In the fall, Council Rock North senior Brady Ott can break out his PIAA cross country gold medal.
In the spring, Ott can swap it out with his PIAA outdoors 4x800-meter gold medal.
Some people like to seasonally decorate.
This year, Ott earned some impressive hardware. The Indians won the state 3A cross country title in early November, clipping LaSalle 134 to 136. The championship is determined by adding the finishes of the top five runners with the lowest team score winning.
Ott, who finished the course ninth among all team runners, with a 16:19, was North’s top harrier. The strong North team “was good motivation because you have good training partners. I feel like our team culture was perfect,” Ott said. “Unlike a lot of different teams, we were less results oriented and more experience oriented.
“I feel like we approached bigger races in a less serious and more joking manner,” he continued. “When we took a step back and realized the whole reason for doing this is to have fun with your friends, you do a lot better, which is really cool.”
At the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg over Memorial Day weekend, Ott and teammates Andrew Young, Joe Crowne and Lucas Poliseno not only won the 4x800-meter 3A relay in 7:38.73, but they won it with plenty of style points.
North whipped second-place Carlisle by almost 5.5 seconds. It was the third fastest 4x800 time in the country this year and the fastest at PIAAs since 2016.
“I think the team aspect was huge for us and oddly so, because track is an individualistic sport,” Ott shared. “The phrase we used that encapsulated that whole idea was ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.’ We would have one guy do something impressive – a hard workout or a really good performance in a race – and everyone else training with that guy would say ‘If he can do that, then I can do that.’ Suddenly, everyone is running fast times.”
Individually, Ott earned a spot on the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) Honor Roll with two seventh-place finishes at Shippensburg: a 4.08:95 in the 1,600 meter and a 9:03.21 in the 3,200 meter. Any top eight finisher is also considered a medalist.
Butler’s Drew Griffith, the winner of both races, set a national high school record in the 1,600 meter and a PIAA record in the 3,200 meter. But Ott had seen plenty of excellence from his teammates, to make him think ‘If he can do that, then I can do that.’ Racing against the country’s top runner wasn’t that different.
“You hear so much about this kid from MileSplit and Instagram about all of the amazing things he’s been doing. You develop a perception of this superhuman freak of nature who can do anything,” Ott admitted. “I got to see him up close, warm up and interact with everyone. The biggest thing I noticed is he is just like any other kid. He seemed like a really nice kid, to be honest. And while he was able to win by so much time and set records, there was no magical thing that allows him do that. I think it was a lot of different things that go in the right direction that help him do them.
“It’s kind of inspiring that someone else could do this,” Ott concluded “and you, yourself, could do this too like him.”
Here is the story of a man named Brady … who was busy with soccer and didn’t start to take running seriously until his junior year. “Freshman spring is when I caught the running bug,” Ott said. “I had teammates and coaches tell me I should consider doing cross country since I had potential.” Ott opted for cross country instead of soccer in the fall of his junior year.
Even as a futboler, Ott was usually the team champion in conditioning drills. “As my teammates will tell me, the longer the better for me. I may not have top end sprint speed that other guys do but I can keep up that pace for a while,” Ott stated.
Ott rounded into form the week before Shippensburg at the District One championships. He won a silver in the 1,600 meter (4:13.65) and a bronze in the 3,200 meter (9:10.33). He finished both races less than one second behind the winner, Perkiomen Valley’s Ian Johnson.
Notably, Ott shaved 12 seconds off his 1,600-meter time and a full 34 seconds off his 3,200-meter time from 2023 outdoor districts.
“I think what happened was: you go day by day and week by week making small improvements, and you slowly start to get better,” Ott reflected. “We won cross country states in the fall and I feel that was really important. It showed us ‘Oh my gosh, we just did that’ and that there was no limit to how far we could go.”
Increased confidence, strength and improved training turned Ott from a junior who had a nice showing in districts into a senior who was a force at states.
Lest anyone thinks that his running interferes with his academics, Ott won a National Merit Scholarship in May. He was just one of two North students to do so. A likely mechanical engineering major, Ott will be running track and cross country at Johns Hopkins.
“Not only was Hopkins perfect for academics, and academics are first, but it also had the running aspect which was a big pull for me,” Ott explained. “I’ll have that good balance of being able to throw myself into academics but also have a good outlet for athletics.”
The longer college races – with a 5K, 10K and even potentially a 3,000-meter steeplechase – also fit Ott’s strengths. His best running may be ahead of him.
“Goals I had set in the past that seemed to be unreachable now,” Ott concluded, “seem to be a little more realistic.”
Super Seniors is a five-part series highlighting some exceptional area members of the Class of 2024.
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