AAA
1. O'Hara
2. North Allegheny
3. Mount Lebanon
4. West Chester Henderson
5. Great Valley
6. LaSalle
7. North Penn
8. Pittsburgh Central Catholic
9. Chambersburg
10. Governor Mifflin
AA
1. Quaker Valley
2. North East
3. West Middlesex
4. Holy Redeemer
5. Annville Celona
Top 25 AA Boys Predictions
1. Brendan Shearn
2. Nate Tallada
3. Barrett Kemp
4. Sam Williams
5. Ryan Smathers
6. Curt Jewett
7. Luke Jones
8. Jared Schatz
9. Shawn Wolfe
10. Rico Golassi
11. Aaron Valerosa
12. Mark Bachman
13. Mitchell Ford
14. Nat Fox
15. Kelby Mullen
16. Dan Alexander
17. Tyler Stemack
18. Caleb Leckler
19. Roy Heidfield
20. Grant Barber
21. Jeremy Parsons
22. Hunter Johnston
23. Jack Bagamery
24. LJ Westwood
25. Andrew Steely
2. Nate Tallada
3. Barrett Kemp
4. Sam Williams
5. Ryan Smathers
6. Curt Jewett
7. Luke Jones
8. Jared Schatz
9. Shawn Wolfe
10. Rico Golassi
11. Aaron Valerosa
12. Mark Bachman
13. Mitchell Ford
14. Nat Fox
15. Kelby Mullen
16. Dan Alexander
17. Tyler Stemack
18. Caleb Leckler
19. Roy Heidfield
20. Grant Barber
21. Jeremy Parsons
22. Hunter Johnston
23. Jack Bagamery
24. LJ Westwood
25. Andrew Steely
Boys AAA Top 50 Predictions
1. Logan Steiner
2. Drew Magaha
3. Conner Quinn
4. Max Norris
5. Dan Jaskowak
6. Brent Kennedy
7. Mike Runco
8. Brett Kelly
9. Alex Moran
10. Sean Burke
11. Ned Willig
12. Tom Coyle
13. Sam Hibbs
14. Aaron Wilkinson
15. Connor Strynkowski
16. Connor Harriman
17. Korey Replogle
18. Dan Savage
19. Dylan Mountain
20. Dan Davis
21. Ean DiSilvio
22. Francis Ferruzzi
23. Jeff Groh
24. Mike Billotta
25. Jack MaCauley
26. John Felts
27. Dominic Deluca
28. Tony Russell
29. Andrew Kutcha
30. Adam Katora
31. Ryan Hertzog
32. Chris Muldoon
33. Caleb Wakeley
34. Richard Lednak
35. Evan Williams
36. Lawtin Tellin
37. Mac Emery
38. Chris Pastore
39. Austin Pondel
40. Tim Appman
41. Ethan Martin
42. Alex Kunzweiler
43. Harrison Schettler
44. Vinny Todaro
45. Scott Seel
46. Cordon Luoco
47. Alex Kane
48. John Ausel
49. Sam Haugh
50. Matt Wilig
2. Drew Magaha
3. Conner Quinn
4. Max Norris
5. Dan Jaskowak
6. Brent Kennedy
7. Mike Runco
8. Brett Kelly
9. Alex Moran
10. Sean Burke
11. Ned Willig
12. Tom Coyle
13. Sam Hibbs
14. Aaron Wilkinson
15. Connor Strynkowski
16. Connor Harriman
17. Korey Replogle
18. Dan Savage
19. Dylan Mountain
20. Dan Davis
21. Ean DiSilvio
22. Francis Ferruzzi
23. Jeff Groh
24. Mike Billotta
25. Jack MaCauley
26. John Felts
27. Dominic Deluca
28. Tony Russell
29. Andrew Kutcha
30. Adam Katora
31. Ryan Hertzog
32. Chris Muldoon
33. Caleb Wakeley
34. Richard Lednak
35. Evan Williams
36. Lawtin Tellin
37. Mac Emery
38. Chris Pastore
39. Austin Pondel
40. Tim Appman
41. Ethan Martin
42. Alex Kunzweiler
43. Harrison Schettler
44. Vinny Todaro
45. Scott Seel
46. Cordon Luoco
47. Alex Kane
48. John Ausel
49. Sam Haugh
50. Matt Wilig
etrain not picking Magaha
Yes, I am aware that I just refered to myself in the third person which is kinda toolish, but hopefully it doesn't discourage anyone from reading the post.
As the title suggests, I will not be picking Drew Magaha to win the state championship in my official predictions (which will go up one I've seen the D6 Championship results just to make sure that Mountain hasn't gotten injured or that Patrick Reade hasn't secretly taken steroids and become a boss or something like that). So since I have not picked Magaha, the clear favorite in my opinion, and the choice of many to win thus far in my talks and reading, warrants some explanation. So let's begin.
First off let me say a few things about Drew that can not be denied:
1. In the past month no one has touched him. He has dominated every field he has faced in very fast times. Districts wasn't even close.
2. If I was in a fantasy draft, he'd have to be my #1 pick. I have a lot of reasons to think he won't win, but the upside that he has is huge.
3. He ran a 4:07 1600 as a Junior with a huge negative split for the last 400m. He is extremely talented.
4. He can run hills, he had a solid finish at the Pre States meet and he rocked the Salesianum Invite which is no cake walk.
BUT, I am not picking Drew to win states this Saturday. Which begs the question, why?
Well for starters: history. What Drew did last spring season was re-write the history books, so I'm not saying he can't do it again, but an individual who has never before medaled at a cross country state championship has not won states in about a decade (Dan Mazzacco, Baldwin in either 01 or 02 I can't remember). Mazzacco easily could have been a medalist his Junior year considering he was a top finisher at the District 7 championships the week before states and established cross country name.
Since Dan there have been a boat load of guys who have been close to accomplishing the feat (Keith Cappecci, Ben Furcht, Rad Gunzenhauser, Charles Lockwood, Bud Plaszenski, Neal Berman, Zach Hebda, Greg Karies, etc.) but none of them have actually pulled it out. In fact the past couple years the state champions have been big names that are amongst the top returners from the previous season. Miller, Miller, Miller, Weller, Dennin, Tarsnane, Miles and Gil all finished in the top 10 the year before they won the state championship. Magaha finished 127th last season at states and 81st as a sophomore. There is a certain level of experience that I feel is required to run on the big stage, in a big race and have the confidence to know how to win. I'm not sure if Drew has that experience based on his previous finishes at states.
It's undeniable Drew is the favorite, most District One Champions are, but in Cross Country, unlike track, upsets aren't just more frequent, they have become increasingly likely. In the past 5 years the "favorite" going into the state championships has won just once (Brad Miles). In addition the District One Champion has one just once since Ian Gottesfield did in the early turn of the century (same guy, Brad Miles). Guys like Furcht and Hebda have gone on to prove they were the best runner in their year in PA by making Footlockers, however, they don't have any state gold to show off.
One of my other big questions about Drew is his attitude. Drew is obviously a fierce track competitor, he runs hard and he runs gutsy, how else could he unleash the kicks that he has on the field. However, Drew does have a tendency to sometimes mentally fall out of races (indoor states in the mile and the 8, the outdoor 800) which isn't too big of a deal, but there is evidence to suggest the mindset is there.
But it's more than just the occasional lack of being able to double that concerns me about Magaha's attitude. First of all, Magaha does not put in the mileage that the other top guys do. There is reason to suspect based on his recent interviews that he has been down in the 30s for the past few weeks, looking to ride his peak to states. He hasn't even been pushed in a race since Salesianum and has raced in the best conditions out of any of the top guys in the past few weeks. At states, I don't expect the weather to be nice.
Lastly, Magaha himself has said this season his not all his main focus. He has confessed he is a track guy and is just using this season to "show college coaches he can do it".
So after almost a month of not being pushed and racing quite all out at flatter courses, being at low mileage, and having the mental attitude about cross country he has had, I don't think Magaha will have the same edge that the other top runners will have coming into the race. If Magaha comes in expecting things to be easy on the Hershey course and doesn't have his day, he will be vulnerable and he may lose.
These historically tendencies and Drew's recent interviews, races, and training cycle are enough for me to hop onto another bandwagon for the championship meet. Could Drew win? Oh, definitely, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, but, in my opinion, the same can be said for him losing.
That's what makes the state championships so interesting I suppose.
As the expression goes, It's kind of like a box of chocolates. You never know who is going to have the race of their life and pull out the victory.
Or something like that.
-train
As the title suggests, I will not be picking Drew Magaha to win the state championship in my official predictions (which will go up one I've seen the D6 Championship results just to make sure that Mountain hasn't gotten injured or that Patrick Reade hasn't secretly taken steroids and become a boss or something like that). So since I have not picked Magaha, the clear favorite in my opinion, and the choice of many to win thus far in my talks and reading, warrants some explanation. So let's begin.
First off let me say a few things about Drew that can not be denied:
1. In the past month no one has touched him. He has dominated every field he has faced in very fast times. Districts wasn't even close.
2. If I was in a fantasy draft, he'd have to be my #1 pick. I have a lot of reasons to think he won't win, but the upside that he has is huge.
3. He ran a 4:07 1600 as a Junior with a huge negative split for the last 400m. He is extremely talented.
4. He can run hills, he had a solid finish at the Pre States meet and he rocked the Salesianum Invite which is no cake walk.
BUT, I am not picking Drew to win states this Saturday. Which begs the question, why?
Well for starters: history. What Drew did last spring season was re-write the history books, so I'm not saying he can't do it again, but an individual who has never before medaled at a cross country state championship has not won states in about a decade (Dan Mazzacco, Baldwin in either 01 or 02 I can't remember). Mazzacco easily could have been a medalist his Junior year considering he was a top finisher at the District 7 championships the week before states and established cross country name.
Since Dan there have been a boat load of guys who have been close to accomplishing the feat (Keith Cappecci, Ben Furcht, Rad Gunzenhauser, Charles Lockwood, Bud Plaszenski, Neal Berman, Zach Hebda, Greg Karies, etc.) but none of them have actually pulled it out. In fact the past couple years the state champions have been big names that are amongst the top returners from the previous season. Miller, Miller, Miller, Weller, Dennin, Tarsnane, Miles and Gil all finished in the top 10 the year before they won the state championship. Magaha finished 127th last season at states and 81st as a sophomore. There is a certain level of experience that I feel is required to run on the big stage, in a big race and have the confidence to know how to win. I'm not sure if Drew has that experience based on his previous finishes at states.
It's undeniable Drew is the favorite, most District One Champions are, but in Cross Country, unlike track, upsets aren't just more frequent, they have become increasingly likely. In the past 5 years the "favorite" going into the state championships has won just once (Brad Miles). In addition the District One Champion has one just once since Ian Gottesfield did in the early turn of the century (same guy, Brad Miles). Guys like Furcht and Hebda have gone on to prove they were the best runner in their year in PA by making Footlockers, however, they don't have any state gold to show off.
One of my other big questions about Drew is his attitude. Drew is obviously a fierce track competitor, he runs hard and he runs gutsy, how else could he unleash the kicks that he has on the field. However, Drew does have a tendency to sometimes mentally fall out of races (indoor states in the mile and the 8, the outdoor 800) which isn't too big of a deal, but there is evidence to suggest the mindset is there.
But it's more than just the occasional lack of being able to double that concerns me about Magaha's attitude. First of all, Magaha does not put in the mileage that the other top guys do. There is reason to suspect based on his recent interviews that he has been down in the 30s for the past few weeks, looking to ride his peak to states. He hasn't even been pushed in a race since Salesianum and has raced in the best conditions out of any of the top guys in the past few weeks. At states, I don't expect the weather to be nice.
Lastly, Magaha himself has said this season his not all his main focus. He has confessed he is a track guy and is just using this season to "show college coaches he can do it".
So after almost a month of not being pushed and racing quite all out at flatter courses, being at low mileage, and having the mental attitude about cross country he has had, I don't think Magaha will have the same edge that the other top runners will have coming into the race. If Magaha comes in expecting things to be easy on the Hershey course and doesn't have his day, he will be vulnerable and he may lose.
These historically tendencies and Drew's recent interviews, races, and training cycle are enough for me to hop onto another bandwagon for the championship meet. Could Drew win? Oh, definitely, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, but, in my opinion, the same can be said for him losing.
That's what makes the state championships so interesting I suppose.
As the expression goes, It's kind of like a box of chocolates. You never know who is going to have the race of their life and pull out the victory.
Or something like that.
-train
Prediction Contest
As you may or may not have heard, this past weekend, I competed in a snow covered Conference Championship meet about 2 hours from my dorm. This, naturally means two things. 1st, I ran a very slow time even though I think I finished 17 places higher than the previous year (about a 20% increase), went painfully numb in various place I care not to discuss publicly, and finished wet and cold and miserable. And no that's not what she said.
But the 2nd fact was much more painful/depressing/upsetting to me. I was away from a computer for two days and I failed to update my loyal blog followers (appearently I'm to 3 now which is very exciting) on the district championships results that had been coming in from the weekend.
Well folks, I'm back and hopefully will not be facing the piles of school work I faced this past week, which means I can dedicate myself to covering the upcoming state championships like nobody's business.
First though, while I have everyone's attention, I want to say a few things about the district one championships from this past weekend. First off major props to Magaha, he looks unbeatable after that performance ... but I suppose we will get to that later in the week. Also huge congrats to Ned Willig and Great Valley. They really redeemed themselves from a rough patch earlier in the season and look like a legit top 5 contender at the state championships. Also quick shout out to my summer training partner Francis Ferrruzzi, great race kid.
Finally, just wanted to give a hearty congrats to a couple guys who I have watched grow up in the past few years, training hard, but just missing states this past Friday, Jon Hartsough and Sam Brooks. You guys both had fantastic seasons and should be proud of the strides you've made over the past years, even if it didn't quite work out as you might have hoped, keep your heads up.
But this post is not about shout outs or pretending like I'm friends with a bunch of good runners or kissing up to people and name dropping or anything like that, as much as I would like to keep bringing up people like my possible future training partner from CR North who ran a nice 16:44 this Friday, but serious I'm done. Moving on.
At some point later this week I will be posting my state predictions including: The top 5-10 teams (not exactly sure how deep I can go here, definitely can go through 6 or so, after that I'm fuzzy), my top 50 AAA boys (going to be a bit of a tough one here with a lot of names, but I'll give it a shot) and my top 25 AA boys (again this will probably look very rough, especially at the end, but just work with me). Hopefully each of these will come with some in depth analysis and be up by around Wednesday this week so people can check them out. Keep your fingers crossed.
Now, some of you are probably looking up at the title of this post and wondering when the heck is this kid going to stop bragging that he is a boss because he ran through snow and knows Francis Ferruzzi and tell us what the heck this Prediction Contest is. Well, this is the part of the post where your questions are answered.
For this upcoming state meet I challenge you all out there to correctly name more of the 25 state medalists in either AA or AAA boys. Order does not matter, I'm only looking for names. You can list up to 25 names, and as little as one name if you really want to (although I am fairly confident you will not beat with just one name, not to sound like the dude, but I mean my roommate from Vermont can probably get 10-12 just from living with me and listening to me blabber all day).
All you have to do is post a list of your 25 state medalists (chose just AA or just AAA for each entry. You can enter once for each, but keep the lists seperate because they will be scored seperately). Like I said all I need are the 25 names and your name. If you get the guy who finished 25th it is the same value as getting the guy who finished 1st.
Lists can be posted either as a comment on the blog, as a facebook message to me, as a post on penntrack as long as you address the post to me and post up a link to the blog (yay advertising), as a penntrack message to me, or as a text message to me.
Hopefully we can have some fun with this and in a week hopefully I won't be crying that all of my readers know the state better than I do. Game on gentlemen.
-train
But the 2nd fact was much more painful/depressing/upsetting to me. I was away from a computer for two days and I failed to update my loyal blog followers (appearently I'm to 3 now which is very exciting) on the district championships results that had been coming in from the weekend.
Well folks, I'm back and hopefully will not be facing the piles of school work I faced this past week, which means I can dedicate myself to covering the upcoming state championships like nobody's business.
First though, while I have everyone's attention, I want to say a few things about the district one championships from this past weekend. First off major props to Magaha, he looks unbeatable after that performance ... but I suppose we will get to that later in the week. Also huge congrats to Ned Willig and Great Valley. They really redeemed themselves from a rough patch earlier in the season and look like a legit top 5 contender at the state championships. Also quick shout out to my summer training partner Francis Ferrruzzi, great race kid.
Finally, just wanted to give a hearty congrats to a couple guys who I have watched grow up in the past few years, training hard, but just missing states this past Friday, Jon Hartsough and Sam Brooks. You guys both had fantastic seasons and should be proud of the strides you've made over the past years, even if it didn't quite work out as you might have hoped, keep your heads up.
But this post is not about shout outs or pretending like I'm friends with a bunch of good runners or kissing up to people and name dropping or anything like that, as much as I would like to keep bringing up people like my possible future training partner from CR North who ran a nice 16:44 this Friday, but serious I'm done. Moving on.
At some point later this week I will be posting my state predictions including: The top 5-10 teams (not exactly sure how deep I can go here, definitely can go through 6 or so, after that I'm fuzzy), my top 50 AAA boys (going to be a bit of a tough one here with a lot of names, but I'll give it a shot) and my top 25 AA boys (again this will probably look very rough, especially at the end, but just work with me). Hopefully each of these will come with some in depth analysis and be up by around Wednesday this week so people can check them out. Keep your fingers crossed.
Now, some of you are probably looking up at the title of this post and wondering when the heck is this kid going to stop bragging that he is a boss because he ran through snow and knows Francis Ferruzzi and tell us what the heck this Prediction Contest is. Well, this is the part of the post where your questions are answered.
For this upcoming state meet I challenge you all out there to correctly name more of the 25 state medalists in either AA or AAA boys. Order does not matter, I'm only looking for names. You can list up to 25 names, and as little as one name if you really want to (although I am fairly confident you will not beat with just one name, not to sound like the dude, but I mean my roommate from Vermont can probably get 10-12 just from living with me and listening to me blabber all day).
All you have to do is post a list of your 25 state medalists (chose just AA or just AAA for each entry. You can enter once for each, but keep the lists seperate because they will be scored seperately). Like I said all I need are the 25 names and your name. If you get the guy who finished 25th it is the same value as getting the guy who finished 1st.
Lists can be posted either as a comment on the blog, as a facebook message to me, as a post on penntrack as long as you address the post to me and post up a link to the blog (yay advertising), as a penntrack message to me, or as a text message to me.
Hopefully we can have some fun with this and in a week hopefully I won't be crying that all of my readers know the state better than I do. Game on gentlemen.
-train
District One Preview
So I was thinking about and I decided I could either go all out on this and really deliver for my fans or I could basically cop out and study for math stat test tomorrow and count my money that I have officially made. Well folks it was almost the first one when I just posted up a list of projected places, but I mean cmon, I'm etrain, I gotta committ, especially to the thing I probably know best, District One running.
So here we go, were looking at an intereting team battle here for starters. Not saying that I'm not on the Henderson winning bandwagon, because I am, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised to see North Penn swing the upset. Davis can definitely run better than he did at leagues, and this team on the whole exploded at this meet a year ago. Henderson is deeper through 5, much deeper through 5, than any other team is, but North Penn can definitely mix it up. Great Valley also a great team, especially if the Willig's stay hot at this meet and the team doesn't do what they did last time they were at Lehigh. No offense.
CR North consistently makes states, so very hard for me to pick against them, especially after a solid leagues race. Not extremely deep on the guys side team wise, but I've always like HGPrep this season and Israel is on my sleepers list this season. So those are my 5 teams. Pennsbury is the big surprise to mix it up in here, Haverford doesn't seem to have the fire power out front but maybe they will surprise me. Pennsbury has a huge sleeper in their freshman Webb, and Harriman has the potentail to be a top 10 guy which is always nice to have out front.
On to the individuals. Its tough not to pick Magaha, its his kind of course, he's running great, he's been hot at the right time, and oh yeah he can run 4:07 in the mile. So I've got Drew, depending on course conditions and how the race plays out he can scare 15:20. Hibbs for second, we shall see how it ends up because he has been throwing up lots of red flags as of late, but I trust his experience and gamerness to pull it out. Max Norris for District Champion? Nah I'm not that bold, but that kid has been running smart and fast, could be dangerous if Hibbs isn't the Hibbs we thought he was. Quinn obviously had a great race last week, and really only Magaha is hotter than him at this point. Yeah that could have sent the wrong impression, but don't read too much into it boys. Quinn bombed last year at Districts so let's hope this stage isn't too scary for him again.
