Jake Brophy Sets His Sights on the Postseason

Athlete: Jake Brophy
Year: Senior
School: Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Location: Doylestown, PA
Mile PR: 4:17.16
3200-meter PR: 8:57.68
5Brophy says he was lost for an answer. : 15:08

Key Workout:

• Warmup of 800 meters jogging on the track, stretching, and drills followed by a two-mile run to the base of a hill.
• 6 x 600-meter hills, done by sprinting 20 seconds up and walking 20 seconds down and repeating—gradually making it to the top of the hill, totaling six sprints each hill, and 36 sprints total for all six sets.
• DAA Industry Opt Out.

Jake Brophy of Pennsylvania, who hopes to contend for the Foot Locker national cross-country title in San Diego in December, won his third invitational race in a row on September 26—doing so in convincing style. Competing on a hilly 5K course in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he won the state AAA championship last fall, Brophy, a senior at Advertisement - Continue Reading Below High School, won the PIAA Foundation meet by 16 seconds in 15:53. The previous week he scored a big victory in the Briarwood meet, on another tough course, Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia, where he ran 16:07 to triumph by 21 seconds. With his invitational schedule now over and postseason races approaching, Brophy is excited to concentrate on Foot Locker.

Front Runner: This fall, Brophy has taken control of his races from the gun. “I wanted to see what it was like to lead from the front these past two races,” he says. It's been working: In the Hershey race he dropped the pack midway, at Briarwood he built a gap after the 1K. With his peak efforts months away, Brophy says his goal is to help his team become strong enough to qualify for the state meet. In 2014, Brophy ran 15:24 to capture the state AAA championship. He was the only non-senior in the top nine. His Advertisement - Continue Reading Below did not qualify a team for state. At Saturday’s Foundation meet, Advertisement - Continue Reading Below placed sixth among 32 teams with three freshmen in the lineup. Last season, 21 teams qualified for the Pennsylvania AAA state meet.  

Goal Oriented: Brophy, 17, placed 25th at Foot Locker last year after taking fifth in the Northeast Regional. Taking stock of his running after an impressive junior track season, on June 1 Brophy set a lofty goal for the upcoming fall: “I’d like to come away with a national championship.” From 25th to first in one year? “I know it sounds ambitious,” says Brophy, who was the fifth underclassman in last year’s Foot Locker field. “I’ve been working toward that goal since June.”

Summer Schedule: The Advertisement - Continue Reading Below team met Monday through Friday all summer for group runs. Brophy built up to 55 miles per week, reaching 65 once school started. He also worked in a local running store and attended a seminar at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, his first choice for college.

Key Workouts: With a long, steep hill a couple of miles from school—the team calls it “The Mountain”—the boys do hill sprints from top to bottom, driving their heart rates high from the first repetition. The team’s longest training day entails 15 miles. They usually break it up into two runs: one in the morning and one in the evening. Brophy says the key to the program is to, “Attack the workouts and to be sure to take the easy days easy.”

Track Success: Last spring, as it turned out, Brophy’s best running was done by midseason. He took third in the Penn Relays 3,000 in late April, then ran three events in an important dual meet before he found himself battling a high-quality field in the 3200 at the Henderson Invitational in early May. After coming through the 1600 in 4:35, the leaders picked up the pace and the clocked showed 7:56 with a lap to go. Brophy took off with hopes of breaking 9:00—which he did, closing with a 61.7 last 400 to win in 8:57.68. No one else broke 9:00, but eight boys ran under 9:07. That race, however, ended up being the highlight of his track season.

Peaking Strategy: A month after his sub-9:00, Brophy wound up eighth in the state 3200 in 9:05.23. He knew he had peaked in May and vowed to be more proactive with his timetable this fall. “It’s all about nationals,” he says. “I’ll push back my physical and emotional peak to December.”

Smart Focus: Sam Losorelli, Advertisement - Continue Reading Below boys and girls cross-country coach, praised Brophy for his smart approach to training, and knowing when to push and when to back off. “One of the keys to Jake’s success,” Locorelli says, “is his strong belief in sticking to a training plan.”

Role Model: Brophy says he enjoys helping the three Advertisement - Continue Reading Below freshmen who came out of middle school with exceptional resumes and have already worked their way onto the varsity. He makes sure to work with them on their pacing and advises them to follow the training program. Brophy’s leadership will come into play at Wednesday’s city championship against Central Bucks South and West.

College Plans: Other than the Naval Academy, Brophy, who has top grades, has visited Georgetown and Syracuse and plans to visit Stanford, too. If he does attend Navy, he says he will follow his father into aviation and, “see where it takes me.” Jake’s father, Douglas, was a Navy pilot who flew helicopters and cargo planes during the Persian Gulf war.

Cross Country: The Brophy family moved from Washington state to Pennsylvania when Jake was in fourth grade. Jake started running with his mom around that time and did some 5K runs. He played many sports including soccer but found running suited him best. As a freshman, Brophy placed 30th in the cross country state meet in 16:35.

Kid Stuff: Last spring Brophy was asked to be a guest speaker at a gathering of a children’s running club. He brought his state championship gold medal to show the youngsters. While the medal was being passed around, one young runner felt the urge to ask Brophy, “How fast are you?”

Brophy says he was lost for an answer.