Forys was best the state has seen in 2006-07

BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Craig Forys and Ashley Higginson of Colts Neck put together two of the most decorated seasons in state history this year, making them the obvious choices for the News Transcript's Athletes of the Year. There are two Craig Forys.One enjoys surfing, being a lifeguard, snowboarding and cutting up with his friends. In other words, being a teenager.

The other Craig Forys is the gifted distance runner from Colts Neck who, with nine Meet of Champions titles to his credit, is the most decorated runner in state history.

For Forys, the News Transcript's 2007 Senior Male Athlete of the Year, his running success is the direct result of his ability to separate the two. He couldn't do one without the other.

"If I was just running all the time, it would drive me insane," he pointed out. "I need the break. It keeps it interesting."

But make no mistake about it, Forys takes his running very seriously. That seriousness helped him turn his 2006-07 season into the best in state history. Starting with a cross country season in which he broke six course records, including the marks at ancient Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y., and Holmdel Park, followed by an indoor national championship in the indoor two-miles and concluding with a historic 1,600-3,200 at the outdoor MOC track and field championships, Forys confirmed his brilliance as a competitor and a tactician. He was on his game from the start of the season as he left his mark not only in New Jersey but in the country.

Forys, knowing that this would be his final time around, soaked it all in.

"I wanted to enjoy the season," he said. "It was my last season with my buddies."

Forys made it an enjoyable season for everyone as he accomplished everything that a runner could.

"This season has been everything I could ask for," he said.

His cross country season was nothing short of brilliant as he set six course records in three states. The two that stand out, of course, are VCP and Holmdel.

In October, he broke the 24-year-old 2.5-mile course record at VCP (2:15.7) by

five seconds (2:10.7). He returned to the famed course in November and won the Foot Locker Northeast Qualifier over the park's 3.1-mile course in 15:15.5, the third-fastest time in history and fastest ever for a New Jersey harrier.

The win put him in the Foot Locker National Championships in San Diego, where competitiveness was on full display. He battled back from off the pace in the final 200 meters to finish second, the highest placing ever for an area runner. He was a First Team All-American, one of 11 All-American honors he would win in his unmatched career.

But the highlight of the campaign for Forys was his Holmdel Park record. Jason DiJoseph's 1988 mark of 15:16.2 was considered unbreakable. Forys himself took a shot at the record on a solo run at the State Group IV championships and after running a 15:31, he said the record wasn't going to fall. But it would, the next week at the MOC.

"The Holmdel record was pretty sweet," he said. "It was the biggest surprise because I wasn't going for it until two miles into the race."

Unlike his solo effort at the Group meet, Forys had runners to push him, most notably a promising sophomore, Doug Smith from Gill St. Bernards, and that made all the difference. Forys made a big surge going downhill at the mile mark, and from there, no one else had a say in the outcome.

"I felt strong before the race and knew I was running pretty quick," he recalled.

At two miles, his coach, Jim Schlentz, told him that the record was within grasp. He dug deep over the final 1.1 miles and covered the downhill run in 5:04. He stopped the clock at 15:15.11, rounded off in cross country to 15:16.0. In the final race on the course where his running career started, he left with the course record.

The indoor season would provide Forys with the only missing piece of hardware in his career, an individual national championship. He had won a national title his sophomore year anchoring the Cougars to the indoor Distance Medley Relay title. However, an individual title had eluded him. He had come close, finishing second in cross country and at the 2006 indoor championships. He put that burden behind him at the Nike Indoor Nationals, holding off his rival, Matt Centrowitz of Maryland, in an exciting duel. He grabbed the lead with 150 meters remaining and kept Centrowitz at bay. His winning time, 9:01.57, was the fastest run in the nation indoors in '07.

"I just wanted to be able to say that I was a national champion," he said.

Before his national title, Forys had set the indoor MOC record at 3,200 meters, turning in a 9:03.58, and turned in a 4:05.8 anchor 1,600 to lead the Cougars' distance medley relay team to a fourth place at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships and All-American honors.