Willig is a great kid and a great guy who I always have thought has the potential to run out of his mind this XC season. But I also was convinced he'd scare 9 minutes in the two mile rather than flipping it on me and running 1:51 three times. So here's the thing, that combined with the memory of Paul Short still fresh in my head just scares me too much to go higher than 5, but Ned please run fast so I can start bragging that I have met you. That is all.
Jacky Mac is looking way too much like he did last year coming into this meet when he surprised everybody and took home 11th and led North Penn to second place. No reason to think things are different at this point. Can't sleep on Brett Kelly. He's a state medalist last year, top 10 at Districts the past two years, and oh yeah he goes to the same school that Jason Weller and Mark Dennin went to. Put away your pillows boys.
Like I said Israel is my big sleeper this year so I'm high on him for this race. Harriman certainly has shown flashes of brilliance, lets hope lightening strikes again for the youngster. (I suppose he's a Jr so he's not that young but I'm in college now so you guys are all youngsters.) Russell is easy, how can a Henderson guy not be in the top 10? That's like saying Oprah won't be in the top 10 for richest women in the world.
At 11, perhaps a homer pick but I'm a huge Francis Ferruzzi fan, he's not just my neighbor but he also is a 9:36 two miler who will appreciate the chance to run in a race where his two choices are Drew Magaha (15:50) and Sam Brooks (16:50). Go get em kid.
About to skip around now a little bit (no offense to the next couple guys but I think its kinda obvious why I have a Henderson, North Penn and CR North guy in my top 15) here's the sleeper picks you want to remember on race day.
Pete Downs (finally showing the potential I thought he would show at Viking. Trad etrain being way to early on people), Jack Huemmler (maybe I'm making too much out of DELCOs, but I hope not), Ian Yankuso (who? Exactly, they are killed sleepers for a reason people), Sam Webb (if Kevin Kelly thinks the guy is gonna have a big race, how can I not think so), and Joesph O'Such (great at Paul Short, not so much anywhere else, lucky for him, Districts is a lot like Paul Short).
So there you go gents, hope you enjoy this little preview and good luck to all the D1 guys.
-train
So here we go, were looking at an intereting team battle here for starters. Not saying that I'm not on the Henderson winning bandwagon, because I am, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised to see North Penn swing the upset. Davis can definitely run better than he did at leagues, and this team on the whole exploded at this meet a year ago. Henderson is deeper through 5, much deeper through 5, than any other team is, but North Penn can definitely mix it up. Great Valley also a great team, especially if the Willig's stay hot at this meet and the team doesn't do what they did last time they were at Lehigh. No offense.
CR North consistently makes states, so very hard for me to pick against them, especially after a solid leagues race. Not extremely deep on the guys side team wise, but I've always like HGPrep this season and Israel is on my sleepers list this season. So those are my 5 teams. Pennsbury is the big surprise to mix it up in here, Haverford doesn't seem to have the fire power out front but maybe they will surprise me. Pennsbury has a huge sleeper in their freshman Webb, and Harriman has the potentail to be a top 10 guy which is always nice to have out front.
On to the individuals. Its tough not to pick Magaha, its his kind of course, he's running great, he's been hot at the right time, and oh yeah he can run 4:07 in the mile. So I've got Drew, depending on course conditions and how the race plays out he can scare 15:20. Hibbs for second, we shall see how it ends up because he has been throwing up lots of red flags as of late, but I trust his experience and gamerness to pull it out. Max Norris for District Champion? Nah I'm not that bold, but that kid has been running smart and fast, could be dangerous if Hibbs isn't the Hibbs we thought he was. Quinn obviously had a great race last week, and really only Magaha is hotter than him at this point. Yeah that could have sent the wrong impression, but don't read too much into it boys. Quinn bombed last year at Districts so let's hope this stage isn't too scary for him again.
Willig is a great kid and a great guy who I always have thought has the potential to run out of his mind this XC season. But I also was convinced he'd scare 9 minutes in the two mile rather than flipping it on me and running 1:51 three times. So here's the thing, that combined with the memory of Paul Short still fresh in my head just scares me too much to go higher than 5, but Ned please run fast so I can start bragging that I have met you. That is all.
Jacky Mac is looking way too much like he did last year coming into this meet when he surprised everybody and took home 11th and led North Penn to second place. No reason to think things are different at this point. Can't sleep on Brett Kelly. He's a state medalist last year, top 10 at Districts the past two years, and oh yeah he goes to the same school that Jason Weller and Mark Dennin went to. Put away your pillows boys.
Like I said Israel is my big sleeper this year so I'm high on him for this race. Harriman certainly has shown flashes of brilliance, lets hope lightening strikes again for the youngster. (I suppose he's a Jr so he's not that young but I'm in college now so you guys are all youngsters.) Russell is easy, how can a Henderson guy not be in the top 10? That's like saying Oprah won't be in the top 10 for richest women in the world.
At 11, perhaps a homer pick but I'm a huge Francis Ferruzzi fan, he's not just my neighbor but he also is a 9:36 two miler who will appreciate the chance to run in a race where his two choices are Drew Magaha (15:50) and Sam Brooks (16:50). Go get em kid.
About to skip around now a little bit (no offense to the next couple guys but I think its kinda obvious why I have a Henderson, North Penn and CR North guy in my top 15) here's the sleeper picks you want to remember on race day.
Pete Downs (finally showing the potential I thought he would show at Viking. Trad etrain being way to early on people), Jack Huemmler (maybe I'm making too much out of DELCOs, but I hope not), Ian Yankuso (who? Exactly, they are killed sleepers for a reason people), Sam Webb (if Kevin Kelly thinks the guy is gonna have a big race, how can I not think so), and Joesph O'Such (great at Paul Short, not so much anywhere else, lucky for him, Districts is a lot like Paul Short).
So there you go gents, hope you enjoy this little preview and good luck to all the D1 guys.
-train
Thanks
I logged on to my blog account yesterday, checking the money values at the top, still just a few dollars away from the $100 I needed to get my first adsense check. This morning, I woke up and I was there. It's pretty crazy to think that this month has taken the blog to a whole new level. I have always loved high school track, and I have never been able to stay away from the game. Talking to runners, reading up on results. Its hard to stay touch in while I'm away at college, but my readers and fans have really made me feel like I haven't quite lost my step yet. This is an extremely proud moment for me, to have made money just from writing about track, just from putting my passion out there for everyone else to see.
So now I sit here, listening to Up Up and Away by Kid Cudi, preparing to move on to Foster the People next, and pondering the new district results and the big race for Groh (finally pulled through and showed that potential I talked about a couple weeks back, now if only I could get Kutcha to do that). It's who I am, it's what I have become, and to some people it is all they know me as. I've talked to so many people online who I have never actually met in person, learned so many names with no face that I can put to them. It's been a crazy experience, over 4 years in the making, from my first penntrack posts until now.
I have to thank some people in particular if I'm really going to do this properly. First of all I'd like to thank my parents. They have always been great supporters of letting me do whatever I wanted to do sports wise and have encouraged me to do what makes me happy and believe in my ideas. Without them,this blog would never have been started. Another huge, huge thanks to my brother Luke. He started this blog, set me up with Adsense and really helped me get the technology going on this thing. Without him etrain would have died out a long time ago, but now the legend is perhaps bigger than ever.
And of course the fans, everyone has been so supportive of me and asked great questions and contributed positively to discussion. Some guys in particular like the UD guys back home, Todd and Francis and even guys like Evan Mao who stay up on reading everything. The Muhlenberg guys, half of whom have no idea what any of this stuff is about like Will and Kenny and Bobby and Charlie and Andy and Luke and many more, but still read and click and ask me about how things are going.
And so many more great people, this is really a team effort, and the last month has just really humbled me.
Good luck to everyone as championship season winds down.
Stay classy
-train
So now I sit here, listening to Up Up and Away by Kid Cudi, preparing to move on to Foster the People next, and pondering the new district results and the big race for Groh (finally pulled through and showed that potential I talked about a couple weeks back, now if only I could get Kutcha to do that). It's who I am, it's what I have become, and to some people it is all they know me as. I've talked to so many people online who I have never actually met in person, learned so many names with no face that I can put to them. It's been a crazy experience, over 4 years in the making, from my first penntrack posts until now.
I have to thank some people in particular if I'm really going to do this properly. First of all I'd like to thank my parents. They have always been great supporters of letting me do whatever I wanted to do sports wise and have encouraged me to do what makes me happy and believe in my ideas. Without them,this blog would never have been started. Another huge, huge thanks to my brother Luke. He started this blog, set me up with Adsense and really helped me get the technology going on this thing. Without him etrain would have died out a long time ago, but now the legend is perhaps bigger than ever.
And of course the fans, everyone has been so supportive of me and asked great questions and contributed positively to discussion. Some guys in particular like the UD guys back home, Todd and Francis and even guys like Evan Mao who stay up on reading everything. The Muhlenberg guys, half of whom have no idea what any of this stuff is about like Will and Kenny and Bobby and Charlie and Andy and Luke and many more, but still read and click and ask me about how things are going.
And so many more great people, this is really a team effort, and the last month has just really humbled me.
Good luck to everyone as championship season winds down.
Stay classy
-train
District One Predictions
Here's my predictions for districts, teamwise I have Henderson, North Penn, Great Valley, CR North, HGP in that order. Ignore the times and places other than the ones on the far side, those are from everyone's league meets so they aren't really extremely relevant to the predictions, but they helped shape my ideas. Enjoy.
1. 2 2 Drew Magaha, Sr 15:50 5:06 Upper Moreland Boys
2. 3 3 Sam Hibbs, Sr 15:53 5:07 Hatboro-Horsham
3. 1 Norris, Max 13 Harriton 16:24.34 1
4. 1 1 Conner Quinn, Jr 15:47 5:05 Hatboro-Horsham
5. 1 1 Ned Willig Sr Great Valley 15:58 5:09
6. 4 4 Jack Macauley, Jr 15:58 5:09 North Penn High Schoo
7. 1 1 Brett Kelly, Sr 16:06 5:12 Boyertown
8. Zach Israel HGP 15:48
9. 5 5 Connor Harriman, Jr 16:00 5:10 Pennsbury, Boys
10. Tony Russell
11. 9 9 Francis Ferruzzi, Jr 16:21 5:16 Upper Dublin
12. Sam Haugh So West Chester Henderson 16:17
13. 7 7 Dan Davis, Sr 16:10 5:13 NorthHigh
14. Mac Emery
15. Charlie Grab
16. 2 Downs, Peter 12 Harriton 16:24.74 2
17. Chris Trimble
18. 11 11 Alex Kane, Sr 16:25 5:18 Cb East - M
19. 3 Huemmler, Jack 13 Strath Haven 16:36.19
20. 2 2 Ian Yanusko, Jr 16:26 5:18 Pottsgrove
21. 3 3 Matt Willig So Great Valley 16:33 5:20
22. 16 16 Kenny Leidal Jr Downingtown West 16:53 5:26
23. Ryan Horgan
24. 5 5 Joe O'Such, Sr 16:45 5:24 Spring-Ford
25. 10 10 Ross Wilson, So 16:23 5:17 Council Rock
26. 4 4 Aj Chaborek Jr West Chester Henderson 16:35 5:21
27. 12 12 Connor Linse, Jr 16:31 5:20 Souderton Men
28. 20 20 Sam Webb, Fr 16:52 5:26 Pennsbury,
29. 6 6 Garrett Zatlin So Great Valley 16:38 5:22
30. 8 8 Mike Salach Sr West Chester Henderson 16:45 5:24
31. 4 Smart, Anthony 13 Garnet Valley 16:39.88 4
32. 5 Smart, Nick 14 Garnet Valley 16:40.35
33. 7 Miller, Pat 12 Penncrest 16:43.05 7 34. 15 15 James Zingarini, Jr 16:38 5:22 Council Rock
35. 13 13 Chris Berry, Jr 16:35 5:21 Cbwest-M
36. 14 14 Alex Predhome, Sr 16:37 5:21 Cbwest-M
37. 21 21 Sam Brooks, Sr 16:54 5:27 Wissahickon
38. 24 24 Alec Brand, Jr 16:56 5:28 Cb East - M
39. 5 5 Joey Steadman Jr Downingtown West 16:36 5:21
40. 4 4 Chris Mullin, Sr 16:44 5:24 Phoenixville
41. Christian Kardish HGP 16:27
42. 8 Kays, Jon 12 Haverford 16:44.17 8
43. 26 26 Steve Williamson, So 16:59 5:29 Upper Dublin
44. 17 17 Matt Molloy, So 16:42 5:23 North Penn High Schoo
45. 6 6 Sean Hodgins, Jr 16:49 5:25 Perkiomen Valley
46. 6 Mogavero, Jeff 12 Haverford 16:41.07 6
47. 7 7 Jesse Magolon, Sr 16:54 5:27 Spring-Ford
48. 16 16 Stephen Chappell, Sr 16:41 5:23 Cb South-M
49. 3 3 Avery Scripture, Jr 16:28 5:18 Upper Perkiomen
50. 17 17 Jack McDonald Sr West Chester East 16:58 5:28
51. 7 7 Seamus Collins So West Chester Henderson 16:43 5:23
52. 10 10 Billy Wolffe Jr Great Valley 16:49 5:25
53. 15 15 Steve Yannacone Jr Unionville 16:52 5:26
54. 27 27 Brad Rivera, Jr 17:00 5:29 Bensalem Hs
55. 22 22 Joe Logue, So 16:55 5:27 Pennridge Boys
56. 23 23 Ryan Grace, So 16:55 5:27 North Penn High Schoo
57. 18 18 Kyle Francis, So 16:45 5:24 Bensalem Hs
58. 19 19 John Simila, Sr 16:47 5:25 William Tennent
59. 9 O'Donnell, Brian 12 Garnet Valley 16:44.95 9 60. Vincent Flood
1. 2 2 Drew Magaha, Sr 15:50 5:06 Upper Moreland Boys
2. 3 3 Sam Hibbs, Sr 15:53 5:07 Hatboro-Horsham
3. 1 Norris, Max 13 Harriton 16:24.34 1
4. 1 1 Conner Quinn, Jr 15:47 5:05 Hatboro-Horsham
5. 1 1 Ned Willig Sr Great Valley 15:58 5:09
6. 4 4 Jack Macauley, Jr 15:58 5:09 North Penn High Schoo
7. 1 1 Brett Kelly, Sr 16:06 5:12 Boyertown
8. Zach Israel HGP 15:48
9. 5 5 Connor Harriman, Jr 16:00 5:10 Pennsbury, Boys
10. Tony Russell
11. 9 9 Francis Ferruzzi, Jr 16:21 5:16 Upper Dublin
12. Sam Haugh So West Chester Henderson 16:17
13. 7 7 Dan Davis, Sr 16:10 5:13 NorthHigh
14. Mac Emery
15. Charlie Grab
16. 2 Downs, Peter 12 Harriton 16:24.74 2
17. Chris Trimble
18. 11 11 Alex Kane, Sr 16:25 5:18 Cb East - M
19. 3 Huemmler, Jack 13 Strath Haven 16:36.19
20. 2 2 Ian Yanusko, Jr 16:26 5:18 Pottsgrove
21. 3 3 Matt Willig So Great Valley 16:33 5:20
22. 16 16 Kenny Leidal Jr Downingtown West 16:53 5:26
23. Ryan Horgan
24. 5 5 Joe O'Such, Sr 16:45 5:24 Spring-Ford
25. 10 10 Ross Wilson, So 16:23 5:17 Council Rock
26. 4 4 Aj Chaborek Jr West Chester Henderson 16:35 5:21
27. 12 12 Connor Linse, Jr 16:31 5:20 Souderton Men
28. 20 20 Sam Webb, Fr 16:52 5:26 Pennsbury,
29. 6 6 Garrett Zatlin So Great Valley 16:38 5:22
30. 8 8 Mike Salach Sr West Chester Henderson 16:45 5:24
31. 4 Smart, Anthony 13 Garnet Valley 16:39.88 4
32. 5 Smart, Nick 14 Garnet Valley 16:40.35
33. 7 Miller, Pat 12 Penncrest 16:43.05 7 34. 15 15 James Zingarini, Jr 16:38 5:22 Council Rock
35. 13 13 Chris Berry, Jr 16:35 5:21 Cbwest-M
36. 14 14 Alex Predhome, Sr 16:37 5:21 Cbwest-M
37. 21 21 Sam Brooks, Sr 16:54 5:27 Wissahickon
38. 24 24 Alec Brand, Jr 16:56 5:28 Cb East - M
39. 5 5 Joey Steadman Jr Downingtown West 16:36 5:21
40. 4 4 Chris Mullin, Sr 16:44 5:24 Phoenixville
41. Christian Kardish HGP 16:27
42. 8 Kays, Jon 12 Haverford 16:44.17 8
43. 26 26 Steve Williamson, So 16:59 5:29 Upper Dublin
44. 17 17 Matt Molloy, So 16:42 5:23 North Penn High Schoo
45. 6 6 Sean Hodgins, Jr 16:49 5:25 Perkiomen Valley
46. 6 Mogavero, Jeff 12 Haverford 16:41.07 6
47. 7 7 Jesse Magolon, Sr 16:54 5:27 Spring-Ford
48. 16 16 Stephen Chappell, Sr 16:41 5:23 Cb South-M
49. 3 3 Avery Scripture, Jr 16:28 5:18 Upper Perkiomen
50. 17 17 Jack McDonald Sr West Chester East 16:58 5:28
51. 7 7 Seamus Collins So West Chester Henderson 16:43 5:23
52. 10 10 Billy Wolffe Jr Great Valley 16:49 5:25
53. 15 15 Steve Yannacone Jr Unionville 16:52 5:26
54. 27 27 Brad Rivera, Jr 17:00 5:29 Bensalem Hs
55. 22 22 Joe Logue, So 16:55 5:27 Pennridge Boys
56. 23 23 Ryan Grace, So 16:55 5:27 North Penn High Schoo
57. 18 18 Kyle Francis, So 16:45 5:24 Bensalem Hs
58. 19 19 John Simila, Sr 16:47 5:25 William Tennent
59. 9 O'Donnell, Brian 12 Garnet Valley 16:44.95 9 60. Vincent Flood
State Qualifiers
This will be a running list of guys who off the top of my head I think will qualify for states, I will post updated ones after races are completed as to has actually qualified. They will helpfully be in sync with the previews that I post. Obviously my predictions do not account for every single qualifying spot so I do think other guys beyond the ones I post will make it through, however, I can not say them with complete confidence so I have left them off the lists. Only the teams/individuals with numbers before them have a projected finishing place. The other names I just have making states although I have not listed where exactly I predict they will finish in the race.
