‘PA Don’t Play:’ How a Group of Local High School Runners Found Their Way to a World Class Collegiate Program Right in Their Own Backyard

By David Berman, Villanova Media Relations

VILLANOVA, Pa.—Picture a scene from the 2015 outdoor PIAA Track & Field State Championships.  As they chatted before the start of the boys 3200 meter final, a 12th grader from Hatboro-Horsham and another from Conestoga noted that the next time they ran a race together it would be as college teammates.  Standing not far from them was a Cardinal O’Hara runner, one year younger than his nearby opponents and silently hoping maybe he would someday run with them too.   

Change the view now to the starting line of the men’s race at the 2019 BIG EAST Cross Country Championships.  Villanova is on the doorstep of winning its first conference title in five years.  Senior stalwarts Casey Comber and Andrew Marston are clustered together near the start line with junior teammate Rob Morro, no longer a silent partner in what has become a close friendship between the trio.  Adding up the number of times they have stood together on the line before a race might take longer than the 25 minutes it was about to take them to become BIG EAST champions. 

Any short list of the top collegiate track & field programs in the country is sure to include the Wildcats, who routinely attract some of the world’s most talented athletes to come to the Main Line to continue the tradition of excellence.  Comber, Marston and Morro grew up knowing only tidbits about the local university close to home, and they had differing perspectives during their scholastic years on what type of collegiate program would be a good fit for them.  It turns out that neither the school nor the athletes needed to look very far to find a match.  Some type of spin on the “think global, act local” motto feels appropriate here.

Growing up just minutes from the Villanova campus, the Wildcats trio of local products each had their own individual connections to the school.  Marston’s father attended law school there, Comber had several family members who went to Villanova for graduate school.  Morro’s father works for the university.  Still, the ties that bind weren’t always on the surface when it came time to think about college. 

“For me, my dad works here, so I always imagined I would go [to Villanova], but I never really imagined that I would run for the varsity team until later,” Morro said.  “My junior year of high school I realized I might be good enough.  I ran just good enough to be on the team.  I knew there were big guys like Casey, Andy and Paul Power too, who were coming the year ahead of me, so the idea to run with those guys was really exciting for me.” 

Recall that 2015 race at the PIAA meet.  Power, Comber and Marston crossed the finish line of the 3200 meters within three seconds of each other, placing fourth, fifth and sixth in a race with more than 50 competitors.  Morro came in 20th but was the sixth 11th grader across the finish line.  By then the three seniors ahead of him knew they would be racing together in college, but staying close to home was an evolution in their respective thought processes.

“Mine is a little different,” Marston said in comparing his story to Morro.  “When I was getting ready to take official visits my high school coach said I had to take one of my officials to Villanova.  I ended up planning to do that and because of my recruitment situation I met Marcus, I realized I really liked Marcus, so I just kind of ended up here.I never really wanted to come here because it was close to home.  I thought I would want to flee the nest, that kind of thing.  I got here and it’s the best decision I ever made, and mostly because of the boys and Marcus.”

“I didn’t think about running in college until the end of my junior year,” Comber recalled of his own Villanova story.  “I told my parents initially that I wanted to feel like I’m far away, so pretend that I’m really far away.  I waited a really long time [to decide] because I was more concerned with the kids I’d be running with.  Then I saw who was coming with Andrew and Logan [Wetzel], some of the other guys, and I realized it was going to be a solid team.  It was a school that I had kind of thought I wanted to go to, and my high school coach thought would be the best for me running wise, and obviously school wise with the business school it worked out great.”

Villanova head coach Marcus O’Sullivan is one of the most recognizable names in track & field circles, one of only three athletes in history to run a sub-four minute mile more than 100 times.The four-time Olympian and former NCAA champion had started to impact his new recruits long before they arrived on campus, whether they knew it or not. 

