Matt Shepley is 6 feet 3 inches, 220 pounds. That’s not exactly the preferred size for a distance runner. Shepley is well aware of this.
“I’m definitely not cut out for running,” the not-so-very-svelte high school junior said.
So what is Shepley doing on York’s cross-country team, which is not only favored to win another state championship but ranked No. 1 in the nation?
Shepley and dozens of others like him have managed to find a spot in coach Joe Newton’s legendary program. He is a member of Group Six, a ragtag group of plodders and strivers whose mission is not necessarily to win, but to make running fun.
Running fun?
That’s what Newton is having in his 44th year with the Dukes, who have won 23 state cross-country titles. He has more than 100 willing participants show up for cross-country practice at the beginning of the season and still goes out to recruit students–particularly freshmen–for his team.
As of last count, Newton said he had 193 boys in his program–or about 15 percent of York’s male student body.
No wonder it’s called the long green line.
“There’s a place for a guy who doesn’t have any talent, who can’t make the football team, can’t make the baseball team,” said Newton, who has assistant Charlie Kern and 20 or so managers to help him with this population explosion.
Everyone gets a uniform. Well, almost everyone. Newton thinks he might run out with his largest-ever group. More important, Newton tries to learn everyone’s name and saddles them with a nickname. And Newton makes all his runners shake his hand when checking out after practice.
“As a team, we’re tight,” said senior Ken Karstedt, who like Shepley and Rob VanRiet, is a Group Six captain. “We really are a family. I know a lot of teams say that, but with us it’s really true.”
York’s top group includes runners like Sean McNamara, the senior who finished third in the Class AA final last season and is among the favorites for this year’s individual title. His top five groups–35 to 40 runners–train separately from Group Six and have a more demanding schedule.
But Group Six does not have a walk in the park. Its aim is to run together at about an 8-minute-a-mile clip during meets. Its members sing songs on the course and come up with unusual formations at the finish line: a flying wedge or more difficult giant “Y” have been attempted.
Karstedt had visions of being a serious runner but saw how difficult it would be to break into the elite ranks at York.
“My freshman and sophomore years I was busting my butt and came to the realization I wasn’t going to be up there in the top seven,” said Karstedt, who managed a personal best mile of 5 minutes 19 seconds as a soph.
But Karstedt, like others, stuck around. The larger athletic lockers, much roomier than the ones a typical student has in gym class, are one draw. Winning a letter is another. VanRiet wants to stay in shape for track. He’s a 6-1, 195-pound shot putter and discus thrower.
“When I was a freshman I didn’t know about York cross-country at all,” VanRiet said. “Over time you realize, wow, I’m a part of something that’s been going on for many years and want to carry on the tradition.”
That tradition this season includes a Group Seven. Newton saw the necessity for that this season when some of his Group Six runners weren’t taking practice seriously enough.
“Some guys were not really listening to Mr. Newton,” VanRiet said. “So he asked us to make a list of which runners to kick out.”
But they’re not gone for good–just demoted until they can work their way back up Newton’s long green line.
