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When Marcus Koshy came off the Hackensack track beaming after his impressive win in the Lou Lanzalotto Bergen Meet of Champions 1,600 meters, his longtime distance coach John Murtaugh met him with a huge grin and a hearty "It's about time."
It's not as if Koshy, the North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS, had not had a career filled with success before his easy win at Bergen County's biggest meet, but that the senior had finally crashed through a barrier he'd been chasing almost from the day he switched his athletic pursuits from soccer to track and field.
"When I saw the clock at 3:16 with a lap to go, I knew I finally was going to break 4:20," said Koshy, who had come close several times in the previous years without breaking the barrier between very good and great among his school distance runners. "I said to myself, 'how bad do you want this?' and I knew I wanted it very bad and that I could finally get it."
The clock stopped at 4:16.97, a time among the top 50 in Bergen County and surpassed in school history by only state champs Ben Malone (2013) and Clark Woods (1974), more than four seconds faster than his previous best.
"I always knew he was capable of it," said Murtaugh, who coached Malone and competed for Old Tappan just after Woods graduated. "But distance runners are a different breed and he went through a lot but somehow stayed patient and waited for his moment. Then he took it."
Koshy came to running full-time almost by accident. He had had success at Holdrum Middle School in River Vale but thought his future was in soccer, playing midfield and wing. But he broke his big toe in a preseason scrimmage and tried to run on it for three days before realizing the bruise was something more.
By the time he had healed, the soccer season was over and he went for indoor track as planned. It went so well that by the end of his freshman season, he was the fastest ninth grader in North Jersey at 1,600 meters, having run 4:38.67.
"I did some summer training for soccer with the school team but I realized I loved racing and running fast," Koshy said.
So he made what he calls the "hardest decision" of his young life and told the soccer coach he was switching to cross-country.
It worked out well. Koshy made it to the state group meet as a sophomore and finished in the top 25, not far from a State Meet of Champions slot, and went on to run 4:22.97 at 1,600 in the spring, taking third at BMOC.
He dealt with problems with his shins, but they never broke his spirit.
"Running became my passion and I knew my faith in God would help me get through it," said Koshy, who just missed a state medal as a sophomore in seventh place as senior teammate Dan Kurtz won his own state title.
Tendinitis began to affect his ankles but he still managed to win a sectional title in cross-country a year ago. But he had to stop running soon after, costing him valuable training time and the base work necessary to impress college coaches in the important junior year.
"I'll get through this," he remembers saying to himself. After work in the weight room work and some cross-training with swimming and biking, he managed to lower his personal bests to 1:57.87 in the 800 and 4:21.75 in the 1,600, finishing seventh for the second year in a row in Group 2 but making the SMOC at last.
"Every time I thought it might be too much and I started to lose some desire, my teammates and coaches kept me from giving up and I just refound my desire to have fun and run," said Koshy, who finished in the top 25 at state cross-country groups for the third straight year and had a career best finish of ninth in the BMOC.
In winter, he won the Bergen 800 title and took third in the 1,000. In spring, he won four straight major 1,600 races and had a huge 800 PR of 1:55.63, fourth on the all-time PV list, in winning the sectional.
"Murt has been there through it all with me," said Koshy, who will study cellular biology and neuroscience at Rutgers and hopes to get a chance to walk on to the team. "He's supported me and trained me and got me to this point."
"Rutgers is the perfect school for me," Koshy said. "And I hope I can get on the team. If it doesn't happen, then I'll find other ways to keep running. It's important to me."
Sport: Track and field
School: Pascack Valley
Class: Senior Age: 18
Accomplishment: Koshy won his second straight Bergen Meet of Champions 1,600 meter title with a personal best after winning both the 800 and 1,600 at the previous week's North 1, Group 2 sectional.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Record Athlete of the Week: Marcus Koshy, Pascack Valley
Continue reading...
It's not as if Koshy, the North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS, had not had a career filled with success before his easy win at Bergen County's biggest meet, but that the senior had finally crashed through a barrier he'd been chasing almost from the day he switched his athletic pursuits from soccer to track and field.
"When I saw the clock at 3:16 with a lap to go, I knew I finally was going to break 4:20," said Koshy, who had come close several times in the previous years without breaking the barrier between very good and great among his school distance runners. "I said to myself, 'how bad do you want this?' and I knew I wanted it very bad and that I could finally get it."
The clock stopped at 4:16.97, a time among the top 50 in Bergen County and surpassed in school history by only state champs Ben Malone (2013) and Clark Woods (1974), more than four seconds faster than his previous best.
"I always knew he was capable of it," said Murtaugh, who coached Malone and competed for Old Tappan just after Woods graduated. "But distance runners are a different breed and he went through a lot but somehow stayed patient and waited for his moment. Then he took it."
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Koshy came to running full-time almost by accident. He had had success at Holdrum Middle School in River Vale but thought his future was in soccer, playing midfield and wing. But he broke his big toe in a preseason scrimmage and tried to run on it for three days before realizing the bruise was something more.
By the time he had healed, the soccer season was over and he went for indoor track as planned. It went so well that by the end of his freshman season, he was the fastest ninth grader in North Jersey at 1,600 meters, having run 4:38.67.
"I did some summer training for soccer with the school team but I realized I loved racing and running fast," Koshy said.
So he made what he calls the "hardest decision" of his young life and told the soccer coach he was switching to cross-country.
It worked out well. Koshy made it to the state group meet as a sophomore and finished in the top 25, not far from a State Meet of Champions slot, and went on to run 4:22.97 at 1,600 in the spring, taking third at BMOC.
He dealt with problems with his shins, but they never broke his spirit.
"Running became my passion and I knew my faith in God would help me get through it," said Koshy, who just missed a state medal as a sophomore in seventh place as senior teammate Dan Kurtz won his own state title.
Tendinitis began to affect his ankles but he still managed to win a sectional title in cross-country a year ago. But he had to stop running soon after, costing him valuable training time and the base work necessary to impress college coaches in the important junior year.
"I'll get through this," he remembers saying to himself. After work in the weight room work and some cross-training with swimming and biking, he managed to lower his personal bests to 1:57.87 in the 800 and 4:21.75 in the 1,600, finishing seventh for the second year in a row in Group 2 but making the SMOC at last.
"Every time I thought it might be too much and I started to lose some desire, my teammates and coaches kept me from giving up and I just refound my desire to have fun and run," said Koshy, who finished in the top 25 at state cross-country groups for the third straight year and had a career best finish of ninth in the BMOC.
In winter, he won the Bergen 800 title and took third in the 1,000. In spring, he won four straight major 1,600 races and had a huge 800 PR of 1:55.63, fourth on the all-time PV list, in winning the sectional.
"Murt has been there through it all with me," said Koshy, who will study cellular biology and neuroscience at Rutgers and hopes to get a chance to walk on to the team. "He's supported me and trained me and got me to this point."
"Rutgers is the perfect school for me," Koshy said. "And I hope I can get on the team. If it doesn't happen, then I'll find other ways to keep running. It's important to me."
Marcus Koshy
Sport: Track and field
School: Pascack Valley
Class: Senior Age: 18
Accomplishment: Koshy won his second straight Bergen Meet of Champions 1,600 meter title with a personal best after winning both the 800 and 1,600 at the previous week's North 1, Group 2 sectional.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Record Athlete of the Week: Marcus Koshy, Pascack Valley
Continue reading...