Already Qualified
D8: Allerdice, Lapp, Weirzchowski, Bruce
D3: Anville Celona, Lancaster Mennonite
3 Xavier Sauvageau, Jr 4:58 10:30 17:02 5:29 Littlestown
5 4 John Clark, Sr 5:08 10:53 17:25 5:37 Boiling Springs
6 5 Jonathan Goodson, So 5:09 10:54 17:26 5:37 Boiling Springs
7 6 Nick Poole, Jr 5:03 10:54 17:29 5:38 Delone Catholic
8 Brady Wilt, Fr 5:03 10:54 17:31 5:39 Biglerville
10 8 Sam Bohn, Sr 5:09 10:53 17:38 5:41 Boiling Springs
11 9 David Welsh, So 5:18 11:07 17:39 5:41 Kutztown
12 10 Connor Mertz, So 5:09 11:00 17:41 5:42 Kutztown
13 11 Ben Grove, Sr 11:05 17:42 5:42 Boiling Springs
14 12 James Vadas, Sr 5:11 10:59 17:46 5:44 York Catholic
15 13 Kyle Shinn, Fr 5:08 11:06 17:47 5:44 Wyomissing Area
Chambersburg, Governor Mifflin, Cumberland Valley, Red Lion, Lower Dauphin
2 2 Ryan Hertzog, Jr 4:57 10:23 16:34 5:21 South Western
3 3 John Felts, Sr 4:56 10:22 16:36 5:21 Red Land
5 5 Vinny Todaro, Jr 4:54 10:26 16:37 5:21 Big Spring
6 6 Connor Strynkowski, Sr 4:52 10:25 16:38 5:22 Palmyra
8 8 Luke Miller, Sr 4:56 10:31 16:39 5:22 Daniel Boone
10 10 John Ausel, Sr 4:55 10:25 16:41 5:23 Solanco
11 11 Adam Katora, Sr 4:54 10:26 16:45 5:24 Dallastown Area
12 12 Harrison Schettler, Jr 4:58 10:24 16:53 5:27 Penn Manor
13 Kyle Klaboe, Sr 5:14 10:42 16:55 5:27 Central Dauphin East
14 13 Corbin Padgett, Jr 5:08 10:36 16:57 5:28 Carlisle
18 17 Tyler Sensenig, Sr 5:04 10:44 17:05 5:30 Ephrata
19 18 Liam Corcoran, Jr 4:57 10:30 17:05 5:31 James Buchanan
20 19 Nate Kreider, Sr 4:53 10:35 17:06 5:31 Elizabethtown
21 20 Joey Warner, Sr 5:05 10:39 17:07 5:31 Manheim Township
22 21 Nathan Repetz, Jr 5:10 10:49 17:07 5:31 Cedar Cliff
23 22 Bryce Ebersole, Sr 5:04 10:45 17:07 5:31 Cedar Crest
24 23 Ben Mueller, Jr 5:05 10:39 17:08 5:31 Warwick
25 Kevin Chambers, Sr 10:43 17:08 5:32 West York Area
26 24 Jordan Crawford, Jr 5:05 10:45 17:09 5:32 Cedar Cliff
27 25 Connor Zimmerman, Jr 5:00 10:33 17:09 5:32 Manheim Township
28 26 Nate Hamilton, Jr 5:06 10:46 17:11 5:32 Hershey
29 27 Jonathan Bitner, Jr 10:58 17:13 5:33 Penn Manor
32 30 Matthew Sankey, Jr 5:03 10:49 17:18 5:35 Daniel Boone
35 33 David Peterson, Sr 5:06 10:48 17:20 5:35 Conrad Weiser
37 35 Daniel Neiswender, So 5:02 10:47 17:21 5:36 Cedar Crest
D2: Dallas
3 1 1 Sean Burke, Sr 5:08 16:35 5:21 Abington Heights
698 2 2 Aaron Wilkinson, Sr 5:09 16:45 5:24 Valley View
661 4 4 Jake Siegel, Sr 5:06 17:02 5:29 Tunkhannock Area
608 6 6 Mike Brier, Jr 5:12 17:21 5:36 Scranton Prep
261 8 8 Jacob Fetterman, Jr 5:13 17:23 5:36 Hazleton Area
Holy Reedemer, Blue Ridge
208 1 1 Luke Jones, Jr 5:02 16:45 5:24 Elk Lake
290 2 2 Rico Galassi, Jr 5:01 17:05 5:31 Holy Cross
394 7 7 Jacob Bevan, Sr 5:18 18:01 5:49 Lake-Lehman
173 8 8 Brandon Murray, Jr 5:24 18:07 5:50 Dunmore
281 11 11 Antonio Hastie, Sr 5:29 18:12 5:52 Holy Cross
169 12 12 Todd Davenport, Sr 5:24 18:12 5:52 Dunmore
432 13 13 Mike Petcavage, So 18:14 5:53 Mid Valley
400 14 14 Kieran Sutton, Jr 5:17 18:16 5:53 Lake-Lehman
416 15 15 Mark Arzie, Fr 5:25 18:21 5:55 Lakeland
426 17 17 Jason Sansky, Sr 5:39 18:22 5:55 Mid Valley
411 19 19 Paul Szustakowski, Sr 5:44 18:34 5:59 Lakeland
D11: Parkland, Nazareth
1 1 Cole Campbell, Sr 5:22 17:00 5:29 Emmaus
2 2 Nathaniel Palmer, Sr 5:22 17:04 5:30 Freedom
4 4 Jaryd Flank, Jr 5:22 17:07 5:31 Wilson Area
5 5 Colin Abert, Fr 5:25 17:12 5:33 Easton Area
6 6 Alec Lederer, Jr 5:23 17:19 5:35 Northampton
7 7 Jason Graybill, Sr 5:26 17:21 5:36 Emmaus
8 8 Mark Pfaeffle, Sr 5:28 17:23 5:36 Stroudsburg
10 10 Tyler Laubach, Sr 5:22 17:24 5:37 Northampton
11 11 Wade White, Jr 5:26 17:33 5:39 Bangor
12 12 Matt Koch, Jr 5:24 17:36 5:40 Stroudsburg
Notre Dame Green Pond, Allentown CC
1 1 Brendan Shearn, 3 5:03 16:33 5:20 North Schuylkill
2 2 Tyler Stelmack, 3 5:08 17:02 5:29 Northwestern Lehigh 2
3 3 Brett Gubitosi, 4 5:19 17:34 5:40 Notre Dame (East Stro
4 4 Kyle Gonoude, 1 5:27 17:40 5:42 Salisbury Township
5 5 Doug Wells, 4 5:23 17:41 5:42 Mahanoy Area
7 7 Tony Brinkley, 3 5:28 17:55 5:47 Catasauqua
8 8 Kyler Burke, 4 5:27 17:56 5:47 Pine Grove Area
10 10 John Donchez, 2 5:34 18:00 5:48 Bethlehem Catholic
14 14 Joey Duffy, 3 5:40 18:24 5:56 Northwestern Lehigh 2
16 16 Garrett Collins, 3 5:37 18:28 5:57 Salisbury Township
17 17 Jameson Packer, 4 5:36 18:29 5:58 Saucon Valley
Predicted Qualifiers
D2: AAA- 1. Dallas, AA- 1. Holy Reedmer, 2. Holy Cross
AAA- 1. Burke, 2. Wilkinson, Robinson, Siegel, AA- 1. Jones
D3: AAA- 1. Chambersburg, 2. Lower Dauphin, 3. Manheim Township, 4. Governor Mifflin, 5. Cumberland Valley, AA- 1. Anville Celona, 2. Oley Valley
AAA- 1. Connor Strynkowski, 2. Felts, 3. Katora, Ausel, Kreider, Croft, Todaro AA- 1. Schatz
D4: AA- 1. Canton 2. Sullivan County, AA- 1. Jewett, 2. Williams
AAA- 1. Shamokin
D11: AA- 1. Notre Dame HS Green P 2. Northwestern Lehigh, 1. Shearn 2. Regan
AAA- 1. Nazareth 2. Parkland, 1. Palmer, 2. Pfaelffle 3. Campbell 4. Laubach
D7: AAA- 1. Mt. Lebanon 2. North Allegheny 3. Kiski Area 4. Pitt Central Catholic, 4. Kennedy, 5. Kutcha, Wakeley, Kelly, Boccabella, Faye, Urso, Martin, Baily
AA- 1. Quaker Valley, Bagamery
D1: AAA- 1. Henderson 2. North Penn 3. Great Valley 4. CR North 5. Holy Ghost Prep, 1. Magaha 2. Hibbs
D12: AAA- 1. O'Hara 2. LaSalle, Glatts, Muldoon, Flanagan
D6: AAA- 1. Altoona, Monroe
D10: AA- 1. North East, 2. West Middlesex, 3. General McClane, 2. Johnston 3. Tallada AAA- 1. Grove City, 2. Pondel
Already Qualified
D8: Allerdice, Lapp, Weirzchowski, Bruce
D3: Anville Celona, Lancaster Mennonite
3 Xavier Sauvageau, Jr 4:58 10:30 17:02 5:29 Littlestown
5 4 John Clark, Sr 5:08 10:53 17:25 5:37 Boiling Springs
6 5 Jonathan Goodson, So 5:09 10:54 17:26 5:37 Boiling Springs
7 6 Nick Poole, Jr 5:03 10:54 17:29 5:38 Delone Catholic
8 Brady Wilt, Fr 5:03 10:54 17:31 5:39 Biglerville
10 8 Sam Bohn, Sr 5:09 10:53 17:38 5:41 Boiling Springs
11 9 David Welsh, So 5:18 11:07 17:39 5:41 Kutztown
12 10 Connor Mertz, So 5:09 11:00 17:41 5:42 Kutztown
13 11 Ben Grove, Sr 11:05 17:42 5:42 Boiling Springs
14 12 James Vadas, Sr 5:11 10:59 17:46 5:44 York Catholic
15 13 Kyle Shinn, Fr 5:08 11:06 17:47 5:44 Wyomissing Area
Chambersburg, Governor Mifflin, Cumberland Valley, Red Lion, Lower Dauphin
2 2 Ryan Hertzog, Jr 4:57 10:23 16:34 5:21 South Western
3 3 John Felts, Sr 4:56 10:22 16:36 5:21 Red Land
5 5 Vinny Todaro, Jr 4:54 10:26 16:37 5:21 Big Spring
6 6 Connor Strynkowski, Sr 4:52 10:25 16:38 5:22 Palmyra
8 8 Luke Miller, Sr 4:56 10:31 16:39 5:22 Daniel Boone
10 10 John Ausel, Sr 4:55 10:25 16:41 5:23 Solanco
11 11 Adam Katora, Sr 4:54 10:26 16:45 5:24 Dallastown Area
12 12 Harrison Schettler, Jr 4:58 10:24 16:53 5:27 Penn Manor
13 Kyle Klaboe, Sr 5:14 10:42 16:55 5:27 Central Dauphin East
14 13 Corbin Padgett, Jr 5:08 10:36 16:57 5:28 Carlisle
18 17 Tyler Sensenig, Sr 5:04 10:44 17:05 5:30 Ephrata
19 18 Liam Corcoran, Jr 4:57 10:30 17:05 5:31 James Buchanan
20 19 Nate Kreider, Sr 4:53 10:35 17:06 5:31 Elizabethtown
21 20 Joey Warner, Sr 5:05 10:39 17:07 5:31 Manheim Township
22 21 Nathan Repetz, Jr 5:10 10:49 17:07 5:31 Cedar Cliff
23 22 Bryce Ebersole, Sr 5:04 10:45 17:07 5:31 Cedar Crest
24 23 Ben Mueller, Jr 5:05 10:39 17:08 5:31 Warwick
25 Kevin Chambers, Sr 10:43 17:08 5:32 West York Area
26 24 Jordan Crawford, Jr 5:05 10:45 17:09 5:32 Cedar Cliff
27 25 Connor Zimmerman, Jr 5:00 10:33 17:09 5:32 Manheim Township
28 26 Nate Hamilton, Jr 5:06 10:46 17:11 5:32 Hershey
29 27 Jonathan Bitner, Jr 10:58 17:13 5:33 Penn Manor
32 30 Matthew Sankey, Jr 5:03 10:49 17:18 5:35 Daniel Boone
35 33 David Peterson, Sr 5:06 10:48 17:20 5:35 Conrad Weiser
37 35 Daniel Neiswender, So 5:02 10:47 17:21 5:36 Cedar Crest
D2: Dallas
3 1 1 Sean Burke, Sr 5:08 16:35 5:21 Abington Heights
698 2 2 Aaron Wilkinson, Sr 5:09 16:45 5:24 Valley View
661 4 4 Jake Siegel, Sr 5:06 17:02 5:29 Tunkhannock Area
608 6 6 Mike Brier, Jr 5:12 17:21 5:36 Scranton Prep
261 8 8 Jacob Fetterman, Jr 5:13 17:23 5:36 Hazleton Area
Holy Reedemer, Blue Ridge
208 1 1 Luke Jones, Jr 5:02 16:45 5:24 Elk Lake
290 2 2 Rico Galassi, Jr 5:01 17:05 5:31 Holy Cross
394 7 7 Jacob Bevan, Sr 5:18 18:01 5:49 Lake-Lehman
173 8 8 Brandon Murray, Jr 5:24 18:07 5:50 Dunmore
281 11 11 Antonio Hastie, Sr 5:29 18:12 5:52 Holy Cross
169 12 12 Todd Davenport, Sr 5:24 18:12 5:52 Dunmore
432 13 13 Mike Petcavage, So 18:14 5:53 Mid Valley
400 14 14 Kieran Sutton, Jr 5:17 18:16 5:53 Lake-Lehman
416 15 15 Mark Arzie, Fr 5:25 18:21 5:55 Lakeland
426 17 17 Jason Sansky, Sr 5:39 18:22 5:55 Mid Valley
411 19 19 Paul Szustakowski, Sr 5:44 18:34 5:59 Lakeland
D11: Parkland, Nazareth
1 1 Cole Campbell, Sr 5:22 17:00 5:29 Emmaus
2 2 Nathaniel Palmer, Sr 5:22 17:04 5:30 Freedom
4 4 Jaryd Flank, Jr 5:22 17:07 5:31 Wilson Area
5 5 Colin Abert, Fr 5:25 17:12 5:33 Easton Area
6 6 Alec Lederer, Jr 5:23 17:19 5:35 Northampton
7 7 Jason Graybill, Sr 5:26 17:21 5:36 Emmaus
8 8 Mark Pfaeffle, Sr 5:28 17:23 5:36 Stroudsburg
10 10 Tyler Laubach, Sr 5:22 17:24 5:37 Northampton
11 11 Wade White, Jr 5:26 17:33 5:39 Bangor
12 12 Matt Koch, Jr 5:24 17:36 5:40 Stroudsburg
Notre Dame Green Pond, Allentown CC
1 1 Brendan Shearn, 3 5:03 16:33 5:20 North Schuylkill
2 2 Tyler Stelmack, 3 5:08 17:02 5:29 Northwestern Lehigh 2
3 3 Brett Gubitosi, 4 5:19 17:34 5:40 Notre Dame (East Stro
4 4 Kyle Gonoude, 1 5:27 17:40 5:42 Salisbury Township
5 5 Doug Wells, 4 5:23 17:41 5:42 Mahanoy Area
7 7 Tony Brinkley, 3 5:28 17:55 5:47 Catasauqua
8 8 Kyler Burke, 4 5:27 17:56 5:47 Pine Grove Area
10 10 John Donchez, 2 5:34 18:00 5:48 Bethlehem Catholic
14 14 Joey Duffy, 3 5:40 18:24 5:56 Northwestern Lehigh 2
16 16 Garrett Collins, 3 5:37 18:28 5:57 Salisbury Township
17 17 Jameson Packer, 4 5:36 18:29 5:58 Saucon Valley
Predicted Qualifiers
D2: AAA- 1. Dallas, AA- 1. Holy Reedmer, 2. Holy Cross
AAA- 1. Burke, 2. Wilkinson, Robinson, Siegel, AA- 1. Jones
D3: AAA- 1. Chambersburg, 2. Lower Dauphin, 3. Manheim Township, 4. Governor Mifflin, 5. Cumberland Valley, AA- 1. Anville Celona, 2. Oley Valley
AAA- 1. Connor Strynkowski, 2. Felts, 3. Katora, Ausel, Kreider, Croft, Todaro AA- 1. Schatz
D4: AA- 1. Canton 2. Sullivan County, AA- 1. Jewett, 2. Williams
AAA- 1. Shamokin
D11: AA- 1. Notre Dame HS Green P 2. Northwestern Lehigh, 1. Shearn 2. Regan
AAA- 1. Nazareth 2. Parkland, 1. Palmer, 2. Pfaelffle 3. Campbell 4. Laubach
D7: AAA- 1. Mt. Lebanon 2. North Allegheny 3. Kiski Area 4. Pitt Central Catholic, 4. Kennedy, 5. Kutcha, Wakeley, Kelly, Boccabella, Faye, Urso, Martin, Baily
AA- 1. Quaker Valley, Bagamery
D1: AAA- 1. Henderson 2. North Penn 3. Great Valley 4. CR North 5. Holy Ghost Prep, 1. Magaha 2. Hibbs
D12: AAA- 1. O'Hara 2. LaSalle, Glatts, Muldoon, Flanagan
D6: AAA- 1. Altoona, Monroe
D10: AA- 1. North East, 2. West Middlesex, 3. General McClane, 2. Johnston 3. Tallada AAA- 1. Grove City, 2. Pondel
District Previews
District 8 Championships 10/22
AAA: Ean DiSilvio and Allerdice are the defending champions at this meet, and coming off a breakout season thus far in 2010, DiSilvio looks to lead his team back to states and defend his title. Rarely ever has District 8 had a huge impact on the state's scene, but this year DiSilvio and his teammates look to change that. Senior Barrett Adams and Sophomore Nathan Meyers are two other top returners. Allerdice returns their entire 6 varsity runners from last year's state meet where they finished 21st.
Distrct 2 Championships 10/26
AAA: Reece Ayers, the District 2 superstar, has finally graduated, opening the door for a new competitor to take the gold. Ayers' departure from Tunkhannock has really hit the team hard this season. The defending champions have struggled, and it looks like Dallas is ready to overrun them and seize the title this season. Deluca beat Robinson and Seigel at their league championships. Dallas was 2nd last year and returns 3 of their top 5. Meanwhile, individually, Sean Burke and Aaron Wilkinson have snuck their way into the top 25 of the ET rankings and are both poised to take their first District Championship. Wilkinson is the top returner and ran to an 18th place finish at last years state championship. He is often under the radar and has mixed it up with some of the top runners throughout the season including the Paul Short Invitational. Burke has also been to the big meets and has shown a lot of potential for a breakout performance at this meet. Burke was 31 seconds back from Wilkinson a year ago, this year things should be much tighter.
AA: Luke Jones won the championship a year ago as a sophomore over the eventual AA runner up AJ Lomongelli. Jones returns with a very solid set of performances under his belt which have earned him a top 10 ET ranking on the AA side. Jones, now a Junior leads a group of underclassmen who are seeking the individual crown, the top 5 returners from last year's meet are all Juniors this season. Holy Redeemer, always a team to watch, is the defending champions, and although they only return 4 of last year's 7, and 2 of last year's 5, the team still looks poised to return to the state championships. Holy Cross returns a lot from last years 3rd place finish, including a host of talent seniors, but Elk Lake has historically been a power house and surely will not fold easily at this championship meet, especially if Jones brings home a second straight gold out front.
District 3 Championships 10/26
AAA: The top 9 runners from a season ago have graduated, leaving the race wide open for a new face to make a name for himself. That new face looks to be Connor Strynkowski at this point in the season, after a terrific track season last spring, a hot streak of solid races in the past month, including a great run at Gettysburg and a win at Mid Penns. The other top guys from Mid Penns, John Felts, Jeff Groh, and Cole Nissley will also be in the mix for the title at Hershey. Groh and Nissley, both sophomores, have looked much sharper as of late and are starting to show some of the potential they did last season. John Ausel has to be a sleeper in the race, he's the top returner from a year ago. In addition, Adam Katora should not be left out of the Gold medal conversation after a very successful XC season thus far. Evan Williams, Alec Kunzweiler, and Nate Kreider all have also made a splash on the rankings this season, and will be names to remember on race day. In the team battle, it will be another close battle. Hempfield surprised a year ago, but this year the race seems to be between Chambersburg, Lower Dauphin and Governor Mifflin. Lower Dauphin with two strong front runners, Chambersburg and Governor Mifflin with talent packs of runners. Cumberland Valley is also always in the conversation as a team to make states and last year's 5th place finishers Manheim Township also look like they should be heading back to the big dance in November.
AA: The District 3 Champion has went on to win states for 4 straight years now and they look to hold this streak again in 2011. Out front Gruschow and Noll have graduated leaving a race between the talent Anville Celona juniors and Lancaster Mennonite's Jared Schatz. Schatz had a great run at the Lebanon Lancaster League championships and looks poised to ride that momentum into the district championships and take down the gold. The boys from Anville will be racing for more than just individual glory, as they are the defending district champions scoring just 34 points a year ago. They are the favorites this season to defend their title with possible surprises coming from Oley Valley to try and snag the second spot to states.
District 11 Championships 10/27
AA: Brendan Shearn is the name to watch as he is a huge favorite over the rest of the field. He starts his quest to be AA state champ.
AAA: Nate Palmer won his league meet which has to give him confidence going into this race. The Nazareth boys are also feeling good off their championship. As the defending champs Nazareth has to be the favorite to win again this season, but just like last year it should be tight for the first 2 spots to states. Cole Campbell, Tyler Laubach and others will also mix it up for the title in a relatively open field, especially compared to the AA side.