“Marcus loves to tell this story,” Marston said of meeting O’Sullivan for the first time.  When his experience with other schools led to an uncertain point in the recruiting process, Marston sought out O’Sullivan during a visit to Villanova.

“It was my senior year of high school and I hadn’t really met the guy,” Marston said.  “I had been put in a weird place recruiting wise, and I came into his office and said ‘hey Marcus, do I have a spot on the team or not because I don’t really know what I’m going to do here.’  The way he says it is a little more dramatic.  That was my first time meeting Marcus.  I had seen videos of him but that was my first time meeting him.”

Morro had known O’Sullivan from the beginning of his high school career.  His younger self would have been thrilled to know that he was meeting his future coach.

“My dad set up a lunch with me and Marcus when I was a freshman in high school just to talk to him about running because I thought he was the coolest guy,” Morro said.  “I was talking to him about recruiting a guy on my team, and I thought it was crazy that my teammate is even talking to Marcus O’Sullivan about coming here.  It wasn’t until a few years later that it kind of hit me that it could be in the conversation for me to come here.  My official visit was during the Haverford meet.  I drove myself to the meet and I had spent most of my time with Carbs [former Villanova assistant coach Mark Carberry].  Marcus talked to me for five minutes during the meet and said I had a spot on the team, and hopefully in a couple of years I would make it.  I was like ‘yup, that’s good with me, coach.’”

Comber and Marston first came to know of O’Sullivan through the influence he had on their high school coaches.  For Marston, that meant watching videos in a high school classroom of speeches O’Sullivan had made at various conferences.  Comber twice attended O’Sullivan’s running camp.

“I didn’t know too much about the program until my high school coach got really interested in Marcus’ philosophy and sent us to his camp,” Comber said.  “I went to his camp, and then the summer before my senior year was my second time at the camp.  I talked to him about being interested in running in college and he sent me to Carbs, the old assistant coach.  He eventually made the connection there, got Marcus interested, and he came out and watched me just get waxed in a dual meet by another kid.”

Morro was in the middle of his recruiting process to Villanova when Comber, Marston and Power were redshirting their freshman seasons with the Wildcats.  They were excited about the potential of having another local runner join the team, although in Marston’s case there was a mindset to deal with of a Conestoga kid welcoming a former Cardinal O’Hara rival into the fold. 

“The high school rivalries still run deep,” Marston said.  “I have a picture of Rob swaddled up in a Conestoga blanket that night [of his recruiting visit].  I think Paul, Casey and I got really excited.  Obviously I didn’t want to say I was excited because he went to Cardinal O’Hara, but I think we got really excited about Bob because it was another PA guy.  We always get excited when it’s PA guys.”

Morro arrived on campus to join his new teammates in the fall of 2016, but this was not the culmination of a process that brought them together.  It was the beginning of a long journey for a team that was experiencing the natural cycle that collegiate programs go through. 

The year before Comber, Marston and Power got to Villanova, the Wildcats finished seventh at the 2014 NCAA Championships in cross country.  The team wouldn’t return to the national meet for four years, by which point Comber and Marston were the veteran leaders of the team.  As the runners ahead of them graduated, they were among Villanova’s top runners from the very beginning of their collegiate careers.  It took until their senior season to lead the team to a BIG EAST cross country title. 

“There was a lot of talent still on the team but they were redshirted and then that talent graduated and it was these guys team when they were sophomores,” Morro said of Comber and Marston.  “They were always good from the time they were freshmen until now.  They set the precedent, these two in particular and Paul, that it was a serious team and we were going to have to work harder than most teams to get where we wanted to be.  We didn’t have a wickedly talented recruiting class with five-star guys.  A lot of these guys came in without scholarships, but they just wanted to run for Marcus so badly that they came anyway.  These guys set the precedent that we’re going to work hard and we’re going to be great.  We have improved every year for the past four years.”

Having familiarity with each other before arriving on campus helped the new Wildcats build the team.  First, they had to convince themselves that they were individual runners capable of reaching that level. 

