Some PA guys from around the philadelphia area compete in the annual "food olympics". Events include the Downhill Pizza Run, 3 Soda 300 Hurdles, Breakfast Two Mile and Gallon 4x4. Competitors include LaSalle University runners Alfredo Santana and Vince Perozze, Shippensburg University runner Scott Armstrong and local high schoolers,including Pa's 1600m champ Tom Coyle and some other greats (4:11, 1:52 and another 1:55 guys)as well as many others. This video is not for the week stomached.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCl5taO8f4
Video was done by FarmPartyProductions aka Chris Torpey and Dave Duryea
If you need more information on it leave a comment here and I'll pass along info best I can to or from the meet director(s). There is a Penntrack post about it as well on their forums (if anyone still reads them ;) ).
This is an etrain approved message.
Regional Action
A truly historic weekend for the PA boys. 4 guys qualify for Footlocker from PA for the first time in state history. 2 teams qualify for NXN for the first time in state history! 2 PA boys take 1-2 at NXN, 2 squads were within reach of the #1 team in the nation and oh yeah news on the street now is that Sami Aziz will also be heading out to the NXN championships. Dang son PA don't play.
But I assume no one reads this blog to hear me talk ghetto about how awesome PA is so I refocus.
Let's start at Foot Locker.
A boat load of big time PA boys toed the line for this meet and a lot of people ran really impressive races. First and foremost, the big dog himself Brendan Shearn came out and ran like a pro. Honestly, his season up until this points had few moments that you could really point to and say, dang this kid is an All-American, but he changed things this weekend. At the beginning of the XC season I thought Brendan would for sure be going through to Foot Locker. After states I had him at about a 75% chance. I never at any point pictured him in the top 4 (the best finish since Brad Miles and Mark Dennin in PA history) which is awesome. He will be in the mix to become an All-American out in San Diego.
The biggest surprise (to me anyway) is Max Norris who stunned me with his 7th place finish. He kicked to a spot that I saw as a bit out of his league and put on a great performance to snag a spot to nats. He was determined and stayed hungry, overcoming piles of injuries along the way to get to this point. Seeing how far he has come makes this moment so much more impressive. The way he has improved over the last month makes me think .... dang picking him to win districts was a month too early ... but on a serious note, it makes me think the guy has All American potential out at Footlocker. Having met some of his family at states, I know that this couldn't have happened to a more deserving family so congrats.
Kennedy and Pondel just seemed to be tied at the hip. Stepping up big to take those two spots was impressive. That's big for Kennedy who will be back next year and hopefully be able to use his experience to his advantage. I don't know if PA has had a multi time qualifier since Miller (and I think only Coval has run their twice in the last decade+) so he will have a bit of pressure and history to overcome, but he is another guy who I thought would be happy with his states race and move on to shut it down for track. But the guy stepped it up. As for Pondel, I always thought he was built for a meet like this. He trains really hard and puts in the mileage and the hard work needed to excel in a meet like this. He put himself in position and hung on tough to his spot. A great break out year for a guy who was off most people's radars despite being a medalist last year in XC.
Also there were some other performances here that should not go overlooked just because it didn't end with nationals. Luke Jones ran gutsy and out of his comfort zone perhaps, going out hard and just missing a Footlocker Qualifying spot. There is no doubt the guy gave it everything he had and he just came up a bit short. Galassi and Jones did the A part of the state proud with a great stretch run to the season.
How about Conner Quinn in this race as well? Sure he didn't have the season he may have hoped for winning states again but he really kept his head going into this meet and performed very well, better than his state meet performance I'd say, and ended up being PA's 7th guy (I think either the same spot or a spot better in PA compared to last year in a much deeper year).
On to NXN.
Tony Russell is clearly a beast. He went Brad Miles this weekend and actually the paths they have taken thus far are eerily similar. An All time PA best at Manhattan, then a win at Districts over the top returner from AAA states followed by a victory at the state course in record time and then a regional victory. Literally, the same path as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, Miles underwhelmed at Nats, but I feel that Russell has the advantage of competing for his team this coming weekend. And seeing the results, Henderson has a shot at being a top 10 team at nationals.
Especially if Reiny Barchet runs like that again. Sick race for that guy proving that states was the fluke race, not districts. You have to remember that O'Hara almost put 3 guys in front of Barchet at states, they did put 2 guys ahead. None of the O'Hara guys were close to him on Saturday and that is huge for Henderson. Heck none of the US #1 CBA guys beat Barchet on Saturday!
