He got some measure of revenge, and a sixth-place medal, at the national championship meet in Boston, where he beat Trinity Gray (Franklin Learning Center), who had won the state 800 championship.
McFadden begins his final season at Bensalem with one individual goal: winning the 800 at May's state championship meet. He finished fifth in 1:56.2 last year.
And another goal is to get his time for the event way down, like in the 1:50 range.
``I think he can cut three to five seconds off his time,'' Owls coach Ken Worthen said. ``The best I've had was Dante Austin on my state champs in 1987. He ran a 1:54, and Chris would eat him up.''
``I think low 1:52 is realistic,'' McFadden said. ``Indoors, I didn't train for the 800 at all. Outdoors, it will be different.''
McFadden is a long sprinter. He won the 400 (49.9 seconds) at last year's Suburban One National Conference Patriot Division championship meet, and has led off (as a sophomore) and anchored (last year) Bensalem's winning teams in conference 1,600-meter relays at the Penn Relays.
But don't talk to him about running the mile.
``I promised I'd never let him run a mile in a competitive race,'' Worthen said. ``I'm going to let him dabble in one or two, just to work out.''
``My dad said he didn't want me running more than the 800,'' McFadden said, ``and I didn't want to get into any distance running. He always had this thing that I'd be a sprinter.''
Chris' father, Bob, could make those kinds of suggestions to the Bensalem coach, because he had run for Worthen when he attended Bensalem. In fact, Bob McFadden earned a medal by finishing 19th at the state cross-country championships in 1975, before graduating in '76.
``Chris is much better,'' the coach said.
``I think you could say that I'm faster, without being disrespectful,'' Chris McFadden said.
