I told Mr. Ayton I would go a mile and see how it felt. I never really felt any pain, except for one spot on the course where you go up a hill. It kind of hurt then but it went away.
“If this had been a (non-competitive race) I probably wouldn't have run.”
Ayton gives Hibbs credit for his performance in trying conditions.
“That was just an awesome display,” said Ayton, who is in his 38th year as Hatters coach. “That's the biggest display of guts I've seen in a while.”
*The Hatboro-Horsham girls saw their 54-meet league winning streak come to an end. The Hatters defeated host CR South, 18-38, but lost to CR North, 19-44.
It was the first loss for the Hatters since the first meet of the season in 2001, when they lost to Central Bucks West.
The Indians took seven of the top eight positions with the Hatters' Kerry Swayne, who came in second, the only runner who broke a solid line of CR North uniforms at the finish line.
Hatters coach Jenn Coleman, whose career record is now 55-2, was philosophical afterwards.
“We gave it the best effort we could,” Coleman said. “We knew North was an extremely strong team. We just went out there and did our best.”
The Hatters were not at full strength. One of their top runners, Sarah Rae, was out with a hip injury.
Boys
(at CR South)
1.Tom Mooney (CRS), 16:47; 2. Dan Hibbs (H-H), 17:06
Records: H-H (5-0 SOL), CR North (4-1 SOL), CR South (N/A)
- By ATrain
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- By jmclaughlin