But O'Hara still beat them. Narrowly edging them out. Unreal. I don't see how people can say that this race was better news for Henderson than O'Hara. Henderson not only had the ultimate front runner, they had the ultimate #2 runner. The best possible 1-2 punch you can have but O'Hara still won. What was big for O'Hara was Belfatto continuing to be on a roll. He beat Pastore and took a surprising 33rd in the race, beating out Bobby Rimkis, who was a state medalist. Pitone faded a bit after states, but it was probably a good wake up call for him and puts the pressure of being a front runner back onto Savage's shoulders who has more experience in that department. James also had a nice bounce back from states. O'Hara looked great and redeemed themselves well at Regionals.
For Henderson it was a big day from Alex Knapp that saved the day. I certainly didn't see that one coming. Huge race for their normal #7 guy to step up like that and be their 3. May have saved them from falling out of National contention. Rimkis had a bit of a down day. He was incredibly clutch at states and ran amazing, but that may have put too big of expectations on him for the future. He was right on Reiny that day at Hershey, but the gap widened in the past month at the 32 and also now at Regionals. Hopefully, this race lets him relax and find himself and run the race he wants to run without as much pressure. Collins also had a rough day after being a big hero at states, picking off a ton of guys in the hills. He has been clutch for this team all season and will bounce back. Losing Haugh hurt these guys. He was the difference at states, outleaning Pastore, and now his presence is missed as they miss out on 2nd.
These teams are both absurdly close to one another. It is amazing to watch these teams run because they are two of the best teams I have ever seen in the state of PA and they somehow managed to come into their own just in time to run two amazing races when it counted. Hopefully they can hold it together for Nats.
It's tough to pick a winner (especially because whoever I pick seems to lose), but I'll go Henderson in 8th and O'Hara in 9th seperated by just 2 points at Nationals (sorry Henderson probably just jinxed you guys). I see guys that can run better on both sides so it basically comes down to who is lucky enough to have all their guys click when it matters.
Yes, Henderson is going to be sick next year, but injuries happen and a lot of things can change. I hope they don't put off their goals until next year and they make a statement at this national meet to give them confidence going forward. Tony Russell is a man on a mission right now and I would love to see him break into that top 10 at Nats.
Honestly, I can't wait. I was incredibly excited sitting by my computer updating my twitter all this past weekend.
Go represent boys. PA don't play.
-train
But I assume no one reads this blog to hear me talk ghetto about how awesome PA is so I refocus.
Let's start at Foot Locker.
A boat load of big time PA boys toed the line for this meet and a lot of people ran really impressive races. First and foremost, the big dog himself Brendan Shearn came out and ran like a pro. Honestly, his season up until this points had few moments that you could really point to and say, dang this kid is an All-American, but he changed things this weekend. At the beginning of the XC season I thought Brendan would for sure be going through to Foot Locker. After states I had him at about a 75% chance. I never at any point pictured him in the top 4 (the best finish since Brad Miles and Mark Dennin in PA history) which is awesome. He will be in the mix to become an All-American out in San Diego.
The biggest surprise (to me anyway) is Max Norris who stunned me with his 7th place finish. He kicked to a spot that I saw as a bit out of his league and put on a great performance to snag a spot to nats. He was determined and stayed hungry, overcoming piles of injuries along the way to get to this point. Seeing how far he has come makes this moment so much more impressive. The way he has improved over the last month makes me think .... dang picking him to win districts was a month too early ... but on a serious note, it makes me think the guy has All American potential out at Footlocker. Having met some of his family at states, I know that this couldn't have happened to a more deserving family so congrats.
Kennedy and Pondel just seemed to be tied at the hip. Stepping up big to take those two spots was impressive. That's big for Kennedy who will be back next year and hopefully be able to use his experience to his advantage. I don't know if PA has had a multi time qualifier since Miller (and I think only Coval has run their twice in the last decade+) so he will have a bit of pressure and history to overcome, but he is another guy who I thought would be happy with his states race and move on to shut it down for track. But the guy stepped it up. As for Pondel, I always thought he was built for a meet like this. He trains really hard and puts in the mileage and the hard work needed to excel in a meet like this. He put himself in position and hung on tough to his spot. A great break out year for a guy who was off most people's radars despite being a medalist last year in XC.
