Many people have suffered plots against them: Kings, Presidents and University of California PA’s Chris Clark.  Clark, the fourth place finisher in this year’s DII Cross Country Championships and fourth indoor in the 5k, began his athletic career as a basketball player. It was during his junior year in high when the scheming of two worthy adversaries began.  He recounts, “When I was a junior in high school (Mrs. Kellar) and my Assistant Basketball coach (Mr. Briggs) became the assistant XC coach as well. I owe those two so much because they got this running adventure started. They began plotting ways to make me run on the (cross country) team.Clark explains that they recruited outsiders to persuade him to run: “I did not go a day without someone giving me a hard time about not running. It got to the point that one time I was cornered by an alumni of my school in a Wal-Mart parking lot who yelled at me to be a runner all the way across the parking lot as I am walking away from him to my car.” This constant barrage of requests finally got to Clark and he decided to give cross country a try: “I was basically dragged into it kicking and screaming like a little baby. What a wuss right?”

Clark had a short high school career at Commodore Perry High School beginning his career, coincidently, at the site of this year’s nationals, old Slippery Rock course. At first he was running the 5k in the unassuming high 20s. By the end of his junior season, he was in the 16:20 range.  After a summer marred by an accident that sent Clark to the hospital where he lost a great deal of blood, Clark was still able to end his high school career  with a  PR of 16:18 and a 22^nd  place finish in the Pennsylvania state meet.

With this small taste of running, Clark explains that he wanted more, “I wanted to see if I could make it collegiately, and in the back of my mind thought maybe I am capable of being really good someday. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to put into it though. I decided on Clarion because the coach there at the time was a good coach who was relaxed but had also coached an All-American still on the team (Melissa Terwilliger). I figured if I decided running was for me he knew how to get me to Nationals and if not he was relaxed enough running wouldn’t consume my life.”  In the middle of his freshman year, the coach retired and Coach Caulifield was hired.  “I didn’t know what was in store for me. Coach Caulfield was much more demanding and got me down to 15.3x by the end of my freshman year, and he had me thinking about what I was really capable of achieving if I did everything in my power to become good” Clark states.

Not everything went smoothly. The summer before Clark’s junior season, Coach Caulfield took the distance coaching job at California University of PA. Clark began to contemplate a move with his coach, but it was too close to the beginning of the fall semester. Clarion made Clark’s decision to move easier by cutting the men’s cross country and track that fall.  Clark recalls the hard decision he made to leave Clarion halfway through his junior year: “I was really upset, and I had to leave a lot behind. Although Clarion was my home for two and a half years, I knew leaving was what I needed to do to chase my dream.”

The move was in his best interest as a runner, and set Clark up for success. He set his goals high for this fall cross country season. He explains, “If I am being totally honest the only goal was to win every race I ran in November. I didn’t care about times or any races until November. I wanted to win PSACs, Regional and have a shot at winning Nationals. I knew that it would take something extremely special to win the National meet. Scott Bauhs is an impressive runner. ” He continues, “However, there is a reason we run the race, and my training was going so well. I genuinely believed it was possible. Anything is; especially if you believe. Sometimes all you need is a prayer if it reaches the right man.”

Clark won PSACs and Regional. “The proudest moment of my running career to date would have to be my performance at the NCAA DII Atlantic Region meet this year. I won by a sizable margin against good competition and set a course record. The reason this was my proudest moment is because I ran away with it from 2 miles on, and the people I love were there to share it with me. It felt like things had finally come together for me, and I was getting all the effort I have put in back,” he states. This regional win qualified for the National meet that was run at the same course as the Regional meet. “The plan was to go out with the leaders and be aggressive on the hills if I was ever in a position to attack,” he recalls, “I slipped on the backside of the hill and took a good spill at about 500m I think. This screwed up my race plan, and I could not make up the space to the front small pack by the mile. Falling is not an excuse though. So at that point, I had to be smart and change my race plan to attack the hills and just try to make up as much ground as possible.” Despite the fall, he ended with a fourth place finish.

Clark has one more season of eligibility left in outdoor track, where he plans to focus on the 10k. “I will try to drop some very good track times in both the 5k and 10k in order to improve my resume in hopes of garnering support of some kind to run post collegiately,” he explains, “I want a NCAA national title more than anything I have ever wanted as an athlete.”

Clark would like to continue his running career after college. “I really hope I will be able to get some support to run professionally whether it is with an elite group, maybe a sponsorship of some sort. I will take whatever I can get and do I what I need to in order to continue my career” he stated hopefully He thinks his greatest potential lies in events longer than the 10k:  “The marathon will be my best event no questions asked. I will still try to run some very good 10K times, but I will be going longer. My best days are ahead of me, which is exciting. I’ve only been seriously running for three and a half years. I truly beyond a doubt believe it is God’s plan for me to do something special with my abilities in this sport.”