The journey to the 1982 State Championships for the Picker cross country team began long before the first meet of the season. For four years, the senior runners had knocked on the door of a championship, winning the District X Championship each year and placing as runners-up at State in 1981.
In early August the team spent a week in Cook’s Forest at the Gray family cabin where Coach Power held his first-ever Cross Country Camp. During that week, champions were made with most of the boys running 70 plus miles as they ran three workouts each day.
As September approached, the team was at championship level as they won the McDowell Invitational in extraordinary fashion scoring only 32 points. Gene Gray led the way running 15:48 with all the other team members under 17 minutes. At this meet the Pickers proved they were one of the top small school teams in not only the state but also in the nation.
During the regular meet season, in September and early October the team struggled with injury and illness. The difference between winning a championship or not is often like a razor’s edge, pushing the limits of one’s endurance during training and a robust meet schedule testing the team.
At the County Meet the team easily outran the nearest opponent, General McLane, as the Pickers scored 20 points to McLane’s 63. Gene Gray, Rick Eaton, and Joe Allessie finished 1-2-3 and Keith Jones and Dave Girts rounded out the first five team scorers finishing in 6th and 8th with Rich Bardol and Mark Klein (Koch) not far behind.
With a sub-par performance at the District X Meet, the team still managed a solid win, scoring 55 points with the next closest finisher, Union City, scoring 67.
Taking two days off during the State Championship week with a focus on light speed work, the Pickers rebounded on the fields of Lehigh University as they ran their best race since McDowell to defeat the best schools in Pennsylvania as they outran a great Lansdale Catholic team 161 to 163. Lansdale and North East were by far the best in the field as Palisades scored a distant 300 points to finish in third.
Leading the way was Gene Gray running 16:11 to place 4th, Rick Eaton 16:21 in 7th, Joe Allessie 16:47 in 32nd, Mark Klein 58th in 17:04, Keith Jones 60th in 17:05, Dave Girts 69th in 17.09, and Rich Bardol 99th in 17:32.
After the race, the team credited Mark Klein as a major factor in the team’s win as Mark misjudged where the finish line was and started his finish kick to the finish well before where he thought the race ended. Once at the point where he thought the finish line was, he had no other option but to continue his sprint another 100 meters to the actual finish line. The runners he passed in his finish sprint was the difference between Lansdale and North East.
Members of the 1982 Picker Cross Country team endured a long and tenuous season filled with pain, joy, heartbreak, and jubilation. Their journey was extraordinary with everyone from the first man on the team to the young runners who didn’t make the journey to the final meets of the season sharing in the making of a truly championship team.