Rosa's impressive list of recent performances has left former prep great shaking his head
Heads were turned. Cell phones were dialed. Calls went out.
Word traveled fast.
The churning rumor mill quickly blanketed the Philadelphia Area and beyond, reaching south to the nation’s capitol, where former Cardinal O’Hara and American University standout Steve Hallinan resides.
Hallinan got a call from his high school coach, informing him that his course record at famed Belmont Plateau, a mark he held in high regard considering the number of times he had traversed the course since age 10, was gone.
Some hotshot sophomore from Central New Jersey just ran 15:34 at the Briarwood Invitational, or so the conversation went. Joe Rosa is his name. He runs for West Windsor-Plainsboro North.
Sure, records are made to be broken. This one was obliterated.
“That was awesome,” said Rosa, who topped out at 65 miles per week this summer. “I didn’t see that coming, but it also gave me a lot of confidence.”
Rosa has parlayed that confidence into an impressive list of credentials. And it’s not even Halloween.
“That kid’s young. For him to run that now, that’s impressive,” said Hallinan, who turned in his record-setting performance of 15:42 on an oppressively hot and humid day in 2002 at Briarwood. “He could probably run 15:10 or even faster. If there was a meet at the end of the year, say Foot Locker Northeast, put all those kids on the line and they will fly. But for a sophomore to do that at that time of the year, it’s mind-boggling. It’s tough to rap your head around for a guy that young. He’s the real deal.”
Considering the source, that’s as good an endorsement as one should need. Hallinan, whose Belmont best as a sophomore was only 16:20, went on to run 3:44 for 1,500 meters while at American. But just in case the masses aren’t convinced about this phenom quite yet, he has continued to turn the best cross country courses the east coast has to offer into his own personal jungle gym. Rosa followed up his Belmont effort with a sophomore class record 15:38 at Holmdel Park, the 11th best all-time on the Jersey equivalent of the Plateau. Yesterday, he took umbrage on Van Cortlandt Park, clocking a sophomore-record 12:19.99 en route to winning the Eastern States Championship Race. It was the second fastest time of the day to Solomon Haile’s Vanny course record of 12:07.
Said West Windsor coach Brian Gould: “He’s a hard working kid. He’s a tough kid. He’s a talented kid. He’s getting the most out of his talent right now. To see him have success is not a surprise. But to see some the performances he’s put out there is a little more than we expected this early.”
There are several reasons behind this recent string of astonishing performances. For starters, he had a solid summer of training as opposed to a year ago when he finished up his Junior Olympic season late and was not able to ramp up to the necessary mileage. The biggest change, though, can be attributed to a newfound mental approach to racing. A change that undoubtedly is a product of his increased experience.
“I think this year I’m more focused on winning races instead of running for time,” said Rosa. “Last year I wasn’t really too focused in on the other runners. I just focused on running my hardest. I wasn’t really going out there and competing with everyone else and that’s what’s helped.”
At Belmont, the motivational target was intra-county rival Phil Wood of Pennington (NJ), whom Rosa had never beaten. Though, one runner in particular Rosa has been focusing on since birth – or at least since they began running track together as sixth graders – is his twin brother Jim. In fact, the argument can be made that, despite all the records and success, Joe may not even be the fastest runner on his team or in his own house, let alone the county or state.
Jim, who has been slowed by a myriad of nagging injuries this fall posted a 9:11 to Joe’s 9:15 for 3,200 meters at the NJSIAA Track Meet of Champions last June. Jim can also lay claim to a victory in the first-ever race between the twins, a 20-second win, again, on the track. It’s an intense, yet friendly little rivalry, ranking somewhere between five and six on the Richter scale.
“Whether it’s running or other sports we always want to beat the other,” Rosa said. “So I think that drives both of us to be up there. We’re pretty competitive. We don’t trash talk each other, but we both want to beat the other one pretty bad.
“Usually I beat him on the course and he usually beats me on the track. He’s a little bit injured this season and he hasn’t done quite as much training as I have. I expect, by the state meet, he’ll be right there with me.”
For all the records and rivalries, Rosa has managed, by all accounts, to stay very grounded. His team is priority one. The first thing he wanted to know after winning at Briarwood, wasn’t what his time was, but if his team had prevailed. They did, defeating defending Pennsylvania State champs, and national 4x800 wunderkinds, North Penn, by a point. Not surprisingly, his goal is to help his team advance to Nike Cross Nationals.
“He has a great approach to it,” said Gould. “I can honestly say I have never worked with a more humble and unassuming kid. He really respects everybody he competes with and against. I can say he hasn’t gone out in any of these races really talking about running any particular time.”
Added Hallinan (Above right in PennTrackXC.com/Don Rich Photo): “Of all the course records that’s the one I would have liked seen broken the least. I’m happy for the kid. I wish him all the best.”
That quite well could become a familiar refrain.
