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A week later, Annville-Cleona's senior runner rolled out of bed as the Lancaster-Lebanon League's 2012 cross country champion.
In a triumphant performance, Wolfe cruised to victory in the boys' race Tuesday afternoon at Ephrata Middle School. He led the 3.2-mile run from wire-to-wire, clocking a 16:22 before falling face-first into the grass as he crossed the finish line.
Even more impressive, his victory came only four days after doctors cleared him to compete in the event. Wolfe collapsed after running sprints at the Dutchmen's practice two weeks ago. He recovered quickly, but ended up fainting several times over the next couple days.
"It was at practice, and it was at laser tag, and it was in a car. I was just like, 'What the heck is this?'" Wolfe said of his mystery illness.
Last Sunday, the pony-tailed pacesetter checked in to the Med Center to get checked out.
"I was in the hospital for a few days; they didn't find anything wrong with me," said Wolfe. "They said it could have been viral or something temporary. I was sick in my stomach and it just made me really tired. I got cleared by the doctors and everything like that, so it was a good thing.
"If they would have found something weird with my heart, they probably wouldn't have let me run. But they did every test they could do in the shortest amount of time possible to get me in this
Music to his ears, but probably not so much for the other 167 student-athletes in the field. Wolfe, the reigning District Three champion, was determined to improve upon his past where he finished eighth as a junior and 13th as a sophomore.
"My goal was to get out hard, go through the first mile kind of quick, be leading at the second mile and just hang on for the last mile," he explained. "I figured if any of those guys were with me on the second mile, anybody had a good shot. I wanted to get in there heads early that they're not going to keep up with me."
Undefeated in the league this fall, Wolfe led by 25 yards at the quarter mark of the race, gradually gaining ground with each kick. He finished 14 seconds ahead of Penn Manor's silver medallist Harrison Schettler (16:36).
"Oh my goodness, this meant so much to Shawn," said A-C boys' coach Ben Wenger, who took every precaution necessary after Wolfe passed out at practice two weeks ago. "To hold Shawn out of this, I couldn't have done it personally. If it would have been just my decision, I couldn't have said no to Shawn. And since he was cleared, there was no way I was going to say you can't do this."
Team-wise, the Comets claimed the boys' title with
"It was solid," said Falcon head coach Brandon Risser. "But I think we missed an opportunity to mix it up a little bit more. I'm very proud of the guys who ran tough. Those top three guys ran tough. They were out of the race in the first 800, but they battled to get back in the mix."
As a unit, the A-C boys' came in sixth with 154 points as Mark Bachman (17:03) added an eighth-place finish to go with Wolfe's win.
"Shawn wins the race before he runs it. He wins it in his mind, he visualizes the course and then he takes it to the course. He goes after it," added Wenger. "Some guys you get, they want to hang in there and outkick you at the end of the race. Shawn can kick, but he prefers to go way out ahead in the beginning and damage any hope of competing. That's what he does."
On the girls' side, Penn Manor senior Greta Lindsley continued her outstanding career by smashing the course record in 18:30. Lindsley finished 1:45 faster than second-place Emily McBride of Manheim Township (19:45).
Locally, Cedar Crest freshman Mackenzie Shiner ended in sixth place (19:56). As a team, the Falcons came in seventh (202), behind champion Hempfield (96), which placed four runners in the top 25.
"That was one of the finest races I've seen a Cedar Crest girl run - other than our coaching intern Becca Brandt, who is working with us," boasted Cedar Crest head coach Brandon Risser. "(Shiner) really took her game to the next level. I hope that gives her confidence (for districts). It's all about managing your emotions and keeping them in check and not getting overwhelmed."
The District Three Cross County Championships will be held next Wednesday at Hershey's Parkview Course. Starting times are as follows: Girls A (11:30 a.m.), Girls AA (12:15 p.m.), Girls AAA (1:15 p.m.), Boys A (2:15 p.m.), Boys AA (3:15 p.m.) and Boys AAA (4:15 p.m.).
Notes: Wolfe became the fifth county boy to win the L-L championship since 1990. A-C's Jon Wenger won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, and the Cedar Crest trio of Pat Clark (2001), Jon Jackson (2009) and Alex Galli (2010) also collected gold medals.
LANCASTER-LEBANON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Ephrata Middle School
BOYS
Team Results - 1. Penn Manor 69; 2. Hempfield 100; 3. Warwick 104; 4. Cedar Crest 110; 5. Garden Spot 136; 6. Annville-Cleona 154; 7. Manheim Township 179; 8. J.P. McCaskey 193; 9. Manheim Central 217; 10. Solanco 267.
11. Lancaster Mennonite 286; 12. Lampeter-Strasburg 324; 13. Ephrata 341; 14. Conestoga Valley 367; 15. Lancaster Catholic 448; 16. Elizabethtown 478; 17. Elco 483; 18. Northern Lebanon 558; 19. Lebanon 559; 20. Donegal 561; 21. Cocalico 605.
