So I'm looking to get some opinions on some questions and then I will give you my own opinion after I hear yours, here's what I got ... Who will place higher in XC 2012 at states....
1. Battle of the Norths: North Penn or North Allegheny?
2. Battle of the Defending Champs: Brendan Shearn or Conner Quinn?
3. Battle of the PCL Boys: Tom Coyle or Dan Savage?
4. Battle of the Milers: Jack Huemmler or James Zingarini?
5. The Big Question: West Chester Henderson or O'Hara?
6. Battle of the Henderson Boys: Tony Russell or Reiny Barchet?
7. Battle of the Youngsters: Ethan Martin or Caleb Wakeley?
8. Battle of the Walking Wounded: Max Norris or Jeff Groh?
9. Battle of the Northeast Bradford Boys: Sam Williams or Curt Jewett?
10. Battle of the 3200m Stars: Mac Emery or Jack Macauley or Connor Harriman?
11. Battle for the State Championship: Shearn or Jaskowak, Quinn or Coyle, Williams or Galassi or Jones or Smathers ..... Or Other!
Note Question 11 is the only Question where the answer other is applicable
1) NA
ReplyDelete2) Shearn
3) Savage
4) Zingarini
5) Henderson
6) Barchet
7)Wakeley
8) Norris
9) Jewett
10) Emery
11) Shearn/Quinn/Smathers
Also are you gonna keep doing some of the XC talk for some of the other teams. I liked that
My reasons because I'm bored.
Delete1) NA has depth and history to show that they will do well. They had 2 impressive Sophs in Becich and Luoco. They had 2 freshmen, Steel and McGoey who had very nice years in cross. Zemet is also a sleeper as he ran 9:45 this past season. This team is young and has some great talent and McCauley can only get NP so far…
2) I said Shearn because of his tremendous improvement in track and he’s only getting better. He has some great times. Not to overlook Quinn but Shearn has the track times against great competition to back it up.
3) Its hard to go against a state champ. Especially one that placed well at XC states last year and was the mile state champ. Yet, Savage just seems to have that endurance and something that clicks when he’s running on the hills and not on the track. I don’t have too much of a reason for this but Savage beat out Coyle when it counted at XC states.
4) Well...I look back at this and I feel pretty stupid about this one. Hummeler has him in XC time and has a 4:12 mile. Hummeler has beat him before...so not quite sure what I was thinking on this. Not saying Zingarini can’t get him, but Hummeler has the advantage.
5) The most hyped contest in XC history. They match pretty evenly. But in the end, I give it to WCH. WCH has the depth to still do well even with injuries. When they're at they’re best, they're quicker. O’Hara has the advantage of running on the hills but WCH just has too much fire power.
6) This might be a repeat of the Hibbs and Quinn duo from last year. Two outstanding runners that will really be able to go at it consistently and only make each other better. However, I’ll go with Reiny. Not because of his track times, but Barchet ran 16:05 as a freshman. Give him another year of experience, and no injuries and I give him the edge. Although it’s so close it’s basically a toss up.
7) This is another really tough one. 2 talented guys who have proven to show they can run with the best. Martin has run the better 3200. However, Wakeley grabbed that last spot at XC states last year with a PR! This tells me that Wakeley doesn’t care about who he's running with and just runs to improve and be the best he can. He does that, than he'll only get better.
8) Both had rough injuries. I thought Norris could've been in the conversation for state champ in the mile. Groh maybe as well. However, I've heard Norris has recovered and has been getting himself ready mainly for his senior season. So I expect him to EXPLODE this season and make himself known as one of the best.
9) 2 awesome runners that can also resemble the Hibbs/Quinn duo from last year. They'll push each other to some great times. I don’t like to give track times too much of an influence on XC and Jewett has the 15:48 compared to Williams 15:57. So by virtue of time-Jewett.
10) Last season he ended the season with a 24th place at districts and a 52nd finish at states. Let’s not forget he was plagued with a nasty flu. The guy really has some great talent and showed that during track with a 9:11 3200! As I said above, I don’t like to relate track times with XC too much. However, in the case of Emery, his time is too quick to ignore. Emery will place 5th at XC states if he is healthy.