District 12 Championships 10/27
AAA: O'Hara and their squad look to continue their undefeated season and defend their District title, fresh off their convincing PCL win less than a week ago. To turn in two tough efforts on the Belmont course so close to each other will be a challenge, but hopefully one that doesn't take too much out of the legs of these competitors by states. O'Hara should be able to win comfortably, but out front Coyle and Savage should rematch once again in another tight race. LaSalle hopes to take the second team spot, but Chris Muldoon and his squad will also challenge for a trip to states.
District 4 Championships 10/27
AA: Curt Jewett and Sam Williams lead the defending champs Northeast Bradford in a quest to return to states both as individuals and as a team. Jewett is the top returner and has beat Williams at most races this season, but Williams has beat Jewett on the Hershey course their last two meetings. May not be a factor for this District race, but is something to consider come states.
District 7 Championships 10/27
See Gigagantor
AA: LJ Westwood and Nat Fox will look to lead Quaker Valley back to states. Quaker Valley flat out dominated the race a year ago, and has just about all their pieces back to do it again. Westwood is the defending champion, but his shaky midseason results may leave room for upset from Bagamery or Fox.
District 1 Championships 10/28
(Coming Soon)
District 10 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 6 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 9 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
AAA: Ean DiSilvio and Allerdice are the defending champions at this meet, and coming off a breakout season thus far in 2010, DiSilvio looks to lead his team back to states and defend his title. Rarely ever has District 8 had a huge impact on the state's scene, but this year DiSilvio and his teammates look to change that. Senior Barrett Adams and Sophomore Nathan Meyers are two other top returners. Allerdice returns their entire 6 varsity runners from last year's state meet where they finished 21st.
Distrct 2 Championships 10/26
AAA: Reece Ayers, the District 2 superstar, has finally graduated, opening the door for a new competitor to take the gold. Ayers' departure from Tunkhannock has really hit the team hard this season. The defending champions have struggled, and it looks like Dallas is ready to overrun them and seize the title this season. Deluca beat Robinson and Seigel at their league championships. Dallas was 2nd last year and returns 3 of their top 5. Meanwhile, individually, Sean Burke and Aaron Wilkinson have snuck their way into the top 25 of the ET rankings and are both poised to take their first District Championship. Wilkinson is the top returner and ran to an 18th place finish at last years state championship. He is often under the radar and has mixed it up with some of the top runners throughout the season including the Paul Short Invitational. Burke has also been to the big meets and has shown a lot of potential for a breakout performance at this meet. Burke was 31 seconds back from Wilkinson a year ago, this year things should be much tighter.
AA: Luke Jones won the championship a year ago as a sophomore over the eventual AA runner up AJ Lomongelli. Jones returns with a very solid set of performances under his belt which have earned him a top 10 ET ranking on the AA side. Jones, now a Junior leads a group of underclassmen who are seeking the individual crown, the top 5 returners from last year's meet are all Juniors this season. Holy Redeemer, always a team to watch, is the defending champions, and although they only return 4 of last year's 7, and 2 of last year's 5, the team still looks poised to return to the state championships. Holy Cross returns a lot from last years 3rd place finish, including a host of talent seniors, but Elk Lake has historically been a power house and surely will not fold easily at this championship meet, especially if Jones brings home a second straight gold out front.
District 3 Championships 10/26
AAA: The top 9 runners from a season ago have graduated, leaving the race wide open for a new face to make a name for himself. That new face looks to be Connor Strynkowski at this point in the season, after a terrific track season last spring, a hot streak of solid races in the past month, including a great run at Gettysburg and a win at Mid Penns. The other top guys from Mid Penns, John Felts, Jeff Groh, and Cole Nissley will also be in the mix for the title at Hershey. Groh and Nissley, both sophomores, have looked much sharper as of late and are starting to show some of the potential they did last season. John Ausel has to be a sleeper in the race, he's the top returner from a year ago. In addition, Adam Katora should not be left out of the Gold medal conversation after a very successful XC season thus far. Evan Williams, Alec Kunzweiler, and Nate Kreider all have also made a splash on the rankings this season, and will be names to remember on race day. In the team battle, it will be another close battle. Hempfield surprised a year ago, but this year the race seems to be between Chambersburg, Lower Dauphin and Governor Mifflin. Lower Dauphin with two strong front runners, Chambersburg and Governor Mifflin with talent packs of runners. Cumberland Valley is also always in the conversation as a team to make states and last year's 5th place finishers Manheim Township also look like they should be heading back to the big dance in November.
AA: The District 3 Champion has went on to win states for 4 straight years now and they look to hold this streak again in 2011. Out front Gruschow and Noll have graduated leaving a race between the talent Anville Celona juniors and Lancaster Mennonite's Jared Schatz. Schatz had a great run at the Lebanon Lancaster League championships and looks poised to ride that momentum into the district championships and take down the gold. The boys from Anville will be racing for more than just individual glory, as they are the defending district champions scoring just 34 points a year ago. They are the favorites this season to defend their title with possible surprises coming from Oley Valley to try and snag the second spot to states.
District 11 Championships 10/27
AA: Brendan Shearn is the name to watch as he is a huge favorite over the rest of the field. He starts his quest to be AA state champ.
AAA: Nate Palmer won his league meet which has to give him confidence going into this race. The Nazareth boys are also feeling good off their championship. As the defending champs Nazareth has to be the favorite to win again this season, but just like last year it should be tight for the first 2 spots to states. Cole Campbell, Tyler Laubach and others will also mix it up for the title in a relatively open field, especially compared to the AA side.
District 12 Championships 10/27
AAA: O'Hara and their squad look to continue their undefeated season and defend their District title, fresh off their convincing PCL win less than a week ago. To turn in two tough efforts on the Belmont course so close to each other will be a challenge, but hopefully one that doesn't take too much out of the legs of these competitors by states. O'Hara should be able to win comfortably, but out front Coyle and Savage should rematch once again in another tight race. LaSalle hopes to take the second team spot, but Chris Muldoon and his squad will also challenge for a trip to states.
District 4 Championships 10/27
AA: Curt Jewett and Sam Williams lead the defending champs Northeast Bradford in a quest to return to states both as individuals and as a team. Jewett is the top returner and has beat Williams at most races this season, but Williams has beat Jewett on the Hershey course their last two meetings. May not be a factor for this District race, but is something to consider come states.
District 7 Championships 10/27
See Gigagantor
AA: LJ Westwood and Nat Fox will look to lead Quaker Valley back to states. Quaker Valley flat out dominated the race a year ago, and has just about all their pieces back to do it again. Westwood is the defending champion, but his shaky midseason results may leave room for upset from Bagamery or Fox.
District 1 Championships 10/28
(Coming Soon)
District 10 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 6 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 9 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
Top Team Rankings
1. O'Hara
At this point all I can say is Duh. They have to choke to lose at states.
2. Mt. Lebanon
Very nice step in the right direction, great pack running (perhaps saving a little bit for the big meet next weekend), Moran may not be a state title contender at this point, but he is still a great #1, and the pack made a big statement at TSTCA
3. North Allegheny
I have a lot of confidence is this program, they look to be on the rise after a great day at TSTCA especially for Steiner who got a huge win and looks to really be rounding into shape. Unfortunately I just don't see how they can beat Lebo at this stage. Appman can definitely run a bit faster, maybe Bojarski too, but Lebo has the same kind of ifs and buts.
4. WCHenderson
Showed a bit of weakness, Barchet won't be back, Russell was out, Grab didn't run too well. Not a problem against Great Valley, probably won't be a problem against the rest of the D1 teams, but hey, if those problems linger with a young team at the big dance, there will be trouble. On the bright side they still had 5 guys run very well even though half of them no one has ever heard of.
5. North Penn
I could see them taking Districts. Don't think they will, but I could see it. Obviously I've been on their bandwagon for so long that most of my readers are sick of hearing about it, but I think the program works. Trimble looked great at Suburbans and I've always been a Jack MacCauley fan. I think he will be top 5 at districts.
6. Great Valley
Gosh, its tough to put them this high, but they gave Henderson a bit of a run for their money, the Willigs look like they are rounding into shape at the right time, some other runners like Zatlin have made solid improvements, and Lehigh, in theory, favors their strength which means they could surprise some people. Also the other teams around them just weren't doing it for me this weekend.
7. LaSalle
I like Coyle, I like the program, but the pack was just too far back at PCLs, Muldoon and company almost surprised them at the finish. I liked better what I saw at Manhattan, but obviously you can never count this team out.
8. CR North
Continued to do what was expected, well done kids, not much more that I can say.
9. Kiski Area
Without Lednak they looked much, much worse. With him they would have been third almost without a doubt. If he's healthy, this team will make noise this weekend, if not their 4-5 will kill them.
10. Holy Ghost Prep
Yes I am trying to not be biased toward District One but I honestly think these guys look good. Israel out front looks like the real deal, Horgan is no slouch, and Lehigh is usually kind to this squad.
Others worth mentioning:
Chambersburg, Lower Dauphin, Governor Mifflin, Altoona, Central Catholic, Pennsbury, Quaker Valley
At this point all I can say is Duh. They have to choke to lose at states.
2. Mt. Lebanon
Very nice step in the right direction, great pack running (perhaps saving a little bit for the big meet next weekend), Moran may not be a state title contender at this point, but he is still a great #1, and the pack made a big statement at TSTCA
3. North Allegheny
I have a lot of confidence is this program, they look to be on the rise after a great day at TSTCA especially for Steiner who got a huge win and looks to really be rounding into shape. Unfortunately I just don't see how they can beat Lebo at this stage. Appman can definitely run a bit faster, maybe Bojarski too, but Lebo has the same kind of ifs and buts.
4. WCHenderson
Showed a bit of weakness, Barchet won't be back, Russell was out, Grab didn't run too well. Not a problem against Great Valley, probably won't be a problem against the rest of the D1 teams, but hey, if those problems linger with a young team at the big dance, there will be trouble. On the bright side they still had 5 guys run very well even though half of them no one has ever heard of.
5. North Penn
I could see them taking Districts. Don't think they will, but I could see it. Obviously I've been on their bandwagon for so long that most of my readers are sick of hearing about it, but I think the program works. Trimble looked great at Suburbans and I've always been a Jack MacCauley fan. I think he will be top 5 at districts.
6. Great Valley
Gosh, its tough to put them this high, but they gave Henderson a bit of a run for their money, the Willigs look like they are rounding into shape at the right time, some other runners like Zatlin have made solid improvements, and Lehigh, in theory, favors their strength which means they could surprise some people. Also the other teams around them just weren't doing it for me this weekend.
7. LaSalle
I like Coyle, I like the program, but the pack was just too far back at PCLs, Muldoon and company almost surprised them at the finish. I liked better what I saw at Manhattan, but obviously you can never count this team out.
8. CR North
Continued to do what was expected, well done kids, not much more that I can say.
9. Kiski Area
Without Lednak they looked much, much worse. With him they would have been third almost without a doubt. If he's healthy, this team will make noise this weekend, if not their 4-5 will kill them.
10. Holy Ghost Prep
Yes I am trying to not be biased toward District One but I honestly think these guys look good. Israel out front looks like the real deal, Horgan is no slouch, and Lehigh is usually kind to this squad.
Others worth mentioning:
Chambersburg, Lower Dauphin, Governor Mifflin, Altoona, Central Catholic, Pennsbury, Quaker Valley
XC Rankings 10/23
Tough to get this list down to just 50 guys, a lot of great performances from this past week/weekend but only 50 spots I can give out. If you're name isn't on this list it doesn't mean I don't know who you are, or that I don't think you are a potential top 50 guy at states, it just means I had to make a choice and I picked somebody else off gut instinct. A lot of guys I really like to make great strides in the coming weeks, but only time will tell. Here's what I got:
1. Dustin Wilson
2. Drew Magaha
3. Logan Steiner
4. Dan Jaskowak
5. Sam Hibbs
6. Bredan Shearn
7. Conner Quinn
8. Max Norris
9. Dylan Mountain
10. Aaron Wilkinson
11. Alex Moran
12. Brent Kennedy
13. Connor Strynkowski
14. Mike Runco
15. Ned Willig
16. Barrett Kemp
17. Tom Coyle
18. Sean Burke
19. Korey Replogle
20. Jack MacCauley
21. Dan Savage
22. Curt Jewett
23. Connor Harriman
24. Sam Williams
25. Andrew Kutcha
26. Ryan Smathers
27. Luke Jones
28. Ean DiSilivio
29. Brett Kelly
30. Zach Israel
31. Mac Emery
32. Dan Davis
33. Luke Schott
34. LJ Westwood
35. Sam Haugh
36. Francis Ferruzzi
37. Ethan Martin
38. Caleb Wakeley
39. Jeff Groh
40. Chris Trimble
41. Adam Katora
42. John Felts
43. Jack Huemmler
44. Jared Schatz
45. Tony Russell
46. Charlie Grab
47. Mike Billotta
48. Harrison Schettler
49. Pete Downs
50. Chris Pastore
1. Dustin Wilson
2. Drew Magaha
3. Logan Steiner
4. Dan Jaskowak
5. Sam Hibbs
6. Bredan Shearn
7. Conner Quinn
8. Max Norris
9. Dylan Mountain
10. Aaron Wilkinson
11. Alex Moran
12. Brent Kennedy
13. Connor Strynkowski
14. Mike Runco
15. Ned Willig
16. Barrett Kemp
17. Tom Coyle
18. Sean Burke
19. Korey Replogle
20. Jack MacCauley
21. Dan Savage
22. Curt Jewett
23. Connor Harriman
24. Sam Williams
25. Andrew Kutcha
26. Ryan Smathers
27. Luke Jones
28. Ean DiSilivio
29. Brett Kelly
30. Zach Israel
31. Mac Emery
32. Dan Davis
33. Luke Schott
34. LJ Westwood
35. Sam Haugh
36. Francis Ferruzzi
37. Ethan Martin
38. Caleb Wakeley
39. Jeff Groh
40. Chris Trimble
41. Adam Katora
42. John Felts
43. Jack Huemmler
44. Jared Schatz
45. Tony Russell
46. Charlie Grab
47. Mike Billotta
48. Harrison Schettler
49. Pete Downs
50. Chris Pastore
WPIAL AAA Preview
This week's WPIAL District 7 Championship Preview is comes courtesy of one of etrain's special western correspondents: Gigantor. Hope you enjoy.
District 7(WPIAL) Preview
AAA: After graduating the top four finishers from last year, and seven of the top 10, the boys WPIAL race will be open for new up and comers. The top returners from last year are: Logan Steiner (5th, 15:54), Bobby Bishop(6th, 16:02), Alex Moran (8th, 16:07), and Andrew Kuchta (11th, 16:25, [9:16 in Track]). While these four were expected to dominate the competition this year, they have not. Bishop is MIA, while Moran and Kuchta haven’t run up to expectations since the Red, White and Blue Invitational at beginning of the season (Where they were 2nd and 3rd respectively). Steiner hadn’t been ‘on’ either, running poorly at Carlisle, and Boardman, before laying down a strong move only 1k in to the race at the Tri-State meet this past week at a sloppy Coopers Lake and holding on for the victory. In addition to the top returners from last year, two more guys have forced themselves into the picture for the WPIAL crown: Mike Runco (Central Catholic), and Brent Kennedy (Kiski Area). Kennedy, only a sophomore, ditched soccer (which he played last year and his brother, Ryan, for all four years) to concentrate solely on XC, after a 4:26 freshman 1600m. The results have been phenomenal as Brent placed 2nd to Kuchta at the brutal Gateway invitational (beating third place Ethan Martin by nearly a minute), 6th at the RWB Invite in 15:51, winning the Westmoreland County Championships, and placing 3rd at recent TSTCA meet. The sophomore has clearly made himself one a major contender heading into this week. The other newcomer vying for the crown is Central Catholic senior, Mike Runco. After running only four races in track- a WPIAL Qualifier qualifying time, the WPIAL Qualifier 1600m, the WPIAL Championships 1600m (3rd, 4:25), and the State Championships Prelims (4:24)- Runco ran a 15:57 PR at the RWB invitational, good for 8th place. He followed tat up with an impressive third at Carlsisle (16:10), a runner-up at the Central Catholic Invitational Mudfest (16:39), and 5th at the almost-as-bad-as-Central TSTCA meet.
Predictions:
The race will undoubtedly be another great race at the front, and a good bit depends on how the race unfolds. Steiner can throw in some great surges, especially at Coopers Lake, if he does this(and he has every time he has raced at Coopers for NA), Moran, Runco, and Kennedy will have a decision to make- whether or not to go with Steiner. One thing is for sure, they cannot let him build as big of a gap as he did at the TSTCA meet. Both Moran and Kennedy both have great leg speed, and Steiner has a great kick as well. If the race comes down to a kick any of the three could win. But most of the time in XC its not who’s the fastest and if Runco is fresher after the snaking last kilometer, he has a great shot as well (remember Runco and Grade-School teammate Ean DiSilvio ran away from Moran late at the Central Catholic Invite- though rumor has it Moran fell around 2 miles). The whether is not to be ignored either. After the TSTCA meet, the Coopers Lake course is in extremely poor conditions. Whether or not the course will recover in time is up in the air. Another possibility is moving he course a couple of meters to the left or right (and adjusting other parts of the course), as they did in 2006. The condition of the course could be a factor as Moran’s great rhythm and cadence is hurt by the slipping and sliding, he hasn’t run well on the mud yet this year (Remember Lucas Zarzeczny’s Coach saying “You can’t run a Ferrari in the mud”, while is applies a bit to Moran as well). A sloppy course would seem to favor both Runco and Steiner, while hurting Moran(even Coach A. admits it in his post- TSTCA interview). Also stacked against Moran is Lebo’s disappointing races at Coopers Lake. Two years ago, Rad Gunzenhauser beat Ryan Gil in every race besides two- both at Coopers Lake. And last year Moran was 8th at the WPIAL Championships before placing 14th at State’s right behing WPIAL 5th place finisher, Logan Steiner, and beating Bobby Bishop and Bobby Gasior, 6th and 7th at the WPIAL meet. Unlike Moran, Steiner has run well at Coopers Lake. Of the newcomers, Runco was 24th at the WPIAL Championships last season (his only health WPIAL meet), while Brent Kennedy has never run a WPIAL Championship at XC. With all of this in mind, my predictions:
1. Kennedy
2. Runco
3. Steiner
4. Moran
5. Wakeley
In many ways, the top 4, especially the top three will be very close, too hard to tell, so my predictions do not mean much. My choice to include Wakeley in the top 5 is as follows- he was 8th at TSTCA’s in his first invite all season. He should get some improvement just by racing again.
Others to Watch: E. Martin (Fox Chapel), Schott (Franklin Regional), Faye (Hempfield), Tellin (Mt. Lebo), Tramaglini (Mt. Lebo), Culley (Moon), Kuchta (Baldwin), Haky (Central Catholic), T. Appman (North Allegheny), Boccabella (Norwin)
Team Race:
NA v. Lebo
After winning how many straight WPIAL Championships (six?), the defending State champions, NA, are again in the mix for the WPIAL Team Championship. NA has won every team Championships at Coopers Lake despite being challenged many times, most recently by Baldwin. This year, however, Mount Lebanon is the favorite. Lebo only beat NA by 14 at the TSTCA meet this past week, so the team title is still up in the air. Lebo had a very strong pack (2-6) that ran together until after the half-way point, before breaking up. Rumors are swirling that Lebo may have held back the slightest bit(as you will see later, this is not that uncommon at this meet). NA can exspect some improvement as well from Tyler Nicotra, who normally NA’s #3, but was their 5 at TSTCA’s. Tyler got out very poorly and had trouble moving up. NA will surely want to continue their streak, while Lebo needs to capitize on a rare chance to beat NA at Coopers.
