Patterson dominant in PAC track
LATROBE — A sixth-grader at Butler Catholic a decade ago, Tim Patterson played on the Saints basketball team.
His coach, Jerry Maher, thought better of that.
“He thought I’d be a pretty good distance runner and suggested I give it a try,” Patterson said.
Chalk one up for Coach Maher.
After joining a roster loaded with strong distance runners at Butler High School, Patterson has moved on to a record-breaking running career at Saint Vincent College.
The senior was recently named All-Mid-Atlantic Region after recording the fourth-fastest mile run (4 minutes, 16.79 seconds) among all runners in the region at the Muskingum College Muskies Meet in late January. Patterson won a pair of titles at the recent Presidents’ Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, taking the 5k run in a league championship record time of 15:04.63 and the 3,000 meters in 9:03.23.
Patterson also ran a leg of the Bearcats’ runner-up distance medley relay at the PAC meet.
During the fall, he was named cross country All-Region and received outdoor track All-Region honors last spring.
“I never expected anything like this when I came here,” said Patterson, who is graduating with a degree in criminology. “I figured I’d blend in, be a solid runner on the team ... nothing like this.”
While at Butler, Patterson ran with distance runners C.J. Singleton (Notre Dame), Sage (Youngstown State) and Skyler Vavro (Robert Morris), Brett Brady (Navy) and had a year with Noah Beveridge (Syracuse).
“Tim came to us with tremendous work ethic,” Saint Vincent coach Kevin Wanichko said. “It’s easy to see where that came from. He’s a great competitor largely because of the high school program he came from.
“All of those kids pushed each other and they were prepared for running at the college level. Tim just goes out on the track and gets after it.”
Patterson said he and his high school teammates stay in touch and run together at times when they’re back home.
“All of us just wanted to keep getting better,” he said. “There’s a definite bond there. We’ve all succeeded at the (college) levels we’re at. Coach (Rick) Davanzati runs the best distance program of anybody in high school. He’s played a big part in all of this.”
As successful as Patterson has been, he has yet to qualify for Division III nationals in track. He’s done so in cross country.
He said his main goal this spring is to find a way to qualify for nationals.
“It’s going to be tough,” Wanichko admitted. “Tim’s time in the 5k is in the 14:40s and he would need to get to the 14:20s to have a realistic shot. He’s seconds away in the 1,500 and may have a shot there. We have 10 weeks to get there.”
Patterson has a year of eligibility remaining after this spring. He will graduate in the spring and is undecided whether to return to Saint Vincent next year or further his education at another school.
Either way, he will likely keep running.
I’m not ready to give it up,“ he said. ”When I am through with college, I plan on doing a few road races. I’ve been running for way too long to give up on it anytime soon.“
