HERSHEY, PA – Persevering through illness, Brayden Frair still made his coaches and teammates at Bradford proud as he claimed 16th overall at the Pennsylvania Cross Country Championship Meet this past Saturday.
This was Frair’s fourth trip to the state championship. Last year, as a junior, he finished 45th and set his goal to place in the top 25 this season. He has made good on that goal, winning the Bradford Invitational, the Ridgway Invitational and the Rocky Grove Invitational. Frair was second at the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester and second at the District 9 2A Championship last week. Despite being sick during the week of the District 9 meet, he tied the old course record but lost by two seconds for first place honors.
“This past week was even harder on Brayden. He still had not recovered from his illness and had several other issues that required him to miss practice and undergo tests at the hospital,” said Bradford head coach Tom Tessena. “It didn’t look like he would even be able to run at the State Meet. He was cleared by a doctor close to the end of the week and had only one easy run of three to four miles of practice leading up to the State Meet.”
Despite his wavering health, after warming up on Saturday morning Frair announced that he was ready to run against the 249 other competitors. He ran the first 800 meters in 2:10 which put him in eleventh place. At the one-mile mark, Frair had moved up to seventh at 4:45 but by the two-mile mark he had slowed a little to 10:22 and was in 13th place. He crossed the finish line in 16ht place in a time of 16:41 which was the second fastest time ever recorded on this course at States by a Bradford runner.
“I am so pleased and proud of Brayden for all he accomplished this year and all he has done in track and cross country in his career but this was a special day because he did it with everything stacked against him,” said Tessena. “Who knows how far up he could have been if he would have been at 100 percent. I have seen a lot in my 53 years as head coach in track and 46 years in cross country but his effort today was probably one of the best, if not the best, I have ever seen.”
With the season now over, Frair now has some time to get healthy and get ready for Indoor Track which will begin in December as well as the Outdoor Track season.
Brayden and all the cross country team members in both high school and middle school will be honored in a banquet on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford at 6:00 pm. There is no fee for all team members. Parents and friends will be charged $20.00 and reservations need to be made with Tessena by Friday if possible including the number of people including their sons for the banquet. Tessena can be reached at 814-368-7028 or 814-558-9479 or at ttessena@atlanticbb.net
