Making strides; Who are the most improved runners in Central Mass.?
Making strides; Who are the most improved runners in Central Mass.?
By Mario Fraioli
Telegram & Gazette – November 1, 2007
As a freshman on the Westboro High cross country team two years ago, Andy Haskell’s best time on the Rangers’ home course clocked in at 20 minutes, 32 seconds, an average pace of just under 8 minutes per mile.
Not a bad start for the first-year harrier, who figures he fell somewhere around 40th man on the Rangers’ depth chart that fall. Two years, countless miles and 5:23 per mile later on the same 2.6-mile course, Haskell finds himself in a slightly different position, that of a top-five scorer for coach Rick Hebert’s successful squad.
“Consistent training,” Haskell said of the secret to his incredible improvement. “I started going to captain’s practices during the offseason and began training more consistently, but I didn’t start running well until sophomore year.”
It was during that sophomore season last fall that Haskell made huge strides as a runner, as he lowered his best time on Westboro’s home course by more than four minutes to 16:19 while just missing a spot among the top seven runners who competed for the Rangers at the Central Mass. Championships.
“Andy enjoys competing, getting fit, and he certainly enjoys getting better,” said Hebert, now in his eighth season as coach of the Rangers’ boys team. “And it’s purely because of his work ethic. That’s why he’s as good as he is, because of his consistency and his willingness to put the work in.”
That willingness to put in the work has certainly manifested itself during the early part of this season, as Haskell has already taken a minute off his best time on his home course from last season – checking in at 15:09 in the Rangers’ opening dual meet against Algonquin – while consistently crossing the finish line as the Westboro’s fourth or fifth man.
In fact, the only runners to finish ahead of Haskell this season have been his own teammates, an encouraging sign for the resurgent Rangers, who hope to win their first league championship since the 1960s.
“We were always talking about our chances (of winning the Mid-Wach B title) on training runs over the summer,” said Haskell, who attended the Newport Running Camp in Rhode Island with some of his teammates this past August. “Everyone is able to feed off the speed of everyone else, which makes it easy to go fast for a long distance.”
For Haskell, consistently running those longer distances with his teammates over the summer has made all the difference when it comes time to race fast in the fall. The progress over the past few seasons speak for itself
“I think he just runs and doesn’t worry about it,” Hebert said of Haskell. “And when he races, he does so to the best of his ability on that day. He just gives everything he’s got.”