“A champion is not made when he succeeds; a champion is made when you look back at the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months he has spent preparing.”
Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan long-distance runner who won the 5000-meter final at the 2003 World Championships and also won the 2014 Chicago Marathon. He was the bronze medalist in the Olympics for the 5000-meter races in 2004 and the silver medalist for the same races in 2008, and he accomplished these goals by putting all of his effort and energy into tireless training.
The same thing can be said about Connor O’Neill ’17 and his journey to state and perhaps even beyond. The 6:30 a.m. workouts and constant training even on days when he didn’t have to run have paid off for the cross country runner.
On Saturday, November 12th, O’Neill ran the UIL State Cross Country Championships in Round Rock. He finished in 6th place in the 6A Boys 5,000 meter race with a personal best of 15:04. Along with the incredible time and making the top 6 in his race, O’Neill also qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals South Regional Race, which will determine if he moves on to nationals.
O’Neill spoke about his experience at the state race during the Cross Country Banquet that was held at Jesuit on Tuesday, November 15th. He described his struggle through the race and his nerve-racking feelings before walking up to the starting line, mentioning that “this was very nervous for me because it was my last [race]…and I couldn’t share it with the team…but I had a couple teammates with me there, including Elliot, who unwillingly squeezed a bottle of toothpaste into his mouth from Joey for five dollars.”
O’Neill recognized some of the influential people in his life who were racing through his mind before the run. These people and motivators could be coaches, teammates, friends, family, supporters of Jesuit, and even runners from competing schools. He named just a few of the many influences that can be found throughout his life: “None of this could have been done without Coach Robinson and Coach Segal, Coach Mike, Coach Koch, and all of the family, friends, parents, and volunteers who get us through every week…I wasn’t even a bit nervous because I remembered just how many people had gotten me there.”
Coach Robinson has trained O’Neill every day since he started running at Jesuit as a freshman. This time has given Robinson the opportunity to watch the team member grow and flourish in more ways than one. He acknowledged his joy about the race, saying, “I was extremely pleased with Connor’s state performance. He stayed out of trouble and went head-to-head with the top runners in the state… It was the fastest field of runners in the history of the 6A UIL competition, so it also had some historic attachments.”
Coach Robinson has bonded with the runners and the team as a whole during the season and the summer practices. The relationship between him and the team members is not only a bond usually found between a coach and his trainees, but also one of friendship and trust. He explained the friendship and brotherhood that he has seen between the teammates and between them and himself when he recounted, “When I see athletes being committed to showing up for early morning practices consistently over a 6 month period, and persevere through hot conditions for extended lengths of time…I have a tremendous amount of respect for them… I think they know I have their best interests at front, not only athletically but personally as well.”
O’Neill was allowed to bring two teammates with him to Round Rock, and one of the two boys who traveled with the runner and watched the race was Joey LoRocco ’17. LoRocco commented on the race and his friend’s performance, saying that “I’m very happy for Connor and know how hard he worked to get to state. He ran a very impressive time and placed in the top ten even with this meet being the fastest state meet in history.”
He reflected on the past four years of his life, while also acknowledging his time spent on the cross country team: “As a runner I have definitely taken my training more seriously throughout the years and focused on doing everything I could to make me better. As a team member, I try to talk to everyone, especially the freshman to make sure they feel like a part of the team and help make their transition into Jesuit easier. I also encourage my teammates to work their hardest and constantly push themselves during practice and meets.”
LoRocco was one of the four team captains for the season and had the chance to witness the team improve and become stronger over time. He has had this opportunity not just as a team captain but also as a senior, and he mentioned that “the team has made big improvements since our summer training. We have gotten consistently faster and shattered our initial season times. Off of the track, we have become stronger as a team through bonding and hanging out with each other at pasta dinners.”
The other teammate that O’Neill brought with him was Elliot Ingram ’17. Ingram observed the race alongside Joey and described it as “the best race I’ve seen him run. On our drive back, our coach said that was the fastest state performance he’s ever seen in all [of] his years of coaching.”
He looked at the team as a whole in the light of O’Neill’s success and commented on everyone’s improvement and growing strength, saying that “I’ve noticed a significant improvement among every person on it, especially in the freshman. I attribute this improvement to Coach Robinson and Coach Segal and their dedication and motivation to make us the best runners that we can be.”
He looked back at his years as a Jesuit student and as a runner representing Jesuit in the past seasons’ races with fulfillment, mentioning that “during our sophomore year in offseason [cross country], I made it a personal goal to be on varsity by my junior year along with Joey, Sully, and a few other runners who are no longer on the team. All of us…made it by the next year and used our promise to each other to push ourselves harder during each practice…Going into my junior and senior year, I realized that I was an upperclassman…[so] I tried to get to know all of the new members and make them feel welcome at Jesuit and on the team.”
The next race that O’Neill is training for is the Nike Cross Nationals South Regionals Race, or Nike South, on Saturday, November 19th in Woodlands, Texas. This race will determine if he advances and moves on to Nationals and will attract some of the fastest schools and individual runners in the nation.
During his speech in the Cross Country Banquet, O’Neill briefly reflected over the season and looked toward next year’s cross country team and that he is “so proud of what all of us have achieved this year, and I’m looking forward to what the underclassmen make of it in the future. You’ve got to work harder to get what you want because it won’t be given to you…and as Coach Robinson always says, ‘Be the best you can be.’” Come out and support your fellow Ranger at Nike South on Saturday!
