Hengst appreciates small things after Cuba trip

By Brian Towey for DyeStat

Dalton Hengst’s July trip to Cuba for the Carribbean Scholastic Invitational, as an athlete, brought him out of his comfort zone.

The trip included unusual food, an unfamiliar environment and track officials with whom, because he doesn’t speak Spanish, he couldn’t communicate.

But for Hengst, a junior at Maryland’s McDonogh School and one of the country’s top senior runners, it was what he saw away from the track that really left a mark.

“Just seeing how little (the Cuban people) have – I’m not going to say it changed me, but I think about things a lot more now,” Hengst said. “How grateful they were with what little they had.

“It made me think about how we have all of these nice things, these nice clothes (and don’t appreciate it).”

Hengst is heavily involved in the college recruiting process as the cross country season opens, but his goals are big. He won the 5-kilometer varsity brown race Friday at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University in 14 minutes, 57 seconds and is thirsty for more.

“The most important thing is to keep racking up those wins, rather than times,” Hengst said. “Then I’ll go to Foot Locker, hopefully make nationals again.

“We’re trying to win national titles this year. That’s the goal. In the mile, come as close as you can to four minutes – you’ve got to go for it.”

Hengst arrived at the Baltimore-area school on the wings of another sport: soccer. As a talented youth soccer player from York County, Pa., he competed with a club in Baltimore – he also ran track, running a 4:40 mile and 2:08 in the 800 as an eighth grader. His club soccer coach also coached at McDonogh, so he went there.

“My freshman year I played soccer and ran track,” Hengst said. “At the end of the day, I said, which sport can I be the best in the country at? I thought I could be the best in the country at track.”

Hengst will run Saturday at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C. After that, he is scheduled to race Oct. 14 at the Manhattan Cross Country Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y.

Yourkavitch chooses East Carolina

Abby Yourkavitch, a senior distance runner at Chambersburg (Pa.) High took three official visits to college campuses this fall. But when she visited East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., it just felt right.

“I just really clicked with the girls,” Yourkavitch said. “I visited Penn State officially and William and Mary officially and those visits were super sweet. but it was really just a connection with the team at East Carolina.” COLLEGE CHOICES

Yourkavitch finished 10th at last year’s Pennsylvania state meet. She also finished 17th at the Foot Locker Northeast Regional last fall. 

Council Rock North remains a force

Over the course of his 22-year tenure at Council Rock North PA (and 20 years as an assistant coach), David Marrington has built a program with a penchant for winning. The defending Pennsylvania Boys AAA Champions, which placed third last year at NXR Northeast, the team out of eastern Pennsylvania is perennially a force on the cross country trails.

Council Rock finished second to La Salle College at the Carlisle Invitational.

“I’m not going to say we’re a high-mileage program, but we do a lot of tempo work,” Marrington said. “Two-a-days all year long. I think that helps us in the end.”

Since 2000, Council Rock has produced a slew of Foot Locker finalists, among them Ross Wilson (University of Pennsylvania), Ryan Campbell (Penn State), Keith Capecci (Villanova) and Dan Covel (Boston University).  

“I think if we have a just shot at it, we’ll run at (NXR Northeast) again,” Marrington said.