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By Brett Smith, Sports Editor, November 27, 2008

Last updated: Thursday, November 27, 2008 7:56 AM EST

Kyle Hurston makes no excuses.

He admits he used to be selfish, hung out with the wrong crowd and just didn’t live healthy.

He described the way he once trained as “stupid.”

And he admits all of this with no hesitation over the phone on election night in early November.

Just three days removed from the PIAA Cross Country Championships, you can tell the Carlisle senior is still a little bummed out by one of his most disappointing races of the season.

Not everyone would be disappointed with the title of 18th fastest distance runner in the state of Pennsylvania. But Hurston isn’t everyone. Considering his time of 16:46 at Hershey’s Parkview Golf Course in the final run of the season, it’s understandable why the Thundering Herd runner is down.

He knows he is better than that. So do a lot of people. Only 10 days prior to the PIAA race, Hurston cruised to a District 3 title on the exact same course with a time of 16:21 — a time that would have tied him for third place in the state championship.

Again, Hurston makes no excuses. He looks at it as a lesson learned, because that’s what it is. He simply didn’t have the experience to adjust when the starting gun went off. There wasn’t a little voice inside his head that told him to get going when the race wasn’t unfolding like he thought.

Hurston can do that because he knows where he’s come from. A former lacrosse player who decided to focus on running before his junior year, he didn’t really put his full effort into himself or his team until this past summer. If there is a silver lining, that is it. There’s no better proof of this than the fact that a season ago in the state race, he finished all the way back in 116th place.

A lot’s changed for Hurston in a year’s time: he won the Carlisle Invitational, set Chambersburg’s course record, won every single home meet, and claimed a district championship. This is why Hurston is The Sentinel’s 2008 Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Maybe Carlisle’s head coach Ed Boardman has the best perspective on Hurston. Boardman’s coached him since Hurston’s sophomore year and has seen the change.

“I took over as the cross country coach the August before his sophomore season,” said Boardman. “I saw him really dedicate himself to the sport the following summer. He wasn’t focused before and you could see that. You could tell he was a good athlete, but when he decided he was going to be a runner is when you saw the change.

“You know running is really simple. You can tell who is good at it. You can see a kid run a mile in gym class and know right away if he is a runner. If you put in the work, it shows. It was easy to see Kyle had the talent. He’s naturally fast, but that work needs to be there. Hard works pays off exponentially.”

That hard work Boardman refers to is more than 90 miles of running a week — an insane amount that makes you tired just trying to fathom it (a trip to State College from Carlisle is 83 miles).

No doubt about it, Hurston pounded the pavement. With interest from colleges the likes of Penn State, it’s paid off.

The question is what was the change? What was the spark to go up to the next level?

“It had to be coach Boardman and coach (Dan) Helfrick,” said Hurston. “Those two guys really planted the idea in me that I could be a lot better than what I was showing. At the time, I only ran cross country and played lacrosse in the spring. Boardman told me that I could be a lot better if I focused on running all year. Those two guys helped me develop a real passion for running. If Helfrick was the one that pushed me to dream big and think about what I can accomplish, Boardman was the one that came up with the guidelines on how to get there.

“They made me curious.”

That curiosity got the best of Hurston, who made his first big move of the season with a win at September’s Carlisle Invitational — a meet that featured some of the top competition in the state. Hurston’s time of 15:59 edged out North Penn’s Brad Miles’ 16:02 for the title. Miles finished seventh at the Class AAA state meet. In the same race, Hurston was faster than Bishop McDevitt’s Joe Beveridge, who won his second straight PIAA Class AA race on Nov. 1.

A major accomplishment in a highly competitive race at that point of the season showed just how far Hurston had come. He was now a major player in the cross country arena. Winning the District 3 Class AAA title only raised expectations going into the state finals. However, the senior took a different approach in the last race of the season, opting to conserve energy early on and try to pick off runners in front of him one by one. The plan backfired.

“I don’t think he was accustomed with the big race with that many great runners,” said Boardman. “He wasn’t used to getting knocked around like that mentally. It shouldn’t have been an issue, but that comes with experience. The thing is, I don’t think anyone in that race is that much better than him.”

As Hurston found himself boxed in, the top runners began to pull away.

“I should have recognized what was happening,” said Hurston. “It’s definitely a learning experience. That was the first time I was almost upset to the point I had tears. I needed to go out faster and I didn’t.

“When you set big expectations for yourself and the team, it’s a big disappointment when you don’t meet them. At the same time, I can look at all I accomplished and tell myself that a year ago, I finished 116th. A lot has changed for me. When I wasn’t focused on running, I don’t think I was living healthy. Like when I played lacrosse ... those guys are a good group of guys and they are a great team, but I was just mixed up with a lot of partying. I think I was involved with the wrong kids.”

Now Hurston finds himself complimented by fellow senior Dave Dennison and junior John Pope. The trio formed arguably the best first three runners for a team in the Mid-Penn Conference, and one of the best in the state. Pope finished just behind Hurston at the district meet for third place.

“Being around those guys every day is awesome,” added Hurston. “Every day you got to face top competition. Now it’s come out that Davey might have been running with a stress fracture at the end of the season, which shows you how strong the guy is to still run the way he did.”

The support of his teammates is something he embraces now. He didn’t always. The senior admits that entering his junior year he was selfish. He trained for himself only. He ran extra miles after practice alone so that he could be better than his teammates. It was his improvement alone that mattered. Now he wants to bring others with him. Maybe that’s the biggest change of all for Hurston.