11) A- He ran a 4:12 mile. Alone. As a junior. He may be a bit more of a track guy but moving down to A with less competition compared to last time? Easy favorite.
AA- Shearn ran 14:57 on the track and is a 2x state champ. He has conquered the hills of Hershey before and with Jaskowak there, I think he knows he will have to move and he'll come out ready as he has already faced some of the best competition in the country at Penn, Arcadia, and Nats.
AAA- Quinn is the defending state champ. Yet, not the favorite in most minds. Last year, he proved he should be considered among the best as he WON THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP. I think this guy deserves more respect. Jaskowak is no longer a worry and he has beat Savage and Coyle last year. Quinn for 2012 XC state champ.
1. North Allegheny
ReplyDelete2. Shearn, AA is easier to manage plus he competed well in track compared to Quinn.
3. Coyle
4. Huemmler
5. O'Hara
6. Russell
7. Martin, but don't really know much on either
8. Groh, should rebound after a horrid states performance last year and he's the only D3 option in the pop quiz
9. Williams
10. Macauley, should be incredibly motivated to defend the team title
11. A) Smathers
AA) Jaskowak but it comes down to the kick after Poop-Out. Wins by 2 sec.
AAA) Neither, Coyle tries to go out too hard and Savage will catch him in the final 400m to propel Cardinal O'Hara to the team title.
OOPS I guess I did not match up my picks. (see 3 and 11)
DeleteI think Coyle will have a better year and will probably win states. Didn't think about that when I wrote the first one. Savage should be a close 2nd though.
My guess is Luke Jones is the winner of Single A next year. He is an incredible hill runner and unbelievably competitive and tough.
ReplyDelete1) NP
ReplyDelete2) Shearn
3) Savage
4) Huemmler
5) O'Hara
6) Barchet
7) Martin
8) Norris
9) Jewett
10) Harriman
11) A) Smathers AA) Jaskowak AAA) Savage
1. North Penn
ReplyDelete2. Shearn
3. Coyle
4. Huemmler
5. O'Hara
6. Russell
7. Martin
8. Norris
9. Williams
10. Harriman
11. A - Smathers
AA - Jaskowak
AAA - Coyle, but the young guys Kennedy and Martin rounding out the top 3, Quinn and Savage round out the top 5
1. North Penn
ReplyDelete2. Brendan Shearn. I see him placing second and Quinn in the top 5.
3. Tom Coyle
4. James Zingarini
5. O'Hara
6. Tony Russell, in a 5 second difference
7. Caleb Wakeley
8. Jeff Groh
9. Sam Williams
10. Mac Emery, but I see all of them in the top 10.
11. A- Jones AA- Jaskowak AAA- Other (not sure who)
1. North Penn. Allegheny loses too many top guns.
ReplyDelete2. Brendan Shearn. Quinn had the benefit of training with Hibbs all year and much better competition during races. Shearn has continued to get better without those things, so I’m calling him. Plus, he beat Dustin Wilson in the 5k at nationals and broke 15, that’s pretty good.
3. Tom Coyle. They were roughly equivalent during XC, but once track rolled around, Tom went crazy. With having the same endurance basically, He has much more speed and can grind out a ton more. With 50 point, 1:51, 4:11 speed and XC strength, I wouldn’t be surprised if he won States this year. One indoor meet he went 8:55 off the double, which was better than Savages PR fresh. He also beat Savage in the race.
4. Jack Huemmler. This was Jack’s breakout year, and since the start of XC this year, Zingarini hasn’t beat him once. Jack is ready to dominate come XC. He will place high at districts.
5. Henderson. They were a young team last year, but hopefully they got the experience they needed. They return five and Reiny’s back into the line up. If Reiny gets his brother, Gordy, running with him this summer, he could be nasty. They also should get to the foundation meet, if they do and run well, then they will have the confidence needed to win.
6. Reiny Barchet. He came off an injury and was better than Russell in the 3200 and roughly equal in the 800. Russell had the mile, but I think that the longer the race, the better Barchet is. I’m calling it to be Barchet, Russell, Haugh as the top three. Maybe even all under 15:30 at districts?
