The Cedar Crest boys 4x800 squad had an early-season goal of qualifying for the Penn Relays.
Two invitationals into the season for the Falcons and they've achieved their goal. With 10 seconds to spare.
The team of Jared Glosser and the Cruise brothers -- Jesse, Jordan and Jarrod -- dominated the competition at Saturday's 26th Annual Pan-Ram Invitational, held at Landis Field in Harrisburg.
Cedar Crest posted a time of 7:57.38 to easily take victory and more importantly, qualify for the Penn Relays, where teams need a time of at least 8:08 to participate.
The Falcons' time was just off the record of 7:56.27 established by Cumberland Valley last season. For those who may not remember, that record-setting Eagles' team went on to take second-place at the PIAA Class AAA Championships.
"We all felt great out there," Glosser said. "We all love coming to practice and pushing each more and more each day. When one of us is feeling bad, we lift them up."
Glosser got the Falcons off to a great start in the race. He was trailing the leader after 400 meters, but burst into the lead on the second half of his leg, giving Cedar Crest an advantage it did not relinquish.
Glosser handed off to Jesse Cruise, the freshman with a faux-hawk, who said he feels no pressure from his older teammates and brothers.
"I don't feel any pressure," Cruise said. "They say the second guy in the relay is the slowest, but I'm just out there running and trying to have fun."
The youngest Cruise got chased down by Altoona his first time around the track, but rebuilt his inherited lead over the last 400 of his leg.
He handed off to big brother Jordan Cruise, a junior, who later handed off to the senior brother, Jarrod Cruise. Needless to say, the older Cruise brothers finished the race with an exclamation point.
"Glosser gave us a lead in the beginning and that's when I knew we were going to have a really good day," Jarrod Cruise said. "In our meets to come, we're going to have great competition and people ahead of us to stick to and help us be fast and compete."
Ultimately, the goal for the Falcons is to run in the state finals with a dream of finishing in the Top 3.
It would be a family memory that would not soon be forgotten, even by Glosser, a member of the team's "track family."
"Sometimes I don't have the connection that they do, but we're all still super close," Glosser said. "We all get along well and we're going to keep going out and trying to do work."
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