DJ Principe was hoping for a top finish, possibly a victory, at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.
Unfortunately for the La Salle Academy senior, it just wasn't his day on Saturday.
After running with the lead pack in the early stages, Principe didn't quite have that extra gear when he needed it most and finished 21st overall with a time of 16 minutes, 1.2 seconds for the five-kilometer terrain at the Glendoveer Golf Course. For the second straight year, Utah's Casey Clinger of American Fork earned the individual title, breaking the tape in 15:28.4.
La Salle head coach Ken Skelly, who along with assistant coach Bill Myers, flew to Portland to watch the race, told MileSplit RI that Principe's finish was a tough pill to swallow.
"D.J. is devastated," Skelly said. "It obviously was not the race he wanted. He was feeling a little under the weather. But he's got his head up now. This certainly shouldn't overshadow the excellent season he has had. You just don't like to see something like this happen to a great kid like this."
Principe, who was ranked No. 2 in the race behind the favored Clinger, had some momentum on his side heading into the NXN. He was coming off a dominating win at the NXN-Northeast Regionals a week earlier in New York where he broke his own course record by five seconds with a time of 15:18 at a tough Bowdoin Park. In early November, he also captured his third straight state title and made it back-to-back crowns at the New England Championships.
But on Saturday, it just wasn't in the cards for one of Rhode Island's greatest distance runners. Principe hung with the leaders at the beginning, and was still in contention after the first mile, passed in slightly over 4:50. It was shortly after hitting that point that Principe began to lose ground on the competition. Washington's James Mwaura of Lincoln Senior High (18th, 15:59.3) and Nebraska's Seth Hirsch of Millard West (fourth, 15:37.9) put on a surge at around 1.25 miles to thin out the pack. Clinger would make his decisive move for his record second straight title right around 3,000 meters.
According to Skelly, Principe just didn't have that extra push in his legs once the surges began.
'Right after that first mile when Hirsch and Clinger kind of put in those surges and split the pack up, his legs just wouldn't go for him," he said.
Finishing second in the race was California's Sam Worley of Thousand Oaks (15:35.1). Brodey Hasty, a junior from Brentwood (TN), was third (15:37.1). Two months earlier, it was Hasty and Principe that were involved in an epic battle at the Great American X-C Festival in NC where the two harriers clocked the No. 1 and No. 2 times in the country with their 14:32.2 and 14:32.4 efforts.
Principe's performance at Great American was one of the many highlights of his outstanding cross-country season this fall, one that Skelly feels should never be forgotten in the Ocean State.
"I think it goes down as possibly the best cross-country seasons ever in Rhode Island," he said. "That's something that is an impressive feat. It's just heartbreaking for this to happen today for a kid like this. I think it's kind of tough for him dealing with it now."