The shout “Keep the lane clear, I have a runner finishing” echoes out so all can hear. This is no ordinary finish because Southmoreland Senior Ben Bickerton just did something extraordinary: he broke legendary runner Chris Dugan’s 19 year cross country course record.
“It is such an honor to break the record. Especially Chris’s” said Bickerton.
Chris Dugan is one of Southmoreland High School’s greatest runners, being a three time state champion in cross country. Dugan also attended NC State and was a two year All American runner.
Bickerton ran the 3.2 mile course in 17 minutes and 43 seconds beating previous 17 minute 55 second time set by Dugan 19 years ago.
“I am so happy that someone from my school [Southmoreland] broke my record” said Dugan. “Ben is a great runner and will give it 100% all the time. It was only a matter of time my record got broken”
Until Dugan’s high school career in 1992-1996, the length of the home course varied, meaning the times of the runners did as well.
“There wasn’t really a quote on quote record time, because the distance was changing” said Dugan. “My goal then was to simply run my best and fastest times possible.”
Dugan not only went on to be a three time PIAA Cross Country champion, WPIAL champion and two time runner up.
Bickerton has stressed a desire to finish as highly as Dugan, including a Cross Country Championship and a WPIAL championship.
“Ben is fantastic. What he does is fantastic” said Southmoreland Cross Country Coach Don Gilpin. “He trains hard and more importantly he runs with his heart. That makes him special”
Gilpin stressed that Bickerton simply goes out and runs, sometimes as much as 12 miles, almost every day.
“Ben’s purpose is to run” said Gilpin. “He [Ben] had it in his mind he was going to break the record, and he did it”
Watches are not permitted to be worn by runners during the meets, which makes it impossible for the runners to know their time prior to them finishing.
Gilpin stressed that at first he knew Bickerton’s time would be close to that of Chris Dugan’s, but it wasn’t until the final stretch he knew Bickerton had done it.
“I knew I was running fast, but I had no idea I actually broke his [Dugan’s] record” said Bickerton “To be able to compete with a time like his is such a great honor”

With this feat completed, Bickerton plans on continuing running at Malone University in Ohio where he hopes to compete at the next level.
“I know some kids peak in high school, but I have four more years to compete at an even bigger level” said Bickerton “Most importantly I love and enjoy running”