etrain's Top 10 Pre Championship Season Meets

So as the season approaches, I am really excited to see how a lot of things go. So I took a little time in my brief period in between classes to construct a little top 10 list in order of when the meets occur. Here we go:

John Sharp Viking Invitational 8/31

Yeah the course is absurdly short, but it is cool to see guys running times that look really fast and it is cool to start getting excited about racing in August. It doesn't mean much who is extremely fit at this point of the season, however, it can show you who some break out stars are going to be. Scarpello, Magaha, Harriman all had stand out races at this meet in the past before they became XC household names and this year the field is projected to be quite deep. CRNorth has an excellent top 3 rolling in led by Emery who is a big name to watch this year off his 9:11. We will see how it translates to the trials. CB West's Chris Berry is another sleeper to watch in this race off his low 9:20s 3200m. Christian Kardish as well should be fun to watch as HGPrep is usually rolling pretty well in the early season. Throw in guys like Conner Quinn and Connor Harriman this race should be very fun. Deep sleeper pick will be Joey Logue from Pennridge if he can translate that track speed to the trials in any way. He did run a very solid 1600 for a guy most thought was a quarter miler early in his career.

Red White and Blue Invitational 9/8

Speaking of fast times on fast courses ... There is nothing like seeing all the big guns in the WPIAL at one time. I want to see what NA and Lebo have left and if Kiski is going to legitimately challenge for the top spot in the WPIAL. There are lots of young studs in the WPIAL roster. Wakely, Martin, some AA guys, Seel, Luoco, etc. Baldwin's guys hopefully can bounce back as well like George Kelly. The WPIAL has become the clear 2nd best district in the state and we get to see all the big names at one time at this race, which we never see in the other districts. Also Dan Jaskowak should be there to defend his title. That in itself should be  enough to get tickets. 

PTXC 9/8

PTXC this year is quite exciting because it is finally starting to draw top talent to the event. Endress a couple years back helped the cause a bit but a Shearn v. Quinn match up already is enough to make me interested. Its the match up many wanted a year ago at the Hershey course but never got. Shearn is a top ranked runner nationally and is facing his biggest test in his impressive career with Jaskowak looming at the state meet. Let the AA v. AAA conversation begin about who is better after the meet in September. We also may see the likes of Harrison Schettler, Sam Williams and Curt Jewett, Jeff Groh and Cole Nissley, and Alec Kunzweiler and the Cumberland Valley squad. One of these runners may step up and beat Quinn or Shearn and throw themselves into state title contender. All of these runners are on big upswings after their spring/2011 fall.

Quad XC Invitational 9/8

This is a little known meet, but it is one of my favorite races to participate in (mostly because the prizes are absurdly nice). The interesting thing about this meet is we could potentially see Henderson and LaSalle competing in the relay races. You rarely see relay races like this at the XC level and it speaks a lot to the depth of teams (cue the Henderson comments), but it certainly will show what kind of pieces each team has. LaSalle's stacked front 4 relay could win the title if Henderson spreads out their pieces. It should be a good test. GA may be back again this season which means we could see the Ritz boys and we also may see the GFS squad which features Wistar and Aziz. Both independent groups have high expectations this year. Lastly, I want to see how my UD boys do in one of their first races. Sorry, I'm biased.

Briarwood Invitational 9/15

Lots of hype around the Briarwood meet, at this very tough course, which should feature O'Hara, one of the state title favorites, at their "home course" of sorts. Also the defending state champions North Penn should be in the race again and be competing for a top spot. North Penn lost by 45 points to O'Hara last year. Also on the radar are rumors that Brendan Shearn will be making the trip for this race. He would add a nice individual touch out front with Savage, Macauley, Emery and possibly Coyle and Quinn (Horsham often times doesn't enter the championship race). That is a star studded field of guys with a lot of hardware. CR North will look to prove they can run with O'Hara out front and be state title contenders. Wilson, Zingarini and Berry (from CB West) are also factors in this race, as are the rest of O'Hara's top 5 with guys like James, Pitone, Pastore and Smart. 

Pre States 9/22

Watching O'Hara on the states course should be plenty of fun. Plus we may see the defending state Champion Conner Quinn in action on a course where he has had a lot of success. Connor Harriman ran very well at this meet last year and may contend for the title. The Northeast Bradford boys headline a group of very solid AA and A guys projected to be in the race, including Ryan Smathers in his first big meet. If Lebo comes back they will be an interesting team to watch. And anytime you can see guys on the states course it is fun stuff.

Paul Short 9/28

Assuming the weather is nice, fast times should come in bunches. It is great to see guys just fly on this course. It will be interesting to see who opts for Paul Short over Carlisle because guys like Shearn ran both last year. But we should see the Ritz's back again, maybe the Great Valley boys and the Cumberland Valley boys as well. That includes Alec Kunzweiler, potential D3 champion. The environment at this kind of meet is electric and it is a must see almost regardless of the field.

Carlisle 9/29

Carlisle in the past has produced some unbelievably deep fields. Last year they didn't quite as much and with Paul Short the same weekend it is going to be interesting to see who goes where. Guys like Tom Coyle and Kunzweiler went to both places, same with Shearn. I hope Carlisle stacks the field as North Penn and North Allegheny should both be there and they are both top teams in the state. Horsham has gone to this meet in the past as well so we could be having another Quinn v. Shearn conversation. Also Grove City has attended this meet before which could mean the ultimate showdown of Coyle, Quinn, Shearn and Jaskowak. Mark your calendars.

Salesianum Invitational 10/6

In Delaware it should be interesting to see if North Penn can begin to round into form on a hilly, state like, course. Quinn should be there as well to match up with Macauley and we may also see the Holy Ghost Prep guys like Kardish in the mix. Not my favorite of the 10 meets I listed, but still something to keep an eye on against out of state competition. We may also catch a glimpse of Brehm in XC from Carlisle.

Manhattan Invitational 10/13

I always like seeing what we have on a national level. Any PA guys who hop in this meet and run well are national qualifier contenders. The guy that comes to mind immeaditely is Coyle, but Quinn may be in this meet again, Horsham has come here in year's past. So too has North Penn, the defending state champs. It is a bit of a wild card meet as to who will actually be in attendance, but we can learn a lot about PA's national contenders on October 13th.