Tom Long dropped another huge PR this weekend at the IC4A Championships at Princeton’s Weaver Stadium.
Long, a Rider junior from Cinnaminson, ran 1:51.73 off a 54.69 first lap to shave more than 1 1/2 seconds off his 800 PR of 1:53.31, which he ran last month at the Larry Ellis Invite on the same track.
“Long ran great today,” said Rider coach Bob Hamer, the 1989 Pennsylvania Class AAA XC champ for Council Rock. “He finally got into a race that went and he took full advantage of the opportunity. He has done a great job this year and I’m looking forward to a great senior year.”
Until a few weeks ago, Long’s PR was 1:54.29 from last year’s MAAC Championships on his home track in Lawrenceville.
Long’s time is No. 6 in Rider history, just behind Chris Tarello in 1994. Tarello, a 1992 Shawnee graduate, now coaches the women’s distance powerhouse at Monmouth University.
Here’s what that Rider all-time top-10 looks like:
1:49.52 … Greg Wesh, 2010
1:50.38 … Jonathan Jackson, 2017
1:50.62 … Chris Gonzalez, 2011
1:50.68 … Marc McKithen, 1995
1:51.22 … Chris Tarello, 1994
1:51.73 … Tom Long, 2019
1:51.80 … Greg Calhoun, 1991
1:52.16 … Ken Lehman, 1980
1:52.34 … Anthony Ardino, 2018
1:52.40 … Darien Edwards, 2016
Long’s high school PR was a 1:55.49 at Group 2 states in the spring of 2015. He’s now lowered his PR nearly four seconds since he arrived on Rte. 206.