Battle for the 3rd and 4th
Always one of the most dramatic parts of the WPIAL Championship is who will take the last spots to the State meet. While many teams fighting for the last two spots, Central catholic, Kiski Area, Pine-Richland, Fox Chapel, and Hampton are the teams most likely to take the coveted last two spots. All of these teams were very close at the TSTCA meet (all teams were between Central’s 252 and Fox Chapel’s 317), so it appears to be very close. Upon further inspection, many teams had key runners missing (due to illness, injury, or just resting it is unknown). Fox Chapel was missing their 2nd runner, Collin Martin, while Kiski was missing their 2nd (Richard Lednak), and Central Catholic their 3rd (Brian Bollens). It is also important to note that Pine-Richland’s 6th runner at TSTCA was Tom Reinhart, who had run 16:40’s before his injury (it was his first race back). I believe that this will separate Kiski, Central Catholic, Fox Chapel, and maybe Pine Richland from Hampton, but the team finish will still be close. With Lednak in Kiski figures to lose around 100 points, dropping them to around 210, while Central will lose roughly 75 with the addition of Bollens, dropping them to 175. Fox Chapel will also lose roughly 75 points, dropping them to 240. Pine-Richland presumable drop is unquantifiable, but could be important as well. This would leave Central in the third spot and Kiski 4th, with Fox Chapel close behind them. Of course, this assumes the three missing runners will be healthy by next week- without them each team (but especially Kiski), would suffer a nearly fatal blow. Kiski’s problem is their lack of a 5th man, so if they can get one to step up they could turn some heads. Central Catholic, meanwhile, holds down their 4 and 5 spots with two freshmen, Jeff Van Kooten and Pat Curley. Having two freshmen scoring could prove to be an issue. Both Central Catholic and Fox Chapel have strong 1-2-3 punches with weaker 4-5’s while Hampton an Pine-Richland have great packs. With all of this it is prediction time:
1. Mount Lebanon
2. North Allegheny
3. Central Catholic
4. Kiski Area
5. Fox Chapel
As said before the predictions for 3rd, 4th and 5th have assume those teams runners will return next week. If one of them does not, or isnt health when they do, their team will most likely suffer.
-Gigantor
District 7(WPIAL) Preview
AAA: After graduating the top four finishers from last year, and seven of the top 10, the boys WPIAL race will be open for new up and comers. The top returners from last year are: Logan Steiner (5th, 15:54), Bobby Bishop(6th, 16:02), Alex Moran (8th, 16:07), and Andrew Kuchta (11th, 16:25, [9:16 in Track]). While these four were expected to dominate the competition this year, they have not. Bishop is MIA, while Moran and Kuchta haven’t run up to expectations since the Red, White and Blue Invitational at beginning of the season (Where they were 2nd and 3rd respectively). Steiner hadn’t been ‘on’ either, running poorly at Carlisle, and Boardman, before laying down a strong move only 1k in to the race at the Tri-State meet this past week at a sloppy Coopers Lake and holding on for the victory. In addition to the top returners from last year, two more guys have forced themselves into the picture for the WPIAL crown: Mike Runco (Central Catholic), and Brent Kennedy (Kiski Area). Kennedy, only a sophomore, ditched soccer (which he played last year and his brother, Ryan, for all four years) to concentrate solely on XC, after a 4:26 freshman 1600m. The results have been phenomenal as Brent placed 2nd to Kuchta at the brutal Gateway invitational (beating third place Ethan Martin by nearly a minute), 6th at the RWB Invite in 15:51, winning the Westmoreland County Championships, and placing 3rd at recent TSTCA meet. The sophomore has clearly made himself one a major contender heading into this week. The other newcomer vying for the crown is Central Catholic senior, Mike Runco. After running only four races in track- a WPIAL Qualifier qualifying time, the WPIAL Qualifier 1600m, the WPIAL Championships 1600m (3rd, 4:25), and the State Championships Prelims (4:24)- Runco ran a 15:57 PR at the RWB invitational, good for 8th place. He followed tat up with an impressive third at Carlsisle (16:10), a runner-up at the Central Catholic Invitational Mudfest (16:39), and 5th at the almost-as-bad-as-Central TSTCA meet.
Predictions:
The race will undoubtedly be another great race at the front, and a good bit depends on how the race unfolds. Steiner can throw in some great surges, especially at Coopers Lake, if he does this(and he has every time he has raced at Coopers for NA), Moran, Runco, and Kennedy will have a decision to make- whether or not to go with Steiner. One thing is for sure, they cannot let him build as big of a gap as he did at the TSTCA meet. Both Moran and Kennedy both have great leg speed, and Steiner has a great kick as well. If the race comes down to a kick any of the three could win. But most of the time in XC its not who’s the fastest and if Runco is fresher after the snaking last kilometer, he has a great shot as well (remember Runco and Grade-School teammate Ean DiSilvio ran away from Moran late at the Central Catholic Invite- though rumor has it Moran fell around 2 miles). The whether is not to be ignored either. After the TSTCA meet, the Coopers Lake course is in extremely poor conditions. Whether or not the course will recover in time is up in the air. Another possibility is moving he course a couple of meters to the left or right (and adjusting other parts of the course), as they did in 2006. The condition of the course could be a factor as Moran’s great rhythm and cadence is hurt by the slipping and sliding, he hasn’t run well on the mud yet this year (Remember Lucas Zarzeczny’s Coach saying “You can’t run a Ferrari in the mud”, while is applies a bit to Moran as well). A sloppy course would seem to favor both Runco and Steiner, while hurting Moran(even Coach A. admits it in his post- TSTCA interview). Also stacked against Moran is Lebo’s disappointing races at Coopers Lake. Two years ago, Rad Gunzenhauser beat Ryan Gil in every race besides two- both at Coopers Lake. And last year Moran was 8th at the WPIAL Championships before placing 14th at State’s right behing WPIAL 5th place finisher, Logan Steiner, and beating Bobby Bishop and Bobby Gasior, 6th and 7th at the WPIAL meet. Unlike Moran, Steiner has run well at Coopers Lake. Of the newcomers, Runco was 24th at the WPIAL Championships last season (his only health WPIAL meet), while Brent Kennedy has never run a WPIAL Championship at XC. With all of this in mind, my predictions:
1. Kennedy
2. Runco
3. Steiner
4. Moran
5. Wakeley
In many ways, the top 4, especially the top three will be very close, too hard to tell, so my predictions do not mean much. My choice to include Wakeley in the top 5 is as follows- he was 8th at TSTCA’s in his first invite all season. He should get some improvement just by racing again.
Others to Watch: E. Martin (Fox Chapel), Schott (Franklin Regional), Faye (Hempfield), Tellin (Mt. Lebo), Tramaglini (Mt. Lebo), Culley (Moon), Kuchta (Baldwin), Haky (Central Catholic), T. Appman (North Allegheny), Boccabella (Norwin)
Team Race:
NA v. Lebo
After winning how many straight WPIAL Championships (six?), the defending State champions, NA, are again in the mix for the WPIAL Team Championship. NA has won every team Championships at Coopers Lake despite being challenged many times, most recently by Baldwin. This year, however, Mount Lebanon is the favorite. Lebo only beat NA by 14 at the TSTCA meet this past week, so the team title is still up in the air. Lebo had a very strong pack (2-6) that ran together until after the half-way point, before breaking up. Rumors are swirling that Lebo may have held back the slightest bit(as you will see later, this is not that uncommon at this meet). NA can exspect some improvement as well from Tyler Nicotra, who normally NA’s #3, but was their 5 at TSTCA’s. Tyler got out very poorly and had trouble moving up. NA will surely want to continue their streak, while Lebo needs to capitize on a rare chance to beat NA at Coopers.
Battle for the 3rd and 4th
Always one of the most dramatic parts of the WPIAL Championship is who will take the last spots to the State meet. While many teams fighting for the last two spots, Central catholic, Kiski Area, Pine-Richland, Fox Chapel, and Hampton are the teams most likely to take the coveted last two spots. All of these teams were very close at the TSTCA meet (all teams were between Central’s 252 and Fox Chapel’s 317), so it appears to be very close. Upon further inspection, many teams had key runners missing (due to illness, injury, or just resting it is unknown). Fox Chapel was missing their 2nd runner, Collin Martin, while Kiski was missing their 2nd (Richard Lednak), and Central Catholic their 3rd (Brian Bollens). It is also important to note that Pine-Richland’s 6th runner at TSTCA was Tom Reinhart, who had run 16:40’s before his injury (it was his first race back). I believe that this will separate Kiski, Central Catholic, Fox Chapel, and maybe Pine Richland from Hampton, but the team finish will still be close. With Lednak in Kiski figures to lose around 100 points, dropping them to around 210, while Central will lose roughly 75 with the addition of Bollens, dropping them to 175. Fox Chapel will also lose roughly 75 points, dropping them to 240. Pine-Richland presumable drop is unquantifiable, but could be important as well. This would leave Central in the third spot and Kiski 4th, with Fox Chapel close behind them. Of course, this assumes the three missing runners will be healthy by next week- without them each team (but especially Kiski), would suffer a nearly fatal blow. Kiski’s problem is their lack of a 5th man, so if they can get one to step up they could turn some heads. Central Catholic, meanwhile, holds down their 4 and 5 spots with two freshmen, Jeff Van Kooten and Pat Curley. Having two freshmen scoring could prove to be an issue. Both Central Catholic and Fox Chapel have strong 1-2-3 punches with weaker 4-5’s while Hampton an Pine-Richland have great packs. With all of this it is prediction time:
1. Mount Lebanon
2. North Allegheny
3. Central Catholic
4. Kiski Area
5. Fox Chapel
As said before the predictions for 3rd, 4th and 5th have assume those teams runners will return next week. If one of them does not, or isnt health when they do, their team will most likely suffer.
-Gigantor
District Previews
District 8 Championships 10/22
AAA: Ean DiSilvio and Allerdice are the defending champions at this meet, and coming off a breakout season thus far in 2010, DiSilvio looks to lead his team back to states and defend his title. Rarely ever has District 8 had a huge impact on the state's scene, but this year DiSilvio and his teammates look to change that. Senior Barrett Adams and Sophomore Nathan Meyers are two other top returners. Allerdice returns their entire 6 varsity runners from last year's state meet where they finished 21st.
Distrct 2 Championships 10/26
AAA: Reece Ayers, the District 2 superstar, has finally graduated, opening the door for a new competitor to take the gold. Ayers' departure from Tunkhannock has really hit the team hard this season. The defending champions have struggled, and it looks like Dallas is ready to overrun them and seize the title this season. Deluca beat Robinson and Seigel at their league championships. Dallas was 2nd last year and returns 3 of their top 5. Meanwhile, individually, Sean Burke and Aaron Wilkinson have snuck their way into the top 25 of the ET rankings and are both poised to take their first District Championship. Wilkinson is the top returner and ran to an 18th place finish at last years state championship. He is often under the radar and has mixed it up with some of the top runners throughout the season including the Paul Short Invitational. Burke has also been to the big meets and has shown a lot of potential for a breakout performance at this meet. Burke was 31 seconds back from Wilkinson a year ago, this year things should be much tighter.
AA: Luke Jones won the championship a year ago as a sophomore over the eventual AA runner up AJ Lomongelli. Jones returns with a very solid set of performances under his belt which have earned him a top 10 ET ranking on the AA side. Jones, now a Junior leads a group of underclassmen who are seeking the individual crown, the top 5 returners from last year's meet are all Juniors this season. Holy Redeemer, always a team to watch, is the defending champions, and although they only return 4 of last year's 7, and 2 of last year's 5, the team still looks poised to return to the state championships. Holy Cross returns a lot from last years 3rd place finish, including a host of talent seniors, but Elk Lake has historically been a power house and surely will not fold easily at this championship meet, especially if Jones brings home a second straight gold out front.
District 3 Championships 10/26
AAA: The top 9 runners from a season ago have graduated, leaving the race wide open for a new face to make a name for himself. That new face looks to be Connor Strynkowski at this point in the season, after a terrific track season last spring, a hot streak of solid races in the past month, including a great run at Gettysburg and a win at Mid Penns. The other top guys from Mid Penns, John Felts, Jeff Groh, and Cole Nissley will also be in the mix for the title at Hershey. Groh and Nissley, both sophomores, have looked much sharper as of late and are starting to show some of the potential they did last season. John Ausel has to be a sleeper in the race, he's the top returner from a year ago. In addition, Adam Katora should not be left out of the Gold medal conversation after a very successful XC season thus far. Evan Williams, Alec Kunzweiler, and Nate Kreider all have also made a splash on the rankings this season, and will be names to remember on race day. In the team battle, it will be another close battle. Hempfield surprised a year ago, but this year the race seems to be between Chambersburg, Lower Dauphin and Governor Mifflin. Lower Dauphin with two strong front runners, Chambersburg and Governor Mifflin with talent packs of runners. Cumberland Valley is also always in the conversation as a team to make states and last year's 5th place finishers Manheim Township also look like they should be heading back to the big dance in November.
AA: The District 3 Champion has went on to win states for 4 straight years now and they look to hold this streak again in 2011. Out front Gruschow and Noll have graduated leaving a race between the talent Anville Celona juniors and Lancaster Mennonite's Jared Schatz. Schatz had a great run at the Lebanon Lancaster League championships and looks poised to ride that momentum into the district championships and take down the gold. The boys from Anville will be racing for more than just individual glory, as they are the defending district champions scoring just 34 points a year ago. They are the favorites this season to defend their title with possible surprises coming from Oley Valley to try and snag the second spot to states.
District 11 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 12 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 4 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 7 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 1 Championships 10/28
(Coming Soon)
District 10 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 6 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 9 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
AAA: Ean DiSilvio and Allerdice are the defending champions at this meet, and coming off a breakout season thus far in 2010, DiSilvio looks to lead his team back to states and defend his title. Rarely ever has District 8 had a huge impact on the state's scene, but this year DiSilvio and his teammates look to change that. Senior Barrett Adams and Sophomore Nathan Meyers are two other top returners. Allerdice returns their entire 6 varsity runners from last year's state meet where they finished 21st.
Distrct 2 Championships 10/26
AAA: Reece Ayers, the District 2 superstar, has finally graduated, opening the door for a new competitor to take the gold. Ayers' departure from Tunkhannock has really hit the team hard this season. The defending champions have struggled, and it looks like Dallas is ready to overrun them and seize the title this season. Deluca beat Robinson and Seigel at their league championships. Dallas was 2nd last year and returns 3 of their top 5. Meanwhile, individually, Sean Burke and Aaron Wilkinson have snuck their way into the top 25 of the ET rankings and are both poised to take their first District Championship. Wilkinson is the top returner and ran to an 18th place finish at last years state championship. He is often under the radar and has mixed it up with some of the top runners throughout the season including the Paul Short Invitational. Burke has also been to the big meets and has shown a lot of potential for a breakout performance at this meet. Burke was 31 seconds back from Wilkinson a year ago, this year things should be much tighter.
AA: Luke Jones won the championship a year ago as a sophomore over the eventual AA runner up AJ Lomongelli. Jones returns with a very solid set of performances under his belt which have earned him a top 10 ET ranking on the AA side. Jones, now a Junior leads a group of underclassmen who are seeking the individual crown, the top 5 returners from last year's meet are all Juniors this season. Holy Redeemer, always a team to watch, is the defending champions, and although they only return 4 of last year's 7, and 2 of last year's 5, the team still looks poised to return to the state championships. Holy Cross returns a lot from last years 3rd place finish, including a host of talent seniors, but Elk Lake has historically been a power house and surely will not fold easily at this championship meet, especially if Jones brings home a second straight gold out front.
District 3 Championships 10/26
AAA: The top 9 runners from a season ago have graduated, leaving the race wide open for a new face to make a name for himself. That new face looks to be Connor Strynkowski at this point in the season, after a terrific track season last spring, a hot streak of solid races in the past month, including a great run at Gettysburg and a win at Mid Penns. The other top guys from Mid Penns, John Felts, Jeff Groh, and Cole Nissley will also be in the mix for the title at Hershey. Groh and Nissley, both sophomores, have looked much sharper as of late and are starting to show some of the potential they did last season. John Ausel has to be a sleeper in the race, he's the top returner from a year ago. In addition, Adam Katora should not be left out of the Gold medal conversation after a very successful XC season thus far. Evan Williams, Alec Kunzweiler, and Nate Kreider all have also made a splash on the rankings this season, and will be names to remember on race day. In the team battle, it will be another close battle. Hempfield surprised a year ago, but this year the race seems to be between Chambersburg, Lower Dauphin and Governor Mifflin. Lower Dauphin with two strong front runners, Chambersburg and Governor Mifflin with talent packs of runners. Cumberland Valley is also always in the conversation as a team to make states and last year's 5th place finishers Manheim Township also look like they should be heading back to the big dance in November.
AA: The District 3 Champion has went on to win states for 4 straight years now and they look to hold this streak again in 2011. Out front Gruschow and Noll have graduated leaving a race between the talent Anville Celona juniors and Lancaster Mennonite's Jared Schatz. Schatz had a great run at the Lebanon Lancaster League championships and looks poised to ride that momentum into the district championships and take down the gold. The boys from Anville will be racing for more than just individual glory, as they are the defending district champions scoring just 34 points a year ago. They are the favorites this season to defend their title with possible surprises coming from Oley Valley to try and snag the second spot to states.
District 11 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 12 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 4 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 7 Championships 10/27
(Coming Soon)
District 1 Championships 10/28
(Coming Soon)
District 10 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 6 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
District 9 Championships 10/29
(Coming Soon)
Injury Update
West Chester Henderson's Reiny Barchet who was a solid contributor to the squad will miss this cross country season with a stress fracture according to blog sources. Although Barchet is a huge talent (the top freshman at states and districts last year, finishing the highest at districts for a freshman I have seen in a long time), Henderson has forged ahead with other talented sophomores and proper utilization of their huge depth.
No word on if Westwood was injured/is coming back from injury after missing the foundation meet and running slower than expected at Quaker Valley's conference championships.
Richard Lednak, #2 runner for Kiski Area, did not run at the Tri State Championships and his team suffered the consquences finishing much lower than expected. There has been no reason revealed as to why he was missing from the meet. Blog statisticians estimate that missing Lednak cost Kiski Area about 100 points in the meet considering their 5th man scored roughly 140. With the addition of Lednak, most assume Kiski would have taken 3rd in the meet behind two top 5 teams. Without Lednak, Kiski will be in a fight just to make the state championships.
Drew Magaha said he wasn't injured at the start of the season, but has been "taking it easy" in an attempt to show off his XC ability, while still staying fresh for track season, his primary focus. He is starting to ride his peak now in October, which means no postseason national plans are likely. This could give runners like Hibbs the advantage over Drew down the stretch. Both men race right now at Lehigh in seperate conference championship races.
Lastly North Allegheny was without varsity runner Vincent Tonzo at the Tri States meet, and there are rumors that he is injured and may miss the rest of the season. This does effect NA's WPIAL championship quest slightly, but they will need an improvement across the board 2-5 if they are going to beat Mt. Lebo next week, regardless of Tonzo's health.
- dr. train
No word on if Westwood was injured/is coming back from injury after missing the foundation meet and running slower than expected at Quaker Valley's conference championships.
Richard Lednak, #2 runner for Kiski Area, did not run at the Tri State Championships and his team suffered the consquences finishing much lower than expected. There has been no reason revealed as to why he was missing from the meet. Blog statisticians estimate that missing Lednak cost Kiski Area about 100 points in the meet considering their 5th man scored roughly 140. With the addition of Lednak, most assume Kiski would have taken 3rd in the meet behind two top 5 teams. Without Lednak, Kiski will be in a fight just to make the state championships.
Drew Magaha said he wasn't injured at the start of the season, but has been "taking it easy" in an attempt to show off his XC ability, while still staying fresh for track season, his primary focus. He is starting to ride his peak now in October, which means no postseason national plans are likely. This could give runners like Hibbs the advantage over Drew down the stretch. Both men race right now at Lehigh in seperate conference championship races.
Lastly North Allegheny was without varsity runner Vincent Tonzo at the Tri States meet, and there are rumors that he is injured and may miss the rest of the season. This does effect NA's WPIAL championship quest slightly, but they will need an improvement across the board 2-5 if they are going to beat Mt. Lebo next week, regardless of Tonzo's health.
- dr. train
Update
I'm a little farther than I thought I might be by now, I have some stuff lined up for the upcoming weeks but I have no idea how long it will take me to get all the stuff up so I apologize in advance if I am late on responses/posts/other things I said I'd do.
It's a shame it turns out I have a bit more of a life than I thought I did. And school work. Yeah I know it doesn't seem it sometimes but I do occasionally do work.
The most important thing for this weekend will be updated rankings (team and individual). Very interesting results already coming out (Holy Ghost Prep looked very good, some nice upset victories across the board and oh yeah turns out Logan Steiner and North Allegheny ain't dead yet) and we will see how that shakes up the rankings.