7. Ethan Martin. I don’t know either of the two, but Martin had better everything when I looked him up… so… I’m guessing him.
8. Max Norris. He came onto the XC scene on fire and his only bad race (in my opinion) was States. I’m not sure how bad his injury was (it must have been pretty bad if he didn’t do indoor or outdoor track), but if he gets into top form, he has a great shot to be district champ and maybe even State Champ.
9. Sam Williams.
10. Connor Harriman. He can run the 800-5k and with his speed and strength, I think he’s the best of the three.
11. AA- Daniel Jaskowak. He has 51, 1:55, 4:17, and 9:14 speed and second place in XC strength, it’s hard to go against him.
AAA- Tom Coyle. He showed how good he was last year and I only expect him to get even better. His junior times were blazing fast and with his strength, he will be hard to beat.
-RTJ
1. North Penn, more returners
ReplyDelete2. Shearn all the way. He had a great track season, much better than Quinn's.
3. Coyle.
4. Jack Huemmler, his track season was extravagant. Zingarini wasn't at his level
5. Henderson, now this is a team that I have payed attention to. Their team has so much depth and their coach, Mr. Kelly, is by my opinion the best coach in the state. What he brings out of his athletes every year is amazing. Also with few injury's on his record makes me think his way of coaching is cautiously smart, and incredibly effective.
6. I give it to Russell for a couple of reasons. #1 Barchet did run a 16:04 as a freshman but who says that means he was going to drop the same amount of time the next year like Russell did. Russell had a 50 second pr which is amazing when he was already at a 16:33. #2 people may say Barchet ran a faster 3200 but it's probably only because he ran it later in the season than when Russell did, also Russell's 3200 was postponed until like 5pm the next day after it was expected to go off, that had to have hurt his motivation. #3 Russell's improvement was consistent the entire season and this was his first year competing at this level and he did amazing, and not just for a sophomore. He's coming back with more experience and I see him being great. I mean state champion caliber as a senior great.
7. I don't know either of the two so I'm not going to bother guessing.
8. Norris, I bet he has been doing some crazy great training for this coming season. I have a feeling he is going to be huge in cross country.
9. Jewett
10. Emery is going to have a better XC season in my mind.
11. Jaskowak over Shearn, his depth is crazy. I can see that helping him out a lot at states. Now for AAA, Coyle is no joke and his track season was much better than Quinn's. A post somewhere above mine mentioned Kennedy being up there. I wouldn't be surprised if he beat Quinn, Coyle and Kennedy have improved a lot more than Quinn.
I don't know why so many people act like Conner didn't have a breakout track season this year. The kid had high 9:30s and high 4:30s PRs in the 32 and 16 when he won XC states and ended up running 9:19 and 4:21, with a 2:00 800 for good measure. Take out his race at states and he had a great outdoor season. I'll take him over Coyle in an XC race.
Delete1. North Penn- closer than more people would think. north penn brings back 5 of top 7 and na brings back 3 of top 7; however, na had a far suprior jv squad which is why it's close.
ReplyDelete2. Shearn- more impressive track season and don't forget than shearn topped quinn at footlocker regionals last year. quinn's training partner is gone so it will come down to who can focus on training more.
3. Coyle- only lost to savage by 4 seconds at states last year and coyle had a much more impressive track season by taking the 1600.
4. Zingarini- cr north has a big 3 trying to win a state championship which leads me to believe that zingarini will have more pressure to do better. huemmler has not exactly proved that he is great on the state course himself.
5. West Chester Henderson- the team that can have a new runner break out will win states. henderson has more depth which leads me to believe that they will pull off the win.
6. Russell- can't go wrong with either but russell has more experience at states.
7. Wakely- already medaled last year. although track results count for something they don't matter for everything.
8. Norris- just crossing my fingers that he doesn't get hurt again, groh didn't have the greatest track season ever and blew up at states last year after winning district 3.