“I got here and Big 5 was the first race and it was absolutely the turning point for me,” Marston said.  “I was just unattached and it was like any other race.  I went out there and before I knew it I got to the last lap around the little Belmont 6K we ran.  I was alone, there was nobody with me and I thought it would look really stupid if somehow I blew it, so I just kept running as hard as I could.Then I remember [older teammates] Jordy [Williamsz] and Rob [Denault] and those guys were joking about it.They were making fun of me for being undefeated in college and it so got under my skin.  I just remember at that moment that at least I was on the level to joke around with these guys now.  They were probably joking at me, not with me, but it still meant something coming from them and made me think that I’m better than I thought I would be.”

“There were a lot of wakeup calls early on, but definitely Penn Relays two years ago,” Comber said of the tipping point for himself.  “I think Andrew and I have always had this talk that you should never label yourself, like coming into college thinking I’m one thing and then you’re something else.  We both ended up on a relay team at Penn, we both ran great and won that day.Thinking about how many super elite guys have run there and come up short, and then coming up big like that, it showed me I could compete at this level.”

After the Wildcats high finish at nationals in 2014, the 2015 season was a wake-up call.  Villanova still finished second at the BIG EAST Championships, but slipped to third at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and did not qualify for the NCAA Championships.  Patrick Tiernan, then a junior on the team and the eventual 2016 national champion, was an individual qualifier for nationals.  Marston joined him at NCAAs in 2016, but by then Villanova dropped to fourth at the conference meet and eighth at regionals.  A young team was rebuilding and reloading for the future. 

“I came in as a redshirt and the only thing that would remind me that I wasn’t wearing a Villanova singlet was looking down at my bright green redshirt singlet,” Marston said.  “I remember Casey and I would get home and we would total up the team score with us in it, then we would total up our own unattached score and how well we did as an unattached team, us and the other [redshirt] guys.”

“I got really good at explaining what redshirting meant, like I’m racing but I’m not really racing,” Comber recalled of running unattached during his freshman year.  “Whenever you got in a race you wanted to do whatever it takes to get the most out of yourself.  I’m happy to have the year now when I can contribute.  We have a good team and I have that season back, but that was tough.Then having to rebuild, be patient and wait for the pieces to come together it was definitely tough.”

Comber and Marston each qualified as individuals for the NCAA Championships in 2017.  Villanova earned a team berth last season and finished 23rd among the 31 competing teams, one spot higher than their national ranking going into the meet.  This year’s BIG EAST champions looked more like a traditional Villanova power.Graduate transfer Nathan Rodriguez came in second at the conference meet, while Comber, Marston and redshirt freshman Haftu Strintzos were all in the top eight.  Look further down the lineup and all 10 of the Wildcats runners that day finished in the top 26 in the field of 88 runners.  Morro was 22nd, coming in 18 spots ahead of where he finished last season.

“For me it wasn’t pressure,” Morro recalled of his redshirt year.  “It was more people were congratulating me for being on the team, which was exactly how I felt, really.  When I would talk about myself and just being happy to be here, [Casey and Andrew] would get mad at me and say that’s not why we’re here.  I shouldn’t just be happy to be along for the ride.  It’s been interesting to see.  I’d say three years ago there was a lot of frustration, especially for those guys because they were already great and have only continued to get better.  They’ve had to be patient while the rest of us have improved over the past three years or so, and we’ve also brought in a lot of great pieces.  It’s been cool to see how these guys have grown as leaders of the team, and how the team has grown around them and their leadership style.They set the precedent a long time ago and I became a significantly better runner than I ever thought I would.”

The journey isn’t over, but one can already start to look back at the legacy that this particular Villanova team is carving out.Comber is a four-time collegiate All-American and nine-time BIG EAST champion spanning the cross country, indoor and outdoor seasons.  He was the NCAA runner-up in the Mile at the 2019 indoor national championships, the best finish for a Villanova runner in the Mile in 40 years and a performance that came on the heels of joining the Wildcats exclusive club of sub-four minute milers earlier in the season. 

