St. Joseph runner Singleton forms a talented 1-man team

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, September 20, 2018 | 11:33 PM

Every coach out there who has paced a locker room and yelled to his players that there’s no such thing as a one-man team, is wrong. St. Joseph freshman cross country runner CJ Singleton is a one-man team, and he’s putting the WPIAL on notice.

When Singleton stepped to his staggered start at the River Trail Cup race in August, he did so sporting his brand new blue and white uniform with “Saint Joseph” emblazoned across the front. A little over 16 minutes later, he accomplished something that had never been done in the school’s 103-year-old history. Singleton became the school’s first student to compete in cross country while also ushering in a new era of St. Jospeh athletics with an eye-opening first-place finish.

“It felt good that I could represent something and run for my school and get my school some recognition because we’re a little bit small,” said Singleton, who resides in Butler.

Singleton finished the 5K race that skirts the Yough River Trail in 16 minutes, 31.40 seconds. It was at that very moment Singleton put St. Joseph on the WPIAL cross country map. There was only one question that remained for cross country fans once Singleton crossed the finish line, where is St. Joseph?

“There was one dude there that knew St. Joe’s and announced (to everyone) where it was,” Singleton said.

Singleton’s time not only set a new personal record, it was at that time the nation’s ninth-fastest among high school freshmen this year.

Eight days later, Singleton showed that performance was no fluke when he finished sixth at the 16th annual Red, White and Blue Classic at Schenley Park. Beneath the rains from the remnants of Hurricane Gordon, Singleton turned in a 17:05.48. It was the first time Singleton got a true sense of what the competition will be like in WPIAL Class A.

“I kind of learned who I’ll be racing against in the WPIAL championship,” Singleton said. “I learned how not to run out in the front because I ran last year mostly in the lead and had a lot of good runners ahead of me.”

Singleton arrived at St. Joseph after attending Butler Catholic through eighth grade. His grandfather is former long-time Leechburg boys basketball coach Larry Ondako. Things could get weird this winter when St. Joseph plays section rival Leechburg in basketball, and Ondako finds himself cheering on his grandson. He’s also the grandson of former Burrell tennis coach Julia Ondako.

“We’re very happy to have CJ, and we could have a potentially new sport here,” St. Joseph athletic director Susan Sullivan said. “There has been an interest, and I’ve had a few students come in and ask about starting a cross country team. We’re definitely looking at adding this. And just as recently as (Wednesday) evening, we discussed coaching as the years go forward.”

At the moment, the coach of the one-man team is Singleton’s father, Chris. Chris helped nurture his son to where he is now. A shooting guard on the basketball court and a pitcher/infielder on the baseball diamond, Chris found it necessary that CJ compete in more than just one sport.

“We knew he had talent when he started running in fourth grade, but we were very big on playing more than one sport and not taking one sport too seriously,” Chris Singleton said. “This summer was the first summer that he actually ran a consistent training schedule.”

Singleton built his cross country resume by literally running away from the competition in middle school. He turned in first-place performances in most every competition he entered. He won the Fox Chapel invitational last year, finished third (9:49) in the 3,000 meters at the NYC Indoor Track Nationals this past March and ran a 13:44 in last December’s USATF XC Junior Olympics 4K race at Florida State.

“He did (the indoor track nationals) on basketball training and finished third, and that really opened our eyes,” Chris Singleton said. “That was the first race that opened our eyes.”

Because he is a one-man team, Singleton competes in invitationals only. Following his performance at the Red, White and Blue Classic, he was invited by Winchester Thurston to compete in a dual meet against Beaver Falls next month.

Singleton has his sights set on the WPIAL Class A cross country finals at Cal (Pa.) this October.

“The competition is tough and keeps me working hard,” Singleton said. “My chances are pretty slim, but maybe I can win.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: St. Joseph