9. Williams- performed better on the states course in recent years, all depends on who has a better day.
10. Emery- will finish top 5 at states imo. at full health and on a team more likely to win states I believe emery will break out into a state title contender. his track season showed glimpses of it.
11. Jaskowak- not too often people are able to repeat as state champions. jaskowak finished 2nd in AAA last year and had and had equally as an impressive track season as shearn.
Coyle- has the kick to beat out anyone else in the field and was already a top 10 finisher last year at states.
Smathers- A is up for grabs but smathers has impressed me more throughout his whole hs career. he ran a very impressive mile at states during track season.
For question 7, are you saying that Wakeley had a bad track season? He may have barely missed qualifing for WPIALs, but I would still call a 9:32 at Baldwin pretty decent, haha.
DeleteI think since Martin had the better 3200 most would chose Martin. However, he's saying it's not just about the 3200 and that Martin shouldnt necessarily be the chosen as the "winner" of this question just because of his track times.
DeleteExactly. Nothing against Martin. I'm saying that just because Martin medaled in the 3200 at states for track and Wakeley didn't make the field does not mean that martin will be better. Wakeley put together a whole cross country season together last year which is why I picked him. Sorry for the confusion. These are just my opinions many are going to disagree.
Deleteyour making a bunch of shitty filler posts. be a man and make real posts.
ReplyDeleteLolololol kid http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/007/508/watch-out-we-got-a-badass-over-here-meme.png
DeleteOr, you know, he's busy. I'd rather have this than nothing, in fact, I think this is pretty good. Maybe not the responses that don't give reasons but the ones that do are certainly interesting. Someone's got a baton up his ass. Remind me again why etrain owes us posts? Does he have some debt, a college runner, to a bunch of high schoolers? Some of which are rude to him just because it's anonymous?
ReplyDelete1-North Penn-More coming back. Better coaching(3 State Championships in 5 years) Bigger pool to choose from.
ReplyDelete2-Quinn-May only finish 3-5th, but will do work and run faster. Briarwood could be a good preview of things to come.
3-Coyle-He's become a beast. Could go 15:35 at Belmont this year.
4-Huemmler-he's a top 8 guy.
5-O'Hara-smart puts them over the top. In a program like that, he becomes a stud. He could be top 40 in the State. His Dad was a 4:11 miler.
6-Russell-Both tough kids. Russell a little better. Maybe, a top 5 guy. Barchet probably in the top 12.
7-Martin.
8-Norris-a good xc guy. Groh-another early maturing District 3 guy who never pans out.
9-Williams.
10-Harriman will feed off of the girls to finish in the top 7.
11-Shearn, Coyle, Williams. The AAA race should be ridiculous. O"hara and Henderson should both be in the top 15 in the US. There could be 3-4 individuals who get to Nike or FL Nationals.
1. NA
ReplyDelete2. Shearn
3. Coyle
4. Huemmler
5. O'Hara
6. Russell
7. Martin
8. Groh
9. Williams
10. Macauley
11. A-Smathers
AA-Shearn
AAA-Too close to call for now but my gut tells me Coyle.
1)northpenn because NA losses to many front runners
ReplyDelete2)Brendan shearn beacause he had a better track season and he'll have jaskowak to push him
3)coyle because I think he learned from his mistake last year at states and he'll out kick savage after poop-out
4)huemler because he's just better all around to me
5)o'hara because they are the more impressive team on the hills
6)barchett because he's a better Xc guy
7)Martin
8)max Norris because after being injured for that long he'll be coming back very strong
9)Williams
10)Harriman because he's the best Xc runner out of that group
11) A-galassi because he's the better long distance guy
AA-jaskowak is the best distance runner in pa he is realy good at 5k and also very fast at mile and 800
AAA-coyle will run away with the race after poop out
1) North Penn
ReplyDelete2) Brendan Shearn (slight edge)
3) Tom Coyle
4) Jack Huemmler
5) O'Hara
6) Reiny Barchet
7) Ethan Martin
8) Max Norris
9) Sam Williams in xc, Jewett on the track
10) Connor Harriman
11) Jaskowak, Quinn (unless it comes down to a kick), Jones although A is wide open