Individual Results - 1. Shawn Wolfe (A-C) 16:22; 2. Harrison Schettler (PM) 16:36; 3. Jonathan Bitner (PM) 16:47; 4. James Martin (GS) 16:47; 5. Dalton Trump (McC) 16:52; 6. Travis Wells (PM) 16:57; 7. Michael Urban (WAR) 17:03; 8. Mark Bachman (A-C) 17:03; 9. Ben Mueller (WAR) 17:04; 10. Connor Simmerman (MT) 17:11.
11. Chad Bomgardner (CC) 17:12; 12. Willy Bragg (CC) 17:12; 13. Jarrod Cruise (CC) 17:15; 24. Ben Mason (A-C) 17:23; 36. Daniel Neiswender (CC) 17:41; 38. Isaiah Shiner (CC) 17:42; 50. Nate Weiss (CC) 17:54; 58. Phil Corle (A-C) 18:01; 61. Tanner Craun (CC) 18:06; 63. Jeff Inman (A-C) 18:12.
72. Jonathon Garcia (ELCO) 18:25; 74. Jon Zechman (A-C) 18:26; 87. Paul Kudlanov (NL) 18:45; 95. Jared Harnish (ELCO) 18:59; 97. Zachary Weaber (A-C) 19:02; 101. Damien Mestizo (LEB) 19:10; 102. Alex Regnell (ELCO) 19:10; 103. Matthew Rhoads (NL) 19:10; 105. Linus Morales (LEB) 19:12; 107. Brad Hartman (ELCO) 19:15.
114. Jesse Brownstein (LEB) 19:20; 120. Joshua Eisenhauer (NL) 19:27; 130. Ethan Arnold-Paine (LEB) 19:47; 133. Robert Shutlz (ELCO) 19:54; 136. Euguen Kudlanov (NL) 19:56; 139. Lance Litschi (ELCO) 20:03; 149. Ian Hartman (LEB) 20:28; 150. Neil Shook (NL) 20:28; 153. Jaime Montalvo (LEB) 20:33; 157. Jacob Bernat (ELCO) 20:56.
158. Jeremy Bernat (ELCO) 21:06; 159. Tyler McFeaters (NL) 21:11; 162. Dan Kreiser (NL) 21:33; 163. Dylan Raihl (LEB) 21:33; 164. Devin Tipton (NL) 22:12.
GIRLS
Team Results -1. Hempfield 96; 2. Garden Spot 103; 3. Ephrata 131; 4. Solanco 132; 5. Warwick 166; 6. Manheim Township 202; 7. Cedar Crest 209; 8. Elizabethtown 244; 9. Lampeter-Strasburg 246; 10. J.P. McCaskey 248.
11. Lancaster Catholic 249; 12. Conestoga Valley 310; 13. Donegal 318; 14. Penn Manor 345; 15. Cocalico 374; 16. Manheim Central 382; 17. Annville-Cleona 421; 18. Elco 470.
Individual Results - 1. Greta Lindsley (PM) 18:30; 2. Emily McBride (MT) 19:45; 3. Shannon Cruz (LC) 19:50; 4. Kim Campbell (HEM); 5. Maryn Bernhardt (MT) 19:55; 6. Mackenzie Shiner (CC) 19:56; 7. Chloe Mattilio (LM) 19:56; 8. Courtney Keen (GS) 20:01; 9. Brianna Thomas (HEM) 20:04; 10. Alicia Dillman (CV) 20:07.
32. Shelby Dove (A-C) 21:05; 34. Kyla Waldron (CC) 21:08; 52. Brittany Ulrich (LEB) 21:44; 59. Gwyneth Davis (CC) 22:01; 60. Michelle Kiss (CC) 22:05; 61. Olivia Hess (CC) 22:13; 62. Haley Shiner (CC) 22:15; 63. Maggie Shaak 22:18 (ELCO); 74. Madisyn Briener (NL) 22:30; 78. Erica Bachman (CC) 22:34.
81. Brenna Rubinstein (CC) 22:38; 82. Melissa Casiotti (A-C) 22:40; 85. Kayla Harnish (ELCO) 22:52; 90. Kayla Smith (NL) 22:58; 100. Kaitlin Dolan (NL) 23:18; 103. Katie Gerber (ELCO) 23:22; 106. Angela Fair (A-C) 23:38; 119. Emily Rooney (A-C) 24:04; 122. Lauren Chambers (LEB) 24:29; 126. Rachel Brown (A-C) 24:44.
128. Madison Dietz (A-C) 24:47; 131. Schylar Moyer (A-C) 25:17; 134. Emily Harpold (ELCO) 25:51; 136. Charley Darkes (NL) 26:00; 139. Mindy Hill (ELCO) 28:05.