The outdoor season saw Forys rewriting the state record book. In one race in West Chester, Pa., he lowered three records in one race. He took down the 3,000 (8:15.5), 3,200 (8:46.04) and two-mile (8:48.99) records while finishing first.

At the Penn Relays, his 4:04.2 brought the Cougars from 11th place to second. It was the fifth-fastest 1,600 leg in meet history.

Forys was undefeated going into the MOC, where he became just the second runner in history to win the 1,600 and 3,200. Having achieved the double indoors in 2006, he is the only runner to have won the 16, 32 double at both meets.

He turned in a magnificent double at the MOC, winning the 16 in 4:09.56 and coming back later to best his own meet record for the 3,200 running 8:52.58.

The ink on the 3,000 and two-mile records were hardly dry when Forys lowered them again. Facing Centrowitz in Greensboro, N.C., at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, the two turned in the race of the meet and one of the greatest in history. Centrowitz got the better of Forys this time, but not before they placed themselves in the record books. Centrowitz ran the third-fastest time in history (8:41.55) while Forys' 8:44.53 places him No. 7 all-time. Forys passed 3,000 meters in 8:09.99 to better his old mark.

Other records Forys set during the spring were Shore Conference marks for 1,500 meters (3:51.45), 1,600 (4:07.36) and 5,000 (14:28.95).

But for all of the great things he did individually, his most memorable races were his anchor 1,600s for the DMR team. There was the national championship win, and that was followed by a string of 4:04-4:05 splits in which he had people watching him pick off one runner after another, and closing what seemed like an insurmountable deficit, more than what was going on up front.

At the Penn Relays, his 4:04.2 took the Cougars from 11th to second. It was the fifth-fastest split in the history of the Penn Relays. At the Nike Outdoor Nationals, he split 4:04.0 in bringing Colts Neck from ninth to second in a new conference-record 10:04.15, the sixth-fastest time in state history.

Tim Mulligan, a volunteer assistant at Colts Neck and Forys' training partner the last three years, noted that there is a reason that Forys ran his fastest times in the relays.

"With Craig, the team is most important to him," he said. "I'm not surprised that his best races came in the distance medley. He loves the competition."

Forys agreed.

"I love the relays," he said. "I get pumped up for these things. I run off emotion."

Forys will be running for the University of Michigan starting in the fall, and one of his goals as a freshman is to come back to the Penn Relays next year as a member of the Wolverines' DMR team.

It's Forys' willingness to do anything for the team, to be there to push a teammate to a personal best during a race, that has made him an inspiration for his teammates.

"It's great having someone like Craig for a teammate who will go out and help you," said Brenden Krewer, who ran the 800 meters on the two-time All-American DMR team this year.

For all that he has accomplished, Forys has remained humble and gracious toward his opponents. He admits that what he has achieved is a little overwhelming.

"I was just a little eighth-grader," he said, recalling his thoughts when he first met the Cougars high school team. He couldn't have predicted that running would take him to national fame.

It didn't take long for the "little" freshman to show he was a cut above the rest.

"He was fearless and didn't like to lose," said Schlentz. "When he did lose, there would be a little edge to his workouts, a little more intensity."

His signature race as a freshman was the Group III indoor 3,200, where he put that fearlessness on display. He refused to defer to Parsippany Hills senior Jeremy Zagorski and made him earn the win. Forys had the consolation of setting a national age group record (9:20.59) in finishing second.

That was one of numerous records that are too much to recap. However, it's not the records that separated Forys from the rest, it's what they did to him.

"It motivates me to do better," he said of setting records.

It's the records and wins, that made Forys become more and more devoted to running. He began at age 7. He thought it was OK, but enjoyed other sports as well. By middle school he was winning races and taking it seriously, and in high school he saw the fruits of hard work and dedication. By his sophomore year, he was on his way to winning the national championship with the DMR team indoors and claiming his first MOC title at 1,600 meters outdoors. By his junior year, he was a nationally ranked runner and clearly the best in the state.

But that was all dressing for what transpired this year as he made a strong case for himself as the best distance runner the state has seen. He wanted to leave his mark in New Jersey, and it just may have been the largest one yet.