Brandon Clark '12 has committed to the University of Pennsylvania and will be wearing the Penn cross country uniform next season. Brandon was recruited by many of the top cross country and track programs in the country and has spent many hours deliberating his college selection. "The hardest part of the process was contacting the other coaches to let them know of my decision, as you develop a relationship with them over time," said Clark. "Selecting the University of Pennsylvania was easy after careful consideration based on their academics, heritage, the coaching staff, the team dynamic, and the city of Philadelphia."
Brandon Clark holds many Blake School cross country and track records including the school course record on every cross country course on which the Blake School competes. In track, he holds records in the outdoor 3200, the outdoor 4 x 800 relay (Koullick, Tyree, and Carlson), the indoor 800, the indoor mile, and the indoor 3200. He is the only Blake School runner to qualify for the Nike National Cross Country Championships as well as to be ranked in the ESPN Top 25 distance runners in the country. He earned the prestigious Nike All-Heartland Second Team in his cross country junior season and earned the Nike All-Heartland First Team in his senior season. He also earned the Milesplit All United States First Team Elite as both a junior and senior.
Clark has earned Tri Metro All-Conference honors in each season he has competed for both cross country and track. A three-time All-State student-athlete, Clark was also a scoring runner on Blake's 2008 State Cross Country Championship team. Most recently, Clark led his team to a fourth place finish at the 2011 State Cross Country Championship. Brandon will be competing in his last track season as a Blake Bear this spring.
"In all my years of coaching, Brandon was one of the most recruited student-athletes in our program," says Gary Lee head coach. "When talking with college coaches inquiring about Brandon, my conversation was focused on his leadership, passion for the sport and team, and his many examples of excellent sportsmanship; including giving up his first place medal at a race when he followed the lead bike off the course and at the Section Championship when he spent time with a student-athlete from another team after the race announcer incorrectly announced the student-athlete to the podium as earning an individual bid to the State Meet."
The Blake School and Milesplit team congratulate Brandon Clark on his outstanding athletic and academic success!