Penn men's cross country runner Bryan Kovalsky has not eaten at McDonald's in five months. "I think he has some conspiracy theory," Quakers captain Paolo Frescura said. "Like the X-Files." When his teammates were asked if they had any interesting stories about Kovalsky, they started laughing. "He was going off on one of his tangents, and he started talking about a kid he ran against in high school," said McMillan, who along with his teammanes will visit Lehigh for the Paul Short Invitational on Saturday. "He said, 'If I ever see that kid, we should all gang-bang him.' He spent the next 10 minutes trying to convince everyone that the phrase meant gang-tackle in Connecticut instead of what it means in the rest of the world." There are really two sides to Kovalsky. One is what he calls "a lot of little quirks" that make him the team's most popular target for jokes. Though he has only been a member of the team for a couple of months, he is already known for his off-the-wall comments and his "streaks". "All the guys will be sitting around talking, and Bryan will say something like, 'My shoelaces haven't come untied for 11 days'," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "And everyone will stop what they're doing and break out into laughter." "He avoids fast food, so he can't ever find a restaurant when we're on the road," Frescura said. "He ends up skipping a lot of meals." "Interesting fellow." Krol said. "Generally a goofball." Besides the quirks and the random comments, there is the perseverance and work ethic that have made him one of the team's best runners early in his freshman year. "People have told me I'm not well-rounded," Kovalsky said. "It sounds like an insult, but I take it as a complement. It means I have focus. There's no wasted energy." This focus may not have given Kovalsky enough time to join the glee club, but it did bring him two Connecticut state championships. He won the indoor mile and the outdoor two-mile in his senior year of high school. Kovalsky did not start running until his freshman year of high school. His sister Ann was one of the top high school runners in the country, so Bryan figured he would give running a try. "Freshman year I was terrible," Kovalsky said. But he refused to give up, constantly striving to improve. There was also the issue of a little friendly competition with his sister. By sophomore year, he was the fastest runner on the team. "But I still wasn't very good in 10th and 11th grade,"Kovalsky said. With college applications rapidly approaching, his times early in 12th grade were still not good enough to get noticed. He knew he wanted to continue to run in college, but most of the coaches he contacted did not seem very interested. "The only guy that took a lot of interest in me was coach Powell," Kovalsky said. Kovalsky is a huge track fan, and when races are occasionally televised, he'll stay up half the night to watch a meet that was taped two weeks ago. His focus is also clear after a quick glance around his room. One wall is covered with newspaper clippings and pictures of the best track stars in the world. Another wall is covered with a huge flag. "It's the Kenyan flag," he says, "because they're the best." Kovalsky's dream is to be both a college professor and the school's track coach. After his extraordinary improvement during high school, it is definitely not out of the question. As Powell said, "This kid's gonna go a long, long way in this world." Even if he does have trouble finding a place to get a quick meal.
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