Marston is the reigning BIG EAST indoor champion in the 5000 meters.He is a 10-time All-BIG EAST performer during his career and a two-time qualifier in the 10000 meters for the NCAA East Preliminary outdoors.  Morro is a three-time BIG EAST scorer in the longer distances on the track, including fourth place finishes in the 10K each of the last two years.  Their collective success in many ways traces itself back to a pair of races at the Penn Relays in 2018, when Comber anchored the Wildcats to Championship of America titles in both the distance medley relay and the 4xMile relay.

The world’s oldest and largest track & field meet, which celebrated its 125th anniversary last year, takes place just 30 minutes from Villanova at famed Franklin Field.  There isn’t a better microcosm of the entire Villanova experience for a group of local athletes and the pressures they faced on a team with talent from all over the world than the Penn Relays. 

No collegiate program has come close to matching the success that Villanova has had at the Penn Relays.  The men’s team alone has won 94 Championship of America titles.  The athlete of the meet award for the men’s top collegiate relay runner has been presented to a Wildcats athlete 14 times.  Eight relay teams and 18 individual Villanova athletes are enshrined on the Penn Relays Wall of Fame.  Those numbers aren’t just highlights.  They can be a burden. 

“When things are going great it’s awesome because people are supporting you, and then last year I remember it added to the disappointment,” Comber said.  “There were these random people I’ve never seen before saying ‘Let’s Go Nova’ before the race, and I just thought I better not let these people down.  It just adds to the feeling if you don’t get it done.It’s obviously what people at the highest level of sports feel, in any sport, when they don’t get it done.  It’s part of something you have to deal with and part of getting to the next level, knowing that there are expectations on you and you’ve got to go out and do it anyway.”

Comber anchored the 2018 distance medley relay to a Penn Relays title with a thrilling finish over the final 600 meters.  He had started to lose ground when he made a move on the back straightaway, had the lead at the start of the bell lap and then had to fight furiously into the final turn as several other contenders tried to chase him down and break him once and for all.  Fifth-year senior Ben Malone, who had waited his entire career for his turn at being a Penn Relays champion, was the leadoff runner on the relay.  Marston and Wetzel were going to be on the 4xMile team early the next afternoon, so they watched the DMR race on television.

“Going into the 4xMile race, I had the sense of watching Casey win the DMR the night before.  Logan and I both weren’t racing that night.  We watched it on TV and we were so excited, then we kind of looked at each other and we’re like, ‘we’ve got work to do tomorrow.’  I was tucking up the covers that night thinking ‘oh sweet lord I’m going to be running at the Penn Relays tomorrow.’  I didn’t sleep well that night.”

If the final lap of the DMR was the appetizer, the finish of the 4xMile relay was the main course and dessert rolled into one.After a gritty race, with Wetzel leading off followed by Malone and Marston, it was Comber’s sheer determination that carried himself across the finish line and his team into the record books.Georgetown finished less than a half-second behind in second place.  Princeton and Iona were also within two seconds of Comber at the frenzied finish.He didn’t have the victory secured until Georgetown’s anchor runner literally buckled steps away from the finish line.

“If you watch the tape I came out way too early,” Marston said of celebrating at the finish line.  “I didn’t really hug [Casey], I just kind of hit him and I couldn’t believe it.  Casey obviously had confidence from winning the night before.  We were just doing striders and Casey was like, you’re going to be fine, just get the stick to me.  I was running third and would hand off to him.  I just remember doing it and then watching the anchor leg.  It was like Pennsylvania’s greatest victory, just the will to win.  There was a piece of all of us in Casey holding off [Georgetown’s runner] in that moment.  It was just a turning point in that, before I felt like maybe I’m a good cross country runner, but at that point I thought maybe whatever we need to get done [as a team], I can get it done.”

