Sean Dolan said something was in the air from the first race he ran with his 4×800 relay team.
“We knew we had a special group,” the Hopewell Valley Central High School freshman said. “We won the county relays with three (sets of) tired legs.”
Even Dolan didn’t know how special it could be. He certainly didn’t imagine them running at the Meet of Champions after their first relay together, but that is exactly what happened, as a super-young quartet of Dolan, his sophomore brother Tim Dolan, sophomore Teddy Meredith and freshman Will Titus qualified after taking sixth in the Group III meet in 8:01.19. They had a second-place finish of 8:04.40 at the North Jersey 2, Group III sectional.
Although they did not medal at the MOC, the group finished 12th out of 37 teams with a PR time of 7:59.62 at Central High School.
“It really meant a lot for a young team like ourselves to make the biggest meet in the state,” said Sean Dolan, whose father, Steve, is director of track and field at the University of Pennsylvania.
“For us to make it to Meet of Champs as only underclassmen was an amazing feeling,” Meredith said. “We had not only surprised everyone by having such a young relay team, we also couldn’t help thinking what the years to come would bring. We never thought we would make it too far in the beginning of the season, but once we saw we could all run pretty fast eight hundreds, we thought we could maybe make it to groups.”
Coach Aaron Oldfield said the group came together almost by accident. There was no real planning. All four ran winter track as individuals, although Titus was forced to sit out due to injury.
Meredith and the younger Dolan showed individual brilliance on their own during the course of the season. In the Group III meet, Dolan ran a 1:55 in the open 800, which was two tenths off the state freshman record. Dolan gave up his last chance to break the mark, as he did not run the open in the MOC so he could stay fresh to help the relay team.
“It was a tough decision, but it was our one chance to have four fresh legs to run the relay,” said Sean, who started as a sprinter in sixth grade before transitioning to the 800 this year. “Our team is solid team and I knew we would be able to give it a great run at Meet of Champs.”
Meredith qualified for the Group III meet in both the 1600 and 800, but declined to run the 800 in order to run the relay. During the 1600, another runner knocked his left shoe off in the second quarter mile, yet he finished and just missed advancing.
It was still an amazing effort, as was the group effort at the Meet of Champs. Sean Dolan led off, followed by Tim, Meredith and Titus as the anchor. That was not the order they had run in previously, with the coaches mixed them up according to the competition.
“The four-by-eight is a two-mile race. You want to make sure that some kids are running in a group and some kids are maybe a little bit behind and chasing,” Oldfield said. “It’s the different style of that runner that will dictate what we want to do, depending on who we’re racing against.”
Oldfield said that Sean Dolan is the one true 800 runner in the group as of now, but added that “They’re all so young and they’re all very similar. They can do multiple things.”
One thing that helps is the Dolan brothers’ familiarity with each other.
“We always talked about being on a relay together and our dream became reality when we ran the first four-by-eight-hundred,” Sean said. “He and I are very close and it’s great that we can share this together.”
They could be sharing it for a few more years if the trend continues.
“In the future we might be capable of winning the four-by-eight hundred at Meet of Champs,” Meredith said. “Since we are all underclassmen, we can only grow and become faster.”
Hopewell Valley Central High School 4×800 relay team of Will Titus, Teddy Meredith, Tim Dolan and Sean Dolan. (Photo by John Blaine.),