After the rankings I want to try to do some previews for some of the weeks coming up and I have another few interview type things lined up that I want to get up here before I wrap up the Hong Cho series which made its debut today.
As always I will be doing my best to respond to your questions, that will be the number one priority over any projects I may have planned because you guys are the reason this thing is up and running.
Thanks again to everyone for all the compliments and kind words, it really means a lot hearing from you guys.
-train
It's a shame it turns out I have a bit more of a life than I thought I did. And school work. Yeah I know it doesn't seem it sometimes but I do occasionally do work.
The most important thing for this weekend will be updated rankings (team and individual). Very interesting results already coming out (Holy Ghost Prep looked very good, some nice upset victories across the board and oh yeah turns out Logan Steiner and North Allegheny ain't dead yet) and we will see how that shakes up the rankings.
After the rankings I want to try to do some previews for some of the weeks coming up and I have another few interview type things lined up that I want to get up here before I wrap up the Hong Cho series which made its debut today.
As always I will be doing my best to respond to your questions, that will be the number one priority over any projects I may have planned because you guys are the reason this thing is up and running.
Thanks again to everyone for all the compliments and kind words, it really means a lot hearing from you guys.
-train
Humble Beginnings
Anyone remember when Hong Cho was running above 2 minutes in the 800? Yeah I didn't think so. In December of 2009 at the Burdette Invitational, Hong Cho outkicked a kid by the name of Jarrett Felix to take 3rd and 4th in the open 800m somewhere in the 2:03 range. But that was 2009. That was back when Jarrett Felix was one of the few people who knew how fast Hong Cho was.
Its hard to say exactly when someone breaks out onto the next level. I watched Mike Palmisano for three years but I don't know if I can point to one specific race where I said, wow this kid is good.
For Hong, you could see something was developing indoors his Junior campaign. The extremely underrated Wissahickon 4x8 finished an impressive 3rd behind only CB West and Abington at Indoor States. Hong split under 2 minutes, but not by much. There was no clear sign he would be anything more than a 1:57 guy outdoors.
Until the first meet of outdoors. Starting the season off splitting 1:56. That's when you knew. That's when I started talking about 1:54 and a state medal. Of course he still wasn't on everybody's radar. The spotlight was stolen by another guy from 5 miles up the road at Upper Dublin High School, Sam Ellison.
Hong's never been a flashy guy. He never went out of his way to reach for the spotlight. If anything, at times he just seemed like a big fan of the sport, in awe at all the fast times around. He started his freshman campaign watching Nick Crits unleash a furious kick for the state championship, then followed the path of rival Upper Dublin's 7:40 4x8, then the rise of future stars Sam Ellison and Drew Magaha. All the while, Hong Cho was not the name on people's lips when they went to the big meets. Even Hong himself didn't talk about himself.
But he was confident. He's always had a certain quiet confidence in his abilities. With big names like Ellison, Mallon, Lefebure, DiFlorio and others grabbing all the headlines, Hong Cho stepped into the district finals as a Junior who a season ago had a PR of 2 flat. He had just ran a brilliant anchor leg on Wissahickon's 4x8 and was feeling the effects of a busy weekend.
So when he outkicked my boy Ellison and qualified for states in 1:55 flat on a rainy, miserable afternoon it was hard not to sit up and take notice.
But Hong was looking for an encore. A 1:53.8 800 PR at the state championships snaging a 7th place state medal. The #2 returner for the 800 in 2011.
In 2009, Hong Cho was no where to be seen in Shippensburg, no where to be seen on penntrack, no where to be seen on etrain's blog. Well I guess I didn't have a blog in 2009, but that's besides the point.
Now Hong Cho was on the radar. A name to watch. But could he still run fast with a target on his back? Or would the weight of expectation be too much to carry around the track for 2 laps?
Its hard to say exactly when someone breaks out onto the next level. I watched Mike Palmisano for three years but I don't know if I can point to one specific race where I said, wow this kid is good.
For Hong, you could see something was developing indoors his Junior campaign. The extremely underrated Wissahickon 4x8 finished an impressive 3rd behind only CB West and Abington at Indoor States. Hong split under 2 minutes, but not by much. There was no clear sign he would be anything more than a 1:57 guy outdoors.
Until the first meet of outdoors. Starting the season off splitting 1:56. That's when you knew. That's when I started talking about 1:54 and a state medal. Of course he still wasn't on everybody's radar. The spotlight was stolen by another guy from 5 miles up the road at Upper Dublin High School, Sam Ellison.
Hong's never been a flashy guy. He never went out of his way to reach for the spotlight. If anything, at times he just seemed like a big fan of the sport, in awe at all the fast times around. He started his freshman campaign watching Nick Crits unleash a furious kick for the state championship, then followed the path of rival Upper Dublin's 7:40 4x8, then the rise of future stars Sam Ellison and Drew Magaha. All the while, Hong Cho was not the name on people's lips when they went to the big meets. Even Hong himself didn't talk about himself.
But he was confident. He's always had a certain quiet confidence in his abilities. With big names like Ellison, Mallon, Lefebure, DiFlorio and others grabbing all the headlines, Hong Cho stepped into the district finals as a Junior who a season ago had a PR of 2 flat. He had just ran a brilliant anchor leg on Wissahickon's 4x8 and was feeling the effects of a busy weekend.
So when he outkicked my boy Ellison and qualified for states in 1:55 flat on a rainy, miserable afternoon it was hard not to sit up and take notice.
But Hong was looking for an encore. A 1:53.8 800 PR at the state championships snaging a 7th place state medal. The #2 returner for the 800 in 2011.
In 2009, Hong Cho was no where to be seen in Shippensburg, no where to be seen on penntrack, no where to be seen on etrain's blog. Well I guess I didn't have a blog in 2009, but that's besides the point.
Now Hong Cho was on the radar. A name to watch. But could he still run fast with a target on his back? Or would the weight of expectation be too much to carry around the track for 2 laps?
Mid Week Long Run
Dustin Wilson already kicked off the action with a huge course record at his home course (I think it was by over a minute or something like that) which means I need to get cracking on the Mid Week Long Run a little early if I am going to cover all the big championship meets coming up! It is arguably the most wonderful time of the year right now track fans (no offense Christmas), so let's get down to business and see what is in our stocking for the week ahead.
10/18 Lebanon Lancaster League Championships
Last year Cedar Crest took down the title behind Alex Galli and strong pack of guys, but this year the team race is much more wide open. On the individual side John Ausel and Nate Kreider both have made it onto the rankings and had strong seasons a year ago. Hopefully they can turn things around and show their stuff again at this championship meet. The team battle is certainly going to be close, Anville-Celona, Manheim Township, Elizabethtown, Conestoga Valley, even Cedar Crest have shown signs they can take the next step.
Prediction: I got Ausel for the win, the team battle is going to be tight, but I'll go with AC
Deep Sleeper: Cedar Crest as a team may be mix it up better than expected
10/18 Lehigh Valley Conference
Kacyon and England are gone from outfront, leaving an interesting assembly of talent battling for the championship. The top returners Cole Campbell and Nate Palmer have both caught my attention as sleeper picks for the top 50 at multiple times this year. The team race should be tight as well, Nazareth still has fire power, but upstart Northampton has made a name for themselves behind Tyler Laubach out front.
Prediction: I've got Nazareth in a close one, with Campbell over Palmer
Deep Sleeper: Parkland
10/18 YAIAA Championships
Hasn't been a glamorous championship since the days of Greg Kareis, but it does feature two runners to watch: Matt Croft and Adam Katora. Their squads (Red Lion and Dallastown) should also contend for the title.
Prediction: Katora takes gold
Deep Sleeper: Susuquehannock
10/19 Berks County Championships
ET #13 Governor Mifflin looks to defend their title and looks to keep the gold medalist posistion in house as well (Logan Mohn won the title a year ago). Evan Williams (formerly ET ranked) is the favorite coming into the race, but his Mifflin teammate Levi Lang is the top returner from a year ago. 8 of the top 9 from last year have graduated so the race is going to look quite different.
Prediction: Williams and Mifflin take the title
Deep Sleers: David Peterson, Conrad Weiser
10/19 Ed Narkiewicz All-League Meet
Last year Reece Ayers tempoed or something and ended up being upset in stunning fashion by Frank Ferlanda, although Ayers and company went on to have the last laugh with the league championship and district championship later in the season (plus a pretty good finish at states). Tunkhannock looks strong again with Ben Robinson and Jake Seigel running well out front and experience behind them. Alex Zubko and Chris Ehert will look to help break up the Tunkhannock party and try and help Dallas break up the party.
Prediction: Tunkhannock wins behind a win for Seigel
Deep Sleeper: Tom Damiani from Tunkhannock
10/19 Moutain Athletic Conference
Features Zach Moon and Addison Monroe, a couple of guys dancing around the 50 mark on the rankings.
Prediction: I have Monroe taking the win here and Mifflin County surprising as a team.
10/19 Pioneer Athletic Conference
ET #31 Brett Kelly headlines the event and he looks to lead Boyertown back to the title. From my perspective, however, it looks like Methacton is going to take home the team championship while Pottsgrove has the potential to surprise. Ian Yakuso is a name to remember from the Pottsgrove squad.
Prediction: I want to go upset here, but I have Kelly taking the win with a great run expected from Joe O'Such from Spring Ford, definitley a name to watch in coming weeks.
Sleeper: Jesse Magolon, Spring Ford
10/19 Schuylkill Leage Championships
Prediction: ET #7 Brendan Shearn is under 16 minutes for the title.
10/20 Bicentennial League Championships
ET #14 Holy Ghost Prep led by ET #33 Zach Israel and Ryan Horgan start their push towards qualifying for the state championships with their league championship meet.
Prediction: Prep and Israel run away with the Golds
Deep Sleer: Christian Kardish from the Prep
10/20 Ches-mont Championships
ET#3 West Chester Henderson gets a chance to show what they got against ET#10 Great Valley, who is in need of a confidence boost. West Chester East also could step up into the mix with a good day. Plenty of big names in this race including Grab, Haugh, and Russell from the Henderson squad, the Willig's at Great Valley and Kenny Leidel from Downingtown West. Without Devlin the race may not be as fast, but it doesn't mean it won't be interesting out front. Willig needs a big race to prove himself and there are a lot of Henderson guys itching to prove themselves against a big name like Ned.
Prediction: Willig takes the title but Henderson does the real damage scoring under their impressive 25 point total from a year ago.
Deep Sleeper: Steve Iannocane from Unionville
10/20 Tri States
Last year eventual state champions North Alleghney were defeated in stunning fashion by Baldwin. Meanwhile the North Hills trio took 1-2-3 in a race that featured Wade Endress, Logan Steiner, Bobby Bishop and Alex Moran. This year Baldiwn is lead by a new front runner, Andrew Kutcha who will try to rally the team by competing for the victory out front. However, Baldwin is not amongst the teams to watch in this one, as ET#2 Mt. Lebanon takes on ET#4 North Allegheny. Alex Moran and Logan Steiner have both been disappointed by their seasons thus far, but can right the ship with a big win here at the Tri States meet. Another name to watch is Mike Runco from Pittsburgh Central Catholic who has been barely outkicked twice at big meets and settled for 2nd and his teams invite and 3rd at Carlisle. He can wipe those memories clean with a win here. If Altoona returns to the meet, Dylan Mountain and Korey Replogle will be huge factors in the front pack of the race, and their ET#15 ranked squad could also play a role. There are also many other ranked guys in the mix
Prediction: Assuming Altoona is not back I have NA surprising Mt. Lebo for the team title behind a surprise win from Logan Steiner. Moran takes second just barely ahead of Runco with Kutcha taking a hard fought 4th.
Deep Sleeper: Ryan Boccabella from Norwin
10/21 SOL American
ET#2 Drew Magaha looks to finally break 16 minutes on Lehigh's fast surface and will only have to deal with Upper Dublin's Francis Ferruzzi in his quest for Gold. Meanwhile Ferruzzi will try to help Upper Dublin upset the defending champions Wissahickon.
Prediction: Magaha takes the win with a very fast time, Wissahickon holds off Upper Dublin's hard fought race to take the team title.
Deep Sleeper: Cassidy Silverthorn, PW
10/21 SOL National
Council Rock North looks to defend their team title from a year ago behind Mac Emery and Ross Wilson and a host of other solid runners. Connor Harriman will look to break up the party.
Prediction: CR North rolls, but Harriman takes the title.
Deep Sleeper: Jon Hartsough, Abington
10/21 SOL Contintenal
This is a big chance for North Penn to show case its stuff, at this point last season they really took the next step into a top 10 program. Jack MacCauley will get to battle it out up front with the Hatboro duo of Hibbs and Quinn. Dan Davis will also look to throw his hat in the ring. Connor Linse from Souderton, Alex Kane and Alec Brand from CB East and Predhome and Berry will mix it up for the next few spots in a very deep league.
Prediction: Hibbs asserts himself after faltering in Delaware a few weeks back. MacCauley surprises Quinn for second and leads North Penn to the team title.
Deep Sleeper: CB East
10/22 Central Championships
Max Norris comes in as the top returner and a big favorite in this race. He is on almost everyone's top 10 list this season, and gets to prove himself after a disappointing 4th place finish a year ago. His teammate Pete Downs has had an up and down season thus far, but if this is an up day for him he should have a great finish. Strath Haven's Huemmler should also be in the mix after a break out DELCO performance last week, while Haverford should also have a few runners that mix it up with the top group. Penncrest is never a team to count out at the big meets and Pat Miller and Chris Kazanjian should also compete hard out front.
Prediction: Norris runs away from Haven's Huemmler, but Strath Haven takes down a closely contest team title bout with Haverford and Penncrest.
Deep Sleeper: The Smarts, Garnet Valley
10/22 PCL Championships
O'Hara and LaSalle will duel for PCL surpremecy as will their top runners Tom Coyle and Dan Savage. O'Hara certainly has a reputation to protect, but LaSalle is a team on the rise coming off a great finish at the Manhattan invite. Also in the mix are Chris Muldoon and Tim Flanagan as well as Owen Glatts and Colin Sawyer.
Prediction: O'Hara runs away with the gold, placing their top 5 in the top 10 for the second straight year, but Tom Coyle takes down Savage for gold.
Deep Sleeper: Andrew Stone, LaSalle
10/18 Lebanon Lancaster League Championships
Last year Cedar Crest took down the title behind Alex Galli and strong pack of guys, but this year the team race is much more wide open. On the individual side John Ausel and Nate Kreider both have made it onto the rankings and had strong seasons a year ago. Hopefully they can turn things around and show their stuff again at this championship meet. The team battle is certainly going to be close, Anville-Celona, Manheim Township, Elizabethtown, Conestoga Valley, even Cedar Crest have shown signs they can take the next step.
Prediction: I got Ausel for the win, the team battle is going to be tight, but I'll go with AC
Deep Sleeper: Cedar Crest as a team may be mix it up better than expected
10/18 Lehigh Valley Conference
Kacyon and England are gone from outfront, leaving an interesting assembly of talent battling for the championship. The top returners Cole Campbell and Nate Palmer have both caught my attention as sleeper picks for the top 50 at multiple times this year. The team race should be tight as well, Nazareth still has fire power, but upstart Northampton has made a name for themselves behind Tyler Laubach out front.
Prediction: I've got Nazareth in a close one, with Campbell over Palmer
Deep Sleeper: Parkland
10/18 YAIAA Championships
Hasn't been a glamorous championship since the days of Greg Kareis, but it does feature two runners to watch: Matt Croft and Adam Katora. Their squads (Red Lion and Dallastown) should also contend for the title.
Prediction: Katora takes gold
Deep Sleeper: Susuquehannock
10/19 Berks County Championships
ET #13 Governor Mifflin looks to defend their title and looks to keep the gold medalist posistion in house as well (Logan Mohn won the title a year ago). Evan Williams (formerly ET ranked) is the favorite coming into the race, but his Mifflin teammate Levi Lang is the top returner from a year ago. 8 of the top 9 from last year have graduated so the race is going to look quite different.
Prediction: Williams and Mifflin take the title
Deep Sleers: David Peterson, Conrad Weiser
10/19 Ed Narkiewicz All-League Meet
Last year Reece Ayers tempoed or something and ended up being upset in stunning fashion by Frank Ferlanda, although Ayers and company went on to have the last laugh with the league championship and district championship later in the season (plus a pretty good finish at states). Tunkhannock looks strong again with Ben Robinson and Jake Seigel running well out front and experience behind them. Alex Zubko and Chris Ehert will look to help break up the Tunkhannock party and try and help Dallas break up the party.
Prediction: Tunkhannock wins behind a win for Seigel
Deep Sleeper: Tom Damiani from Tunkhannock
10/19 Moutain Athletic Conference
Features Zach Moon and Addison Monroe, a couple of guys dancing around the 50 mark on the rankings.
Prediction: I have Monroe taking the win here and Mifflin County surprising as a team.
10/19 Pioneer Athletic Conference
ET #31 Brett Kelly headlines the event and he looks to lead Boyertown back to the title. From my perspective, however, it looks like Methacton is going to take home the team championship while Pottsgrove has the potential to surprise. Ian Yakuso is a name to remember from the Pottsgrove squad.
Prediction: I want to go upset here, but I have Kelly taking the win with a great run expected from Joe O'Such from Spring Ford, definitley a name to watch in coming weeks.
Sleeper: Jesse Magolon, Spring Ford
10/19 Schuylkill Leage Championships
Prediction: ET #7 Brendan Shearn is under 16 minutes for the title.
10/20 Bicentennial League Championships
ET #14 Holy Ghost Prep led by ET #33 Zach Israel and Ryan Horgan start their push towards qualifying for the state championships with their league championship meet.
Prediction: Prep and Israel run away with the Golds
Deep Sleer: Christian Kardish from the Prep
10/20 Ches-mont Championships
ET#3 West Chester Henderson gets a chance to show what they got against ET#10 Great Valley, who is in need of a confidence boost. West Chester East also could step up into the mix with a good day. Plenty of big names in this race including Grab, Haugh, and Russell from the Henderson squad, the Willig's at Great Valley and Kenny Leidel from Downingtown West. Without Devlin the race may not be as fast, but it doesn't mean it won't be interesting out front. Willig needs a big race to prove himself and there are a lot of Henderson guys itching to prove themselves against a big name like Ned.
Prediction: Willig takes the title but Henderson does the real damage scoring under their impressive 25 point total from a year ago.
Deep Sleeper: Steve Iannocane from Unionville
10/20 Tri States
Last year eventual state champions North Alleghney were defeated in stunning fashion by Baldwin. Meanwhile the North Hills trio took 1-2-3 in a race that featured Wade Endress, Logan Steiner, Bobby Bishop and Alex Moran. This year Baldiwn is lead by a new front runner, Andrew Kutcha who will try to rally the team by competing for the victory out front. However, Baldwin is not amongst the teams to watch in this one, as ET#2 Mt. Lebanon takes on ET#4 North Allegheny. Alex Moran and Logan Steiner have both been disappointed by their seasons thus far, but can right the ship with a big win here at the Tri States meet. Another name to watch is Mike Runco from Pittsburgh Central Catholic who has been barely outkicked twice at big meets and settled for 2nd and his teams invite and 3rd at Carlisle. He can wipe those memories clean with a win here. If Altoona returns to the meet, Dylan Mountain and Korey Replogle will be huge factors in the front pack of the race, and their ET#15 ranked squad could also play a role. There are also many other ranked guys in the mix
Prediction: Assuming Altoona is not back I have NA surprising Mt. Lebo for the team title behind a surprise win from Logan Steiner. Moran takes second just barely ahead of Runco with Kutcha taking a hard fought 4th.
Deep Sleeper: Ryan Boccabella from Norwin
10/21 SOL American
ET#2 Drew Magaha looks to finally break 16 minutes on Lehigh's fast surface and will only have to deal with Upper Dublin's Francis Ferruzzi in his quest for Gold. Meanwhile Ferruzzi will try to help Upper Dublin upset the defending champions Wissahickon.
Prediction: Magaha takes the win with a very fast time, Wissahickon holds off Upper Dublin's hard fought race to take the team title.
Deep Sleeper: Cassidy Silverthorn, PW
10/21 SOL National
Council Rock North looks to defend their team title from a year ago behind Mac Emery and Ross Wilson and a host of other solid runners. Connor Harriman will look to break up the party.