“I think Marcus talked about it in the post-race interview,” Comber recalled.  “We both ran Penn Relays in high school.  We were both good but neither of us won.  Quite frankly there were kids that were just a lot better.  To show up and race teams with guys from around the world, guys who have run on an elite level before, and win on that stage it shows we’ve made this jump and that was really cool.  I thought for sure that [Andrew] was going to get it done.  It was special for everyone in their own way, too.  For Logan, we watched him for a couple years have some tough races and then he ran great leading us off.  Ben had been here for five years and that was the first weekend he got a title, so it was great.”

Watch any race that Villanova is in at the Penn Relays and you’ll know, audibly, where the Wildcats cheering section is.With a tradition like the one Villanova has built, even the casual track & field fan knows the Wildcats top runners.Many of the fans cheering in the stands however, are the rest of the athletes on the team.  The effect on them of watching their teammates holding up a Penn Relays wheel on the winners podium carries its own significance. 

“Having the Villanova shirt on in that stadium is another thing,” Morro said.  “It’s cool because those moments when sport feels bigger than sport, that’s Penn Relays for Villanova track & field.  I remember when I was in high school and was watching with my buddy.Villanova walked by and he says, ‘there’s Villanova. They’re not messing around today.’  It’s so obvious and it’s cool that people recognize how important it is to us.  The thing that struck me was when Casey won at Penn Relays.  At that point I really started believing, even in myself.  We had been watching this on FloTrack for years, and Casey was our guy.  We’ve been watching him out here for years and it was one of our boys that did it.” 

Being a local product at Villanova means there is nostalgia all around you.  It can manifest itself in different ways, mostly in the little moments along the way that only the athletes themselves will ever notice.  Morro recalled that his first race of cross country season, every year from third grade through his freshman season at Villanova, was run at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia.  The college course doesn’t begin with charging up the big hill that grade-school kids have to run.  Two summers ago, Comber worked for a marketing company close to campus.  The building he worked in?  It was the house that his dad lived in while attending graduate school at Villanova.  Marston remembered his family living just down the street across from Coopertown Elementary School.  He liked Villanova Basketball because it was the local team. 

Their collegiate careers are not yet over, so the final chapter of this story has not been written yet.  For this local trio however, they considered what they would tell the next generation of Pennsylvania runners. 

“It’s nice now to have had success and still be in college,” Comber said.  “I’ve had success and I can explain how the whole process went and how it was successful.I encourage anyone who’s looking to go anywhere to just dig a little deeper.  You think of the glitz and glamour of other schools and I’m not sure whether we have that here, but when you dig a little deeper you meet Marcus and form a personal relationship with someone who is going to be looking after you for the next few years.  When you dig a little deeper, you meet the guys on the team and you get everything you’re looking for in this small community.  The team we’ve got and the guys we’ve got, this is a place you can come, have a lot of fun and get a lot better.”

“For me it’s about how much do they want to become better runners,” Morro said.  “The reason we’re all still here and the reason the international kids are here is Marcus.  He just makes you better over four or five years and he doesn’t run you into the ground.When one of the best coaches in the world is right in your backyard, you should be trying to talk to them.  I live 15 minutes from here, my dad works here and I still feel like I’m not too close to home.  I’m loving college.”

“I hope high school kids read this article and want to come to Villanova,” Marston said.  “Every local kid should at least look here.  I don’t think you can replace someone like Rob, who I think the first 15 races of his career were all PRs.  His first three years he never did anything but get better.  He came from a great high school program where they ran pretty hard, then he got here and Marcus turned him into another level of athlete just like he did with Casey and I.  I didn’t know how good I was going to be and Marcus just turned us into another level of athlete.”

Marston had already started to walk out of the room when he paused and turned around.  His parting thought was an emphatic one.   

“PA don’t play,” he said.  “There was a blog by that name when we were in high school.  We’ve been using that saying ever since.”