XC Talk

I personally haven't spotted a Henderson Performance List yet. If anyone has one/finds one, if you could leave the link up on here for me that would be fantastic. So now I'm going to try and lay down some of my thoughts for the upcoming cross country season.

Certainly the big punches are going to come from the top teams. In the past there is almost always a 1-2 punch with the potential to place two guys in the top 5 at states. Weller and Dennin, anyone on Coatesville the year they won nationals, Montijo and Miles, Furcht and Berman, Bernitt and Miles, Perozze and Tarsnane, Hebda, Silenieks and Kush, and Hibbs and Quinn are all recent big time performers. This year I have a few obvious ones and maybe a few sleepers. As mentioned Nissley and Groh is a great one-two punch from outside the big names/the big district, District One. Sam Williams and Curt Jewett as well from Northeast Bradford are going to be warriors and on the AA scene are going to be a very capable one-two. O'Hara is built with a 3 headed monster, as too is CR North. Savage, Pastore and Pitone v. Emery, Zingarini and Wilson. CR North's boys had the better track season, but the O'Hara trio had the better cross season, mostly (one could argue entirely) because of Savage's excellent cross country season. Connor Harriman came into his own this past year with top finishes at XC states and outdoor states. He has a young teammate in Sam Webb who looked very strong as just a freshman this past year. Then of course Henderson has the potential for a bunch of different combinations of duos. They have Russell and Barchet out front who look to be contenders for possibly top 10 spots and then also they have Chaborek, Haugh, Collins, Rimkis, Stratman, etc.

Looking at the top 4x8s, I don't see much there beyond Cumberland Valley. Cumby obviously is a great team that is one of the favorites for the district 3 title and a contender for the state title. They return a lot of runners led by 1:51 guy Kunzweiler. Past those guys, Chambersburg had a solid season last year but will really miss Rotz and Holder, not to mention Harringer. They have some young guys who may be able to step up but they are not really on my radar. Pennridge's relay was mostly 400 studs who had great strength and moved up, similar to Bensalem, although Bensalem just had great depth in the 4 and the 8. Kyle Francis went to states a year ago in XC and do expect him to be back. Maybe Rivera can go too, but I don't see enough there to think they are a legitimate team contender in a very strong D1 this year. Quaker Valley is always good at XC, but they will lose a decent amount out front so even they will struggle to return to the elite teams. Kiski should have success on the trials. Kennedy is a very strong leader for that team and Miller dropping a 1:56 in his own right is very impressive. I like the fact that they did so much last year with a young team. They should rise well to the occasion.

It's obviously very early to be speculating about the big meets down the line like Footlocker and NXN, but I could definitely see Henderson going as a team if they can put it all together this season. They have so much talent on paper and are well coached. Plus they go to NXN almost every year, so I would bet a large amount they'd be back again. As for O'Hara they passed on it last year and if I'm being honest, I think last year was their best shot to go considering how many big meets they had ran in and won. They didn't have depth past 5 last year which ultimately was there downfall. I'm sure they will improve on that this year, however. James already looks much better and had a nice track season. He should develop into a very capable 4th or maybe even 3rd man depending on his improvements.

But the team race isn't exactly just between Henderson and O'Hara. I think right now those two teams are the class of the state and they have the experience and coaching that shows they have succeeded at the top level before. But CR North is very dangerous. They have 3 big guns and are very well coached in their own right. Right now, they just have to prove they can translate a great track season into a great XC season. The key will be Emery. You need at least one state medalist in order to win the state championship and if things go well for him, his potential is top 5 in the state. No one else to me, so far, has shown they have the depth to match Henderson or 3-4 studs out front to match O'Hara. But I am almost positive last year at this time I didn't realize O'Hara had most of the studs they ended up having so a lot can change without a doubt.

As for individuals who can go to nationals I'd say the only guys I can think of right now with any sort of shot are Quinn, Jaskowak and Shearn. They all ran there last year and gained the experience, plus they have all placed very well at big meets and Shearn and Quinn each have state titles. Regionals is a hilly course and I think that hurts someone like Coyle or Smathers who have killer 1600m speed that benefits them on flatter courses. But obviously it's still way to early to tell. Nobody had Jaskowak pegged for the top finish of any PIAA runner at regionals this year I'm sure.

In the WPIAL, it's hard to imagine NA not pulling out the win. It's unreal that they can year in and year out find the talent to win the big one. Last year early on I thought NA would pull it out again, then doubted them after a rough race at Tri States, only to watch them run amazing against a very good Mt. Lebanon team to close out the season. I'm picking NA again to win. But Kiski should be no slouch competition. Lebo should be solid, maybe getting back to states but they have to watch out for teams like Fox Chapel who return one of my sleepers Ethan Martin and his twin brother out front and a total of 6 of their top 7.

Individually and team wise this will be a down year for the WPIAL most likely after having a stretch of fantastic years in XC where they were arguably better than D1, especially out front. It is a young district with the top 6 returners from WPIALs last year being either sophomores or freshman. Chris Culley, a state medalist last year, is amongst the top returning seniors and may be on the verge of a break out year.

Lastly, I'll try to throw down some sleeper picks who were left off my list. Alex Coburn, the #2 man in CValley is coming off a season that featured a string of 1:56s and 4:24ish times and gold medal relay. He also was the top freshman in the state as a freshman and is once again healthy for one of the first times since then. The two young NA boys are definitely sleepers. Seel and Louco were top 15 guys at WPIALs last year and just struggled to avoid the pressure of the state meet in their first trip there. But you can bet the youngsters are growing up fast, trying to lead NA this year and their experience should pay off. Roy Hadfield, a returning AA state medalist, is the top guy returning on a Quaker Valley squad that won a state title a year ago. He had a solid track season and will have great coaching as he looks to improve in a very deep group of AA individuals. Most of my other big sleepers like Will Cather and Ethan Martin are already on my list. If we are talking real deep sleepers keep an eye on Aziz Yousif out of Bradford. He won the 8 the 16 and the 32 at the AAA District 9 Championships this past year, was a solid 55th at XC states last year, and churned out a 1:57 this past spring. A few years back a sleeper pick from District 9 ended up turning out pretty well, Bud Plaszenski finished 3rd at the state meet in 2008. The previous year he was 71st.