Prediction: CR North rolls, but Harriman takes the title.
Deep Sleeper: Jon Hartsough, Abington
10/21 SOL Contintenal
This is a big chance for North Penn to show case its stuff, at this point last season they really took the next step into a top 10 program. Jack MacCauley will get to battle it out up front with the Hatboro duo of Hibbs and Quinn. Dan Davis will also look to throw his hat in the ring. Connor Linse from Souderton, Alex Kane and Alec Brand from CB East and Predhome and Berry will mix it up for the next few spots in a very deep league.
Prediction: Hibbs asserts himself after faltering in Delaware a few weeks back. MacCauley surprises Quinn for second and leads North Penn to the team title.
Deep Sleeper: CB East
10/22 Central Championships
Max Norris comes in as the top returner and a big favorite in this race. He is on almost everyone's top 10 list this season, and gets to prove himself after a disappointing 4th place finish a year ago. His teammate Pete Downs has had an up and down season thus far, but if this is an up day for him he should have a great finish. Strath Haven's Huemmler should also be in the mix after a break out DELCO performance last week, while Haverford should also have a few runners that mix it up with the top group. Penncrest is never a team to count out at the big meets and Pat Miller and Chris Kazanjian should also compete hard out front.
Prediction: Norris runs away from Haven's Huemmler, but Strath Haven takes down a closely contest team title bout with Haverford and Penncrest.
Deep Sleeper: The Smarts, Garnet Valley
10/22 PCL Championships
O'Hara and LaSalle will duel for PCL surpremecy as will their top runners Tom Coyle and Dan Savage. O'Hara certainly has a reputation to protect, but LaSalle is a team on the rise coming off a great finish at the Manhattan invite. Also in the mix are Chris Muldoon and Tim Flanagan as well as Owen Glatts and Colin Sawyer.
Prediction: O'Hara runs away with the gold, placing their top 5 in the top 10 for the second straight year, but Tom Coyle takes down Savage for gold.
Deep Sleeper: Andrew Stone, LaSalle
Top Team Rankings
1. O'Hara
19 points at Delcos, they are legit, nuff said
2. Mt. Lebo
A lot of teams nipping at their heels, but I have confidence in Moran and company to turn things around and peak at the right time
3. WC Henderson
Fantastic pack and depth, excellent coaching, however, no clear front runner to get low points out front, a lot of young guys with inexperience on the big stage, a big chance to prove themselves going forward
4. North Allegheny
We know they are good, but I have no idea how good is good
5. North Penn
Like I said, I'm stubborn about my intuition, and these guys have proven they can run fast at the right times over and over
6. LaSalle
Look even better after Manhattan, I think a 4k plays to a lot of their guys strengths, however. We will see how they fair against O'Hara at PCLs
7. Kiski Area
They have two guys out front who are very solid, its just a matter of making the rest of it work.
8. Quaker Valley
They are still a very solid team, but seeing as it looks like Westwood is suffering from sickness/injury/something not good, that's not good
9. CR North
I just think these guys are going to be good when it counts like they always are, and they have a chance to show off at leagues this weekend and make me look good
10. Great Valley
Dramatic sigh. I wish I was sure on what kinda stuff Great Valley had right now. I will have a much better idea after Chestmonts, but til then I'm on the fence.
11. Chambersburg
Wish I could say I was more impressed at Mid Penns, solid pack but no big performances from their top guys
12. Lower Dauphin
Big performances from their top guys, that's a good sign. But they are also very young and fairly inexperienced. Hopefully they have 5 strong in the coming weeks.
13. Governor Mifflin
Still kind of unusre what to make of this team, some solid guys on the squad with some solid performances so far this season, but I need to see a little more before I can go any higher.
14. Holy Ghost Prep
I think they could even be higher, they aren't very far away from Great Valley in my eyes, but the D3 teams need some love, and I can't find it in myself to put them anywhere but right here in front of the Prep. Israel looks legit and Horgan took a nice step this past weekend, hopefully it stays that way.
15. Altoona
Certainly a handful of teams that could be in this spot but I like the fact that they have two potential state medalists out front and guys who have been at states before behind them. Two guys that far ahead makes a pretty big difference (see perk valley, 2008)
19 points at Delcos, they are legit, nuff said
2. Mt. Lebo
A lot of teams nipping at their heels, but I have confidence in Moran and company to turn things around and peak at the right time
3. WC Henderson
Fantastic pack and depth, excellent coaching, however, no clear front runner to get low points out front, a lot of young guys with inexperience on the big stage, a big chance to prove themselves going forward
4. North Allegheny
We know they are good, but I have no idea how good is good
5. North Penn
Like I said, I'm stubborn about my intuition, and these guys have proven they can run fast at the right times over and over
6. LaSalle
Look even better after Manhattan, I think a 4k plays to a lot of their guys strengths, however. We will see how they fair against O'Hara at PCLs
7. Kiski Area
They have two guys out front who are very solid, its just a matter of making the rest of it work.
8. Quaker Valley
They are still a very solid team, but seeing as it looks like Westwood is suffering from sickness/injury/something not good, that's not good
9. CR North
I just think these guys are going to be good when it counts like they always are, and they have a chance to show off at leagues this weekend and make me look good
10. Great Valley
Dramatic sigh. I wish I was sure on what kinda stuff Great Valley had right now. I will have a much better idea after Chestmonts, but til then I'm on the fence.
11. Chambersburg
Wish I could say I was more impressed at Mid Penns, solid pack but no big performances from their top guys
12. Lower Dauphin
Big performances from their top guys, that's a good sign. But they are also very young and fairly inexperienced. Hopefully they have 5 strong in the coming weeks.
13. Governor Mifflin
Still kind of unusre what to make of this team, some solid guys on the squad with some solid performances so far this season, but I need to see a little more before I can go any higher.
14. Holy Ghost Prep
I think they could even be higher, they aren't very far away from Great Valley in my eyes, but the D3 teams need some love, and I can't find it in myself to put them anywhere but right here in front of the Prep. Israel looks legit and Horgan took a nice step this past weekend, hopefully it stays that way.
15. Altoona
Certainly a handful of teams that could be in this spot but I like the fact that they have two potential state medalists out front and guys who have been at states before behind them. Two guys that far ahead makes a pretty big difference (see perk valley, 2008)
Top 50 Rankings 10/16
1. Dustin Wilson
2. Drew Magaha
3. Dan Jaskowak
4. Sam Hibbs
5. Andrew Kutcha
6. Max Norris
7. Brendan Shearn
8. Conner Quinn
9. Aaron Wilkinson
10. Alex Moran
11. Logan Steiner
12. Korey Replogle
13. Barrett Kemp
14. Connor Strynkowski
15. Sean Burke
16. Brent Kennedy
17. Tom Coyle
18. Mike Runco
19. Dylan Mountain
20. Sam Williams
21. Curt Jewett
22. Dan Savage
23. Ryan Smathers
24. Jack MacCauley
25. Ned Willig
26. Ean Disilvio
27. Connor Harriman
28. Luke Jones
29. Charlie Grab
30. LJ Westwood
31. Brett Kelly
32. Dan Davis
33. Zach Israel
34. Francis Ferruzzi
35. Tony Russell
36. Mac Emery
37. Sam Ritz
38. Joe O'Such
39. Jack Huemmler
40. Ernie Pitone
41. Chris Pastore
42. Alex Kane
43. Ryan Boccabella
44. Jeff Groh
45. Kenny Leidel
46. Tim Appman
47. Mike Billotta
48. Lawtin Tellin
49. John Felts
50. Nate Tallada
2. Drew Magaha
3. Dan Jaskowak
4. Sam Hibbs
5. Andrew Kutcha
6. Max Norris
7. Brendan Shearn
8. Conner Quinn
9. Aaron Wilkinson
10. Alex Moran
11. Logan Steiner
12. Korey Replogle
13. Barrett Kemp
14. Connor Strynkowski
15. Sean Burke
16. Brent Kennedy
17. Tom Coyle
18. Mike Runco
19. Dylan Mountain
20. Sam Williams
21. Curt Jewett
22. Dan Savage
23. Ryan Smathers
24. Jack MacCauley
25. Ned Willig
26. Ean Disilvio
27. Connor Harriman
28. Luke Jones
29. Charlie Grab
30. LJ Westwood
31. Brett Kelly
32. Dan Davis
33. Zach Israel
34. Francis Ferruzzi
35. Tony Russell
36. Mac Emery
37. Sam Ritz
38. Joe O'Such
39. Jack Huemmler
40. Ernie Pitone
41. Chris Pastore
42. Alex Kane
43. Ryan Boccabella
44. Jeff Groh
45. Kenny Leidel
46. Tim Appman
47. Mike Billotta
48. Lawtin Tellin
49. John Felts
50. Nate Tallada
Coming Soon
Not gonna lie, I'm really excited about the blog. Just ask my roommate, Charlie Kline, who I brag to all the time that I made 5 cents in 25 minutes by just sitting blogging in the computer lounge rather than doing Calculus homework. But seriously, I'm only excited because I know big things are on the horizon. What are these things you may ask?
Well for starters, after this weekends events I will be posting up my top 10 teams and my top 50 individual rankings, should be sometime around Sunday night. This will update over the past two weekends of work and should include some big moves as we set ourselves up for the league championship meets next weekend.
Also coming in this week will be a special edition of the Mid Week long run where I will do my best to preview the big time league championship meets that are coming up. I do have a small social life now so I may not be able to do it complete justice, but hey, it's still going to be fun.
Then at another point later in the week I will be dropping Part I (and maybe Part II soon after) of my story about Hong Cho, last year's 800m state champion. He was nice enough to give me a lot of information about his spring season and his current college training and such and I think there is potential for a really interesting set of stories which I will share with all of you soon.
And of course, I will always be available to answer any and all questions that my fans/followers may have during this interesting time of the year.
And guess what, I'm still planning on talking to more big names from around the state, and hopefully I can get you guys up to date on who is doing well and who is doing great.
Yeah that did just rhyme.
-train
Well for starters, after this weekends events I will be posting up my top 10 teams and my top 50 individual rankings, should be sometime around Sunday night. This will update over the past two weekends of work and should include some big moves as we set ourselves up for the league championship meets next weekend.
Also coming in this week will be a special edition of the Mid Week long run where I will do my best to preview the big time league championship meets that are coming up. I do have a small social life now so I may not be able to do it complete justice, but hey, it's still going to be fun.
Then at another point later in the week I will be dropping Part I (and maybe Part II soon after) of my story about Hong Cho, last year's 800m state champion. He was nice enough to give me a lot of information about his spring season and his current college training and such and I think there is potential for a really interesting set of stories which I will share with all of you soon.
And of course, I will always be available to answer any and all questions that my fans/followers may have during this interesting time of the year.
And guess what, I'm still planning on talking to more big names from around the state, and hopefully I can get you guys up to date on who is doing well and who is doing great.
Yeah that did just rhyme.
-train
Friday Stat
So going with the theme that I mentioned yesterday I thought I'd throw down a little bit of a stat for you on some guys who ended up choosing the D3 route rather than the D1 for college athletics and show you what kind of strides they have made at their programs. Don't worry I'm going to do my best not to be biased towards D3 running rather than D1 running, D1 running is awesome, I just am not as familiar with the stats and such for a slew of fairly obvious reasons.
So I'll keep this fairly short and just mention some of the top guys at XC mideast regionals, XC Nationals, and some track performers.
I run for Muhlenberg College, a member of the Centennial Conference which (again my bias slightly coming into play) is the best distance conference for D3 in the at the very least the Pennsylvania area. Haverford and Dickinson finished 1st and 5th respectively at D3 nationals in XC this past fall and look strong again. Haverford also had the individual national champion. Dickinson had the national steeplechase champion on the track.
This season Haverford and Dickinson should both make the trip to Nationals in Osh Kosh, but also Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore are contenders for top 5 in the region and a possible nationals bid.
PA certainly has been tapped by these schools for recruits. Off the top of my head here are some local guys who now wear uniforms in the Centennial Conference:
Eric Arnold, Haverford, Holy Ghost Prep
Ivo Milic-Straklj, Haverford, Friend's Central
Omar Hyjek, Dickinson, Quaker Valley
Dave Klein, Dickinson, Strath Haven
Richard Scott, Swarthmore, Strath Haven
Ted MacDonald, Dickinson, Neshaminy
Hunter Smith, Dickinson, CR South
Pete Schartel, Muhlenberg, Upper Dublin
Austin Stecklair, John's Hopkins, Henderson
Bryan Andrews, Franklin and Marshall, Henderson
Sam Stortz, Ursinus, Upper Dublin
And there are plenty more but I don't want to harp on the subject.
Here are some of the big names in D3 track out of PA, and what they have accomplished:
Eric Arnold- He is one of the top guys on Haverford's XC squad this year, and last year was an All-American as part of Haverford's national championship squad. He finished 5th at the Mideast Regional championship last year. Arnold is also and All-American in the 1500 from this past spring running in the low 3:50s. His high school PRs were around 4:21 and 15:59.
Ivo- Ivo has run under 4:10 multiple times in the mile since making the leap to Haverford and has won the conference in the mile and earned top spots in the 800. He has run close to if not under 8:20 for 3000m and is an All American for the DMR indoors, the mile indoors and the 1500 outdoors. In high school he was PA indoor state champion in the mile. His PR was around 4:17 for the 1600m.
Omar Hyjek- #1 runner on Dickinson's 5th place squad at Nationals this past fall. He ran PRs in the 1500 and 5k in the spring and mixed it up with some of the top guys in the centennial conference including Tim Schoch who was 2nd at Nationals in the 15. Hyjek was AA state champion in the 1600m and 4x800m.
Steven Welsh, Elizabethtown- AA State Champion in XC, contributing member to XC squad with the potential to go to nationals yet again.
Pat McLaughlin, Allegheny- Sub 16 5k runner in high school, has made nationals multiple times as a member of Allegheny's historic XC program. Has dropped time in the 5k and 10k.
Matt Jacob, Carnegie Mellon- 9th place at XC states AAA, top regional finisher for solid XC program
Zac Ross, Allegheny- 20th place at XC states AAA, 9:18 2 miler, has been all region and made trips to nationals with the Allegheny XC team
Dan Addis, Carnegie Mellon- 15:50 high school 5k PR, has made trips to nationals and been all region for Carnegie Mellon
Eric Reichert, Elizabethtown- Top guy on Etown's squad that finished 4th in the region last year
Brett and Joe Kubiak, Gwenyd Mercy- Top 2 runners on GM's regionally ranked team this season, high school AA state medalists
Ian Quinlan, Susquehanna- National qualifier, a favorite to qualify again for nationals this fall
Bob Torphy, Muhlenberg- Individual national qualifier for XC and Indoor Track, 1:53 and 4:14 PRs, 1:59 high school PR
Donnie Noble, Moravian- Sub 32 minutes for 10k on the track Outdoors
Zach Hoagland, Messiah- Top runner on Messiah team that is regionally ranked, high school state champion with North Penn, 24th place at states
There are a bunch more names you would probably recogonize in the regional results as well if you are curious.
Also joining the D3 ranks this year state medalists Bryan Andrews and Dillon Farrell (Moravian). Nate Noll (DeSales) should also be a freshman to watch this season.
Hope this was at least a little helpful, hopefully I can get some D1 updates soon.
-train
So I'll keep this fairly short and just mention some of the top guys at XC mideast regionals, XC Nationals, and some track performers.
I run for Muhlenberg College, a member of the Centennial Conference which (again my bias slightly coming into play) is the best distance conference for D3 in the at the very least the Pennsylvania area. Haverford and Dickinson finished 1st and 5th respectively at D3 nationals in XC this past fall and look strong again. Haverford also had the individual national champion. Dickinson had the national steeplechase champion on the track.
This season Haverford and Dickinson should both make the trip to Nationals in Osh Kosh, but also Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore are contenders for top 5 in the region and a possible nationals bid.
PA certainly has been tapped by these schools for recruits. Off the top of my head here are some local guys who now wear uniforms in the Centennial Conference:
Eric Arnold, Haverford, Holy Ghost Prep
Ivo Milic-Straklj, Haverford, Friend's Central
Omar Hyjek, Dickinson, Quaker Valley
Dave Klein, Dickinson, Strath Haven
Richard Scott, Swarthmore, Strath Haven
Ted MacDonald, Dickinson, Neshaminy
Hunter Smith, Dickinson, CR South
Pete Schartel, Muhlenberg, Upper Dublin
Austin Stecklair, John's Hopkins, Henderson
Bryan Andrews, Franklin and Marshall, Henderson
Sam Stortz, Ursinus, Upper Dublin
And there are plenty more but I don't want to harp on the subject.
Here are some of the big names in D3 track out of PA, and what they have accomplished:
Eric Arnold- He is one of the top guys on Haverford's XC squad this year, and last year was an All-American as part of Haverford's national championship squad. He finished 5th at the Mideast Regional championship last year. Arnold is also and All-American in the 1500 from this past spring running in the low 3:50s. His high school PRs were around 4:21 and 15:59.
Ivo- Ivo has run under 4:10 multiple times in the mile since making the leap to Haverford and has won the conference in the mile and earned top spots in the 800. He has run close to if not under 8:20 for 3000m and is an All American for the DMR indoors, the mile indoors and the 1500 outdoors. In high school he was PA indoor state champion in the mile. His PR was around 4:17 for the 1600m.
Omar Hyjek- #1 runner on Dickinson's 5th place squad at Nationals this past fall. He ran PRs in the 1500 and 5k in the spring and mixed it up with some of the top guys in the centennial conference including Tim Schoch who was 2nd at Nationals in the 15. Hyjek was AA state champion in the 1600m and 4x800m.
Steven Welsh, Elizabethtown- AA State Champion in XC, contributing member to XC squad with the potential to go to nationals yet again.
Pat McLaughlin, Allegheny- Sub 16 5k runner in high school, has made nationals multiple times as a member of Allegheny's historic XC program. Has dropped time in the 5k and 10k.
Matt Jacob, Carnegie Mellon- 9th place at XC states AAA, top regional finisher for solid XC program
Zac Ross, Allegheny- 20th place at XC states AAA, 9:18 2 miler, has been all region and made trips to nationals with the Allegheny XC team
Dan Addis, Carnegie Mellon- 15:50 high school 5k PR, has made trips to nationals and been all region for Carnegie Mellon
Eric Reichert, Elizabethtown- Top guy on Etown's squad that finished 4th in the region last year
Brett and Joe Kubiak, Gwenyd Mercy- Top 2 runners on GM's regionally ranked team this season, high school AA state medalists
Ian Quinlan, Susquehanna- National qualifier, a favorite to qualify again for nationals this fall
Bob Torphy, Muhlenberg- Individual national qualifier for XC and Indoor Track, 1:53 and 4:14 PRs, 1:59 high school PR
Donnie Noble, Moravian- Sub 32 minutes for 10k on the track Outdoors
Zach Hoagland, Messiah- Top runner on Messiah team that is regionally ranked, high school state champion with North Penn, 24th place at states
There are a bunch more names you would probably recogonize in the regional results as well if you are curious.
Also joining the D3 ranks this year state medalists Bryan Andrews and Dillon Farrell (Moravian). Nate Noll (DeSales) should also be a freshman to watch this season.
Hope this was at least a little helpful, hopefully I can get some D1 updates soon.
-train
College Running
I remember this time 2 years ago I was caught in the middle of the difficult college selection process and a lot of things were running through my mind. One of the biggest decisions I had to make being at the skill level I am at was if I wanted to run in college. Obviously I wasn't cut out for a big time D1 school, so that limited my options if I decided I was indeed going to run. It was a tough decision, and one that I didn't want to make without advice.
So this upcoming week, for everybody out there who is going through this same thing, I will be talking to runners who run on club teams, DIII programs, DII programs, DI programs, and just guys who run on their own to learn about their experience and hopefully get some helpful advice for the readers out there.
If you fit one of these descriptions and would like to give your opinion/thoughts/advice, you know how to contact me.
-train
PS Henderson has 7 guys under 10 minutes in the 32 and I would bet almost nobody in PA could name all of their names. Good job Coach K.
So this upcoming week, for everybody out there who is going through this same thing, I will be talking to runners who run on club teams, DIII programs, DII programs, DI programs, and just guys who run on their own to learn about their experience and hopefully get some helpful advice for the readers out there.