Also there were some other performances here that should not go overlooked just because it didn't end with nationals. Luke Jones ran gutsy and out of his comfort zone perhaps, going out hard and just missing a Footlocker Qualifying spot. There is no doubt the guy gave it everything he had and he just came up a bit short. Galassi and Jones did the A part of the state proud with a great stretch run to the season.
How about Conner Quinn in this race as well? Sure he didn't have the season he may have hoped for winning states again but he really kept his head going into this meet and performed very well, better than his state meet performance I'd say, and ended up being PA's 7th guy (I think either the same spot or a spot better in PA compared to last year in a much deeper year).
On to NXN.
Tony Russell is clearly a beast. He went Brad Miles this weekend and actually the paths they have taken thus far are eerily similar. An All time PA best at Manhattan, then a win at Districts over the top returner from AAA states followed by a victory at the state course in record time and then a regional victory. Literally, the same path as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, Miles underwhelmed at Nats, but I feel that Russell has the advantage of competing for his team this coming weekend. And seeing the results, Henderson has a shot at being a top 10 team at nationals.
Especially if Reiny Barchet runs like that again. Sick race for that guy proving that states was the fluke race, not districts. You have to remember that O'Hara almost put 3 guys in front of Barchet at states, they did put 2 guys ahead. None of the O'Hara guys were close to him on Saturday and that is huge for Henderson. Heck none of the US #1 CBA guys beat Barchet on Saturday!
But O'Hara still beat them. Narrowly edging them out. Unreal. I don't see how people can say that this race was better news for Henderson than O'Hara. Henderson not only had the ultimate front runner, they had the ultimate #2 runner. The best possible 1-2 punch you can have but O'Hara still won. What was big for O'Hara was Belfatto continuing to be on a roll. He beat Pastore and took a surprising 33rd in the race, beating out Bobby Rimkis, who was a state medalist. Pitone faded a bit after states, but it was probably a good wake up call for him and puts the pressure of being a front runner back onto Savage's shoulders who has more experience in that department. James also had a nice bounce back from states. O'Hara looked great and redeemed themselves well at Regionals.
For Henderson it was a big day from Alex Knapp that saved the day. I certainly didn't see that one coming. Huge race for their normal #7 guy to step up like that and be their 3. May have saved them from falling out of National contention. Rimkis had a bit of a down day. He was incredibly clutch at states and ran amazing, but that may have put too big of expectations on him for the future. He was right on Reiny that day at Hershey, but the gap widened in the past month at the 32 and also now at Regionals. Hopefully, this race lets him relax and find himself and run the race he wants to run without as much pressure. Collins also had a rough day after being a big hero at states, picking off a ton of guys in the hills. He has been clutch for this team all season and will bounce back. Losing Haugh hurt these guys. He was the difference at states, outleaning Pastore, and now his presence is missed as they miss out on 2nd.
These teams are both absurdly close to one another. It is amazing to watch these teams run because they are two of the best teams I have ever seen in the state of PA and they somehow managed to come into their own just in time to run two amazing races when it counted. Hopefully they can hold it together for Nats.
It's tough to pick a winner (especially because whoever I pick seems to lose), but I'll go Henderson in 8th and O'Hara in 9th seperated by just 2 points at Nationals (sorry Henderson probably just jinxed you guys). I see guys that can run better on both sides so it basically comes down to who is lucky enough to have all their guys click when it matters.
Yes, Henderson is going to be sick next year, but injuries happen and a lot of things can change. I hope they don't put off their goals until next year and they make a statement at this national meet to give them confidence going forward. Tony Russell is a man on a mission right now and I would love to see him break into that top 10 at Nats.
Honestly, I can't wait. I was incredibly excited sitting by my computer updating my twitter all this past weekend.
Go represent boys. PA don't play.
-train
Quick Results
For all of you not following along on Twitter here is what I got results wise for Footlocker:
1. Ed Cheserek
2. Jonathan Green
3. Shawn Wilson
4. Brendan Shearn
5. Kyle Kroon
6. Trevor Crawley
7. Max Norris
8. Chris Alvarado
9. Brent Kennedy
10. Austin Pondel
1. Catarina Rocha
2. Megan Curham
3. Katie Lembo
4. Regan Rome
5. Anoush Shehadeh
6. MacKenzie Barry
7. Marissa Saenger
8. Marissa Russin
9. Megan Reilly
10. Kennedy Weisner
Awesome job by all these runners! I'm particular excited to see Regan Rome make it after she was absolutely robbed from all state honors. Really showed those haters whats up. PA don't play.