If you fit one of these descriptions and would like to give your opinion/thoughts/advice, you know how to contact me.
-train
PS Henderson has 7 guys under 10 minutes in the 32 and I would bet almost nobody in PA could name all of their names. Good job Coach K.
Mid Week Long Run
Because of fall break I have completely lost track of the days, which almost made me miss a couple classes in school today and (more importantly perhaps) made me completely forget I was due for a Mid Week Long Run.
I also may have forgotten because quite frankly I don't really care too much about the action this weekend. I'm kind of interested to see what goes down at Henderson tonight in the 2 mile (although without Devlin it will be significantly less interesting than originally thought). I am curious to see if Mid Penn's reveals any sleeper teams/individuals because D3 is always good and seems to be under the radar this year on my rankings and everyone else's as well.
Lastly, I want to see if O'Hara can get under 20 points at Delcos. They came close last year and the league is arguably worse and O'Hara looks like they are definitely better. So that should be fun but huge blow outs haven't really interested me since Coatesville.
So basically that was a really lame Mid Week Long Run post which is why I have something else that I would like to say at this moment while I (hopefully) have a decent amount of people's attention.
Anyone who is on the top 50, on the a team in my top 10-12 teams, in the top 10 AA rankings or just wants to be interviewed please send me a message or text me (215-450-1099) so that I can talk to you about your season and hopefully get some interesting articles up on here.
I had a nice chat with Scarpello last year which I think yielding a pretty intereting post, so college guys I'd love to hear from you too.
Heck if anyone knows Ed Cheserek and wants to get him to come chat with me that'd be great.
Lastly, I know I am not a female analyst, I don't know nearly enough about their history and good runners and everything, but the women deserve some respect too. If my blog is going to compete with penntrack for readers, I'm going to need to get updated on the women's side of things. So if anyone wants to be an official women's corresponder please feel free to get in touch with me.
Ladies feel free to ask to be interviewed too, I'm sure people want to hear about your training as well.
In the mean time I am going to try my best to put together some women's rankings for this coming weekend and have a solid set of men's and women's rankings going into the championship weeks of the season.
So all in all I hope you guys are excited about how big the blog is getting, because all of you readers are in on the ground floor of the operation.
Please keep giving me your input, every piece of information and inside scoop we can add to this blog makes it much, much better. I am really excited to see how things grow in the upcoming weeks.
Stay classy.
-train
I also may have forgotten because quite frankly I don't really care too much about the action this weekend. I'm kind of interested to see what goes down at Henderson tonight in the 2 mile (although without Devlin it will be significantly less interesting than originally thought). I am curious to see if Mid Penn's reveals any sleeper teams/individuals because D3 is always good and seems to be under the radar this year on my rankings and everyone else's as well.
Lastly, I want to see if O'Hara can get under 20 points at Delcos. They came close last year and the league is arguably worse and O'Hara looks like they are definitely better. So that should be fun but huge blow outs haven't really interested me since Coatesville.
So basically that was a really lame Mid Week Long Run post which is why I have something else that I would like to say at this moment while I (hopefully) have a decent amount of people's attention.
Anyone who is on the top 50, on the a team in my top 10-12 teams, in the top 10 AA rankings or just wants to be interviewed please send me a message or text me (215-450-1099) so that I can talk to you about your season and hopefully get some interesting articles up on here.
I had a nice chat with Scarpello last year which I think yielding a pretty intereting post, so college guys I'd love to hear from you too.
Heck if anyone knows Ed Cheserek and wants to get him to come chat with me that'd be great.
Lastly, I know I am not a female analyst, I don't know nearly enough about their history and good runners and everything, but the women deserve some respect too. If my blog is going to compete with penntrack for readers, I'm going to need to get updated on the women's side of things. So if anyone wants to be an official women's corresponder please feel free to get in touch with me.
Ladies feel free to ask to be interviewed too, I'm sure people want to hear about your training as well.
In the mean time I am going to try my best to put together some women's rankings for this coming weekend and have a solid set of men's and women's rankings going into the championship weeks of the season.
So all in all I hope you guys are excited about how big the blog is getting, because all of you readers are in on the ground floor of the operation.
Please keep giving me your input, every piece of information and inside scoop we can add to this blog makes it much, much better. I am really excited to see how things grow in the upcoming weeks.
Stay classy.
-train
Devlin Done For The Season
As many of you have probably heard, Quinn Devlin has a stress fracture and will not run cross country this season. He was one of the early favorites for the state championship this fall. The blog has not been able to reach Quinn for comments at this time, but sources close to Devlin indicate that he hopes to come back strong in the winter and spring and shoot for the 2 mile championship at outdoor states. This is another tough blow to the top 10 from the preseason rankings as more and more top ranked guys are faltering early in the season. He will not be on the rankings anymore so I figured I would throw this down on here for reference.
AA Rankings
So first off let me lay down a few facts that I want to clear up before I give a brief bit of AA rankings.
First off, my rankings are different than my predictions for states. I may rank Alex Moran and Logan Steiner fairly low now because they have not proven anything but by states time my predictions would look very different. For example even the week before states I had Gil ranked lower than I would have predicted he'd finish at states (I think I predicted him to finish 3rd and had him ranked roughly 5th, not 100% on that). So when I say I have Westwood as my favorite to win states, it is not as a result of his early season racing. Shearn has done much more in the past few weeks to prove he is a top ranked runner than Westwood so he gets to move up.
One more example, right now I got Jaskowak at 2. There's no way if I was betting on the state's race I'd have Hibbs not winnning, but rankings are designed to show what you have done for me lately.
Also I will not lie to you guys, my speciality is District One and AAA guys. AA guys and AA history is not my strong suit. I know it fairly well, I know where to go to find it, but I am by no means an expert.
So that being said, my AA rankings are going to look a lot like my overall rankings (except there are no AAA and independent league guys). But that does not mean that's the order I'm picking people to finish at states. So here's the rankings but you probably already knew these.
1. Brendan Shearn
2. LJ Westwood
3. Barrett Kemp
4. Sam Williams
5. Curt Jewett
6. Ryan Smathers
7. Luke Jones
8. Nate Tallada
9. Hunter Johnston
10. Nat Fox
First off, my rankings are different than my predictions for states. I may rank Alex Moran and Logan Steiner fairly low now because they have not proven anything but by states time my predictions would look very different. For example even the week before states I had Gil ranked lower than I would have predicted he'd finish at states (I think I predicted him to finish 3rd and had him ranked roughly 5th, not 100% on that). So when I say I have Westwood as my favorite to win states, it is not as a result of his early season racing. Shearn has done much more in the past few weeks to prove he is a top ranked runner than Westwood so he gets to move up.
One more example, right now I got Jaskowak at 2. There's no way if I was betting on the state's race I'd have Hibbs not winnning, but rankings are designed to show what you have done for me lately.
Also I will not lie to you guys, my speciality is District One and AAA guys. AA guys and AA history is not my strong suit. I know it fairly well, I know where to go to find it, but I am by no means an expert.
So that being said, my AA rankings are going to look a lot like my overall rankings (except there are no AAA and independent league guys). But that does not mean that's the order I'm picking people to finish at states. So here's the rankings but you probably already knew these.
1. Brendan Shearn
2. LJ Westwood
3. Barrett Kemp
4. Sam Williams
5. Curt Jewett
6. Ryan Smathers
7. Luke Jones
8. Nate Tallada
9. Hunter Johnston
10. Nat Fox
Top Ten Teams
So I'm trying this out but I'm warning you, I'm probably going to be pretty off. I haven't followed the team game as closely as I should but I'll throw down my thoughts and feel free to throw down yours as well. The usual rules apply about contacting me and giving me the dish so let me hear you.
As the Joker says: And here ... we ... go
1. O'Hara- Savage, Bilotta, Pastore, Ostrowski
So look I'm the first one to say throw times out the window when looking at whose the best individual/team and all that good stuff but you can't overlook the fact that O'Hara traveled out of state had a boatload of guys under 16 minutes, and beat some very good teams. That proved they were a legit title contender. You can make excuses for Lebo at Pre States and all that good stuff, but you can argue O'Hara didn't have their best day either with the whole Savage sickness or whatever. Here's the bottom line, O'Hara has got 5 real solid guys who know how to work together and pack up, just like last year. Only this year I think their pack will be up higher and the other teams around them won't be as deep. PCL teams have a knack for peaking at the right time.
Only thing I can find that concerns me is that if a guy gets hurt in their top 5 they don't have much of a 6/7 that I have seen to come save the day. We will see, but definitely the #1 team.
2. Mt. Lebanon- Moran, Tellin, Tramalgini
Alright so here's the thing Mt Lebo looked very good early on, Moran was an early state title contender and they had a tight spread and all that good stuff. Since the early season, however, they have really thrown up some flags. Tellin had an off race last weekend, whatever its one bad race on a sloppy course, he'll get over it. Moran has been having a few off races and hasn't been able to pull out any big wins, but he's a very talented guy who is working hard, he should be able to piece things together at the end of the season. But those things still worry me. It's not like O'Hara who has got big wins and all their guys seem healthy and continue to move up my board rather than move down. I'm hoping that they didn't train too hard in the summer or something like that. I doubt that's the case but it is a possibility. Gunz had a stretch kind of like Moran where Gil was beating up on him, but he still came back and got 2nd at states. We will see if Lebo has the same firepower at states that Rad did.
3. North Allegheny- Steiner, Appman, Some Freshman
So you don't want to rely too much on the young guys, but NA has done it before with Gil as a third man when they got third at states a couple years back. I don't recoginize a lot of names on this team, but admittedly, they usually churn out studs I've never heard of year in and year out. Up front Steiner doesn't look amazing but think about Gil and RWB and Carlisle, he got beat by plenty of guys and he still one states. Despite completely f-ing up his toe. So I'm not too concerned. This team always, always, always has what it takes by Districts and States. Haven't seen much of NA lately so its hard to judge but based on instinct I think Lebo should be scared.
4. Henderson- Russell, the kid who used to go to HHorsham, Barchet?, Grab
Speaking of young guys, cue West Chester Henderson. So many young guys in the top 3 and top 7. Always under the radar at this time in the season, but always doing high mileage and biding their time waiting to strike. They are always a force at Districts and States and are very well coached. But again the big names from last year (Stecklair, Andrews, Collins, Barchet) are absent for one reason or another (most of them have come join me in the Centennial Conference) and still they post a very respectable finish at the meet up in New Jersey. I haven't seen enough against PA competition to move them up or down much from this spot, but just on reputation alone I expect them to run pretty solid by Districts and States. Russell is a kid to watch this year and the next couple if he keeps healthy and keeps working hard under the Kevin Kelly plan. And the guy they stole from Hatboro Horsham (I'm really sorry I just can't remember the kids name) is a nice young piece too.
5. North Penn- MacCauley, Trimble, Davis
So North Penn. Finished where at Carlisle last year? Finished where at Districts? Sure their 4-5 hasn't shown me much but I know their top three were all in the top 30 or so at Districts and the school is frickin huge, they can burn a few guys at top mileage to get a solid set of 4-5 runners. They peak at the right time and I can drop a huge load of stats on you about how awesome they have been at Districts the past few years even when people expect them to do squat (see 2010 District One Championships). And no one expected them to do squat this year. They were my pick to win Districts and I am really having a hard time letting go of that (they are still my pick to win by the way, I don't back out of things I say very easily, I'm just stubborn like that) Jacky Mac was the talk of the town in the spring. Don't forget about the kid people, he's still going to be good. Dan Davis has been solid as well, another potential state medalist wearing the baby blue.
6. Quaker Valley- Westwood, Fox
They are a AA powerhouse and have produced quality guys for quite some time now on the AA side. They are pretty big favorites to take the cake this year and get the win, winning prestates without Westwood (who better be healthy otherwise everything I am saying goes out the window). They have the favorite for the AA championship in my opinion leading them out front so that right there gives you a one or a two in team scoring (see why that previous sentene is relevant yet?) and then with something like that out front your only scoring 4 guys and that's huge. We saw it in Muhlenberg last year and this year. Having a front runner works wonders. How do they stack up against AAA teams? Eh, Pre States and RWB indicated here at 6 so that's what I'm going with.
7. LaSalle- Coyle, Stone
I'm running out of energy to type long stuff so I'm going to keep this brief. Young team that keeps getting better and better. Top guy who keeps learning to run XC. Comes from the PCL where pack running and hill running are perfected. States is hilly and LaSalle has pulled off plenty of sick states performances before (see 2nd place finish in 2008). They will be good at the right time. Depends on how deep they are to see just how good is good.
8. Great Valley- Willig, Willig (not a type-o), Wolffe
Gotta think they are better than the performance at Paul Short. Still think Prep may be peaking a tad early (heck they have done it before) and Great Valley is just appearently not as good as LaSalle (which proves me wrong because I thought they were better). I still have hope about this team (see me being stubborn above), but it is dwindling fast. Paul Short was not a good showing at all. I still believe in the Willig's moving up way higher than their last performance, but they best step their game up in the coming weeks or things will not get any prettier.
9. CR North- Emery, Wilson
When has CR North not made states? Yeah exactly. They will be back, they will be solid, and if you go to states out of District One (not trying to sound like a prick) you are pretty darn good team. Plus I think CR North is better than people give them credit for. They are a little young, but they tend to put it together at the right time like so many of the other teams on this list so I expect big things.
10. Holy Ghost Prep- Israel, Horgan, Kardish
Speaking of teams who put it together at the right time year in and year out, Holy Ghost Prep has not been one of those teams. But hey, things look like they may be different. They are still running solid at this point and the season and they are always at least in the mix come Districts but they usually fall just a bit short after much loftier early season expectations. Proceed with caution if playing them in fantasy leagues because the next couple weeks could take a turn downhill.
yeah I said top ten but this is kind of like a shout out you are doing a good job type deal for these last couple teams.
Same thing can be said about both teams. Some solid guys, no big names. District 3 has had a bunch of solid teams who haven't made huge noise, and these are the best two teams in my eyes in the District this year.
11. Governor Mifflin
12. Chambersburg
As the Joker says: And here ... we ... go
1. O'Hara- Savage, Bilotta, Pastore, Ostrowski
So look I'm the first one to say throw times out the window when looking at whose the best individual/team and all that good stuff but you can't overlook the fact that O'Hara traveled out of state had a boatload of guys under 16 minutes, and beat some very good teams. That proved they were a legit title contender. You can make excuses for Lebo at Pre States and all that good stuff, but you can argue O'Hara didn't have their best day either with the whole Savage sickness or whatever. Here's the bottom line, O'Hara has got 5 real solid guys who know how to work together and pack up, just like last year. Only this year I think their pack will be up higher and the other teams around them won't be as deep. PCL teams have a knack for peaking at the right time.
Only thing I can find that concerns me is that if a guy gets hurt in their top 5 they don't have much of a 6/7 that I have seen to come save the day. We will see, but definitely the #1 team.
2. Mt. Lebanon- Moran, Tellin, Tramalgini
Alright so here's the thing Mt Lebo looked very good early on, Moran was an early state title contender and they had a tight spread and all that good stuff. Since the early season, however, they have really thrown up some flags. Tellin had an off race last weekend, whatever its one bad race on a sloppy course, he'll get over it. Moran has been having a few off races and hasn't been able to pull out any big wins, but he's a very talented guy who is working hard, he should be able to piece things together at the end of the season. But those things still worry me. It's not like O'Hara who has got big wins and all their guys seem healthy and continue to move up my board rather than move down. I'm hoping that they didn't train too hard in the summer or something like that. I doubt that's the case but it is a possibility. Gunz had a stretch kind of like Moran where Gil was beating up on him, but he still came back and got 2nd at states. We will see if Lebo has the same firepower at states that Rad did.
3. North Allegheny- Steiner, Appman, Some Freshman
So you don't want to rely too much on the young guys, but NA has done it before with Gil as a third man when they got third at states a couple years back. I don't recoginize a lot of names on this team, but admittedly, they usually churn out studs I've never heard of year in and year out. Up front Steiner doesn't look amazing but think about Gil and RWB and Carlisle, he got beat by plenty of guys and he still one states. Despite completely f-ing up his toe. So I'm not too concerned. This team always, always, always has what it takes by Districts and States. Haven't seen much of NA lately so its hard to judge but based on instinct I think Lebo should be scared.
4. Henderson- Russell, the kid who used to go to HHorsham, Barchet?, Grab
Speaking of young guys, cue West Chester Henderson. So many young guys in the top 3 and top 7. Always under the radar at this time in the season, but always doing high mileage and biding their time waiting to strike. They are always a force at Districts and States and are very well coached. But again the big names from last year (Stecklair, Andrews, Collins, Barchet) are absent for one reason or another (most of them have come join me in the Centennial Conference) and still they post a very respectable finish at the meet up in New Jersey. I haven't seen enough against PA competition to move them up or down much from this spot, but just on reputation alone I expect them to run pretty solid by Districts and States. Russell is a kid to watch this year and the next couple if he keeps healthy and keeps working hard under the Kevin Kelly plan. And the guy they stole from Hatboro Horsham (I'm really sorry I just can't remember the kids name) is a nice young piece too.
5. North Penn- MacCauley, Trimble, Davis
So North Penn. Finished where at Carlisle last year? Finished where at Districts? Sure their 4-5 hasn't shown me much but I know their top three were all in the top 30 or so at Districts and the school is frickin huge, they can burn a few guys at top mileage to get a solid set of 4-5 runners. They peak at the right time and I can drop a huge load of stats on you about how awesome they have been at Districts the past few years even when people expect them to do squat (see 2010 District One Championships). And no one expected them to do squat this year. They were my pick to win Districts and I am really having a hard time letting go of that (they are still my pick to win by the way, I don't back out of things I say very easily, I'm just stubborn like that) Jacky Mac was the talk of the town in the spring. Don't forget about the kid people, he's still going to be good. Dan Davis has been solid as well, another potential state medalist wearing the baby blue.
6. Quaker Valley- Westwood, Fox
They are a AA powerhouse and have produced quality guys for quite some time now on the AA side. They are pretty big favorites to take the cake this year and get the win, winning prestates without Westwood (who better be healthy otherwise everything I am saying goes out the window). They have the favorite for the AA championship in my opinion leading them out front so that right there gives you a one or a two in team scoring (see why that previous sentene is relevant yet?) and then with something like that out front your only scoring 4 guys and that's huge. We saw it in Muhlenberg last year and this year. Having a front runner works wonders. How do they stack up against AAA teams? Eh, Pre States and RWB indicated here at 6 so that's what I'm going with.
7. LaSalle- Coyle, Stone
I'm running out of energy to type long stuff so I'm going to keep this brief. Young team that keeps getting better and better. Top guy who keeps learning to run XC. Comes from the PCL where pack running and hill running are perfected. States is hilly and LaSalle has pulled off plenty of sick states performances before (see 2nd place finish in 2008). They will be good at the right time. Depends on how deep they are to see just how good is good.
8. Great Valley- Willig, Willig (not a type-o), Wolffe
Gotta think they are better than the performance at Paul Short. Still think Prep may be peaking a tad early (heck they have done it before) and Great Valley is just appearently not as good as LaSalle (which proves me wrong because I thought they were better). I still have hope about this team (see me being stubborn above), but it is dwindling fast. Paul Short was not a good showing at all. I still believe in the Willig's moving up way higher than their last performance, but they best step their game up in the coming weeks or things will not get any prettier.
9. CR North- Emery, Wilson
When has CR North not made states? Yeah exactly. They will be back, they will be solid, and if you go to states out of District One (not trying to sound like a prick) you are pretty darn good team. Plus I think CR North is better than people give them credit for. They are a little young, but they tend to put it together at the right time like so many of the other teams on this list so I expect big things.
10. Holy Ghost Prep- Israel, Horgan, Kardish
Speaking of teams who put it together at the right time year in and year out, Holy Ghost Prep has not been one of those teams. But hey, things look like they may be different. They are still running solid at this point and the season and they are always at least in the mix come Districts but they usually fall just a bit short after much loftier early season expectations. Proceed with caution if playing them in fantasy leagues because the next couple weeks could take a turn downhill.
yeah I said top ten but this is kind of like a shout out you are doing a good job type deal for these last couple teams.
Same thing can be said about both teams. Some solid guys, no big names. District 3 has had a bunch of solid teams who haven't made huge noise, and these are the best two teams in my eyes in the District this year.
11. Governor Mifflin
12. Chambersburg
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