Stephanie Aldrich 12th, Kara Steinke 13th, Mady Clahane 15th
Both PA teams may have won the title as a team. I'll get back to you on that.
1. Ed Cheserek
2. Jonathan Green
3. Shawn Wilson
4. Brendan Shearn
5. Kyle Kroon
6. Trevor Crawley
7. Max Norris
8. Chris Alvarado
9. Brent Kennedy
10. Austin Pondel
1. Catarina Rocha
2. Megan Curham
3. Katie Lembo
4. Regan Rome
5. Anoush Shehadeh
6. MacKenzie Barry
7. Marissa Saenger
8. Marissa Russin
9. Megan Reilly
10. Kennedy Weisner
Awesome job by all these runners! I'm particular excited to see Regan Rome make it after she was absolutely robbed from all state honors. Really showed those haters whats up. PA don't play.
Stephanie Aldrich 12th, Kara Steinke 13th, Mady Clahane 15th
Both PA teams may have won the title as a team. I'll get back to you on that.
Footlocker and Nike
When it gets to be the Thanksgiving season, it is nice to have things to be thankful for. I could sit here on the laptop and blather on to you sentimentally about what I am thankful for and all that stuff but I think that most people just want me to get back to talking about PA XC. And I'm thankful that I've got fans like that out there (I got asked for my autograph the other day, it was pretty awesome, don't get that opportunity that much). But this isn't about me, this is about what everybody out there has to be thankful for. And honestly, looking down the roster of PA entries at Footlocker and NXN I think PA has quite a lot to be thankful for.
Let's start at Bowdoin Park in New York for the NXNE championships. The top 2 teams automatically qualify and the odds are that this means CBA and one other team will make it through. I've seen Henderson beat Don Bosco twice now and I think they have only gotten better since then. It's hard for me to imagine Henderson won't beat Don Bosco again. That being said, PA is at a serious disadvantage: their championship season was practically a month ago. I've seen Henderson underwhelm me slightly at this meet in the past, but I am optimistic that this is a different team.
O'Hara is interesting to me as well. Clearly, like Henderson, they are also in great shape. Belfatto running like he did at the 2 mile time trial is very encouraging because they will need 5 solid guys without the front runner(s) that Henderson has. Kevin James is a bit of an X factor here for O'Hara. They need a tight top 3 pack and a solid 5 guy spread. I am confident if they get 3rd and are reasonably close to 2nd than they will get an at large bid to nationals. They have been just as good as Henderson all season, tying them at states puts them as just as likely to place second at regionals as Henderson. They just don't have the front runner that Russell is and that is huge in a race like this. But if you look at NA in 2008 they got by very nicely with a tight pack and no front runner.
Germantown Friend's will be in attendance as well but I don't see any signs to indicate they will be able to pull of the stunner that they did a few years back and mix it up for nationals. Sami Aziz, however, has shown signs that he is in the mix for a nationals bid as an individual. Lyle Wistar has also shown that he is a top 20 type guy in this meet. Russell, I assume, will be the top PA guy across the line but Aziz and Wistar will be among the guys trying to chase down the next PA spot. If Henderson does miss out on the chance at Nats, Russell should still get through to Portland.
I expect both Henderson and O'Hara to go through taking #2 and #3 in that order. I hope they are still hungry to run hard and run fast. Both sides are still motivated and I am sure O'Hara still has quite a bitter taste in their mouth that only a trip to nationals will strip. Henderson won the big battle, but O'Hara hasn't waved the white flag. I wish NA was running in the meet, although most likely my prediction for them to finish as the top PA team would probably be proven to be a tad too bold.
At Footlocker, here are the names I picked off the entry list that I found worth noting:
Colin Abert
Brendan Shearn
Curt Jewett
Sam Williams
Cole Nissley
Brent Kennedy
Connor Harriman
Sam Webb
Austin Pondel
Jacob Fetterman
Ryan Smathers
Rico Galassi
Luke Jones
Alec Kunzweiler
Jeff Groh
Dan Jaskowak
Ross Wilson
Max Norris
James Zingarini
Ben Ritz
Sam Ritz
Aaron Valoroso
Conner Quinn
And many more
For me Jaskowak is my most likely guy to get through to Nationals. He ran great at this race last year and he is a front runner with a kick. He will benefit from a fast pace and a deep field. He won't be afraid to mix it up out front. Shearn is also a top notch guy in this field. I'm sure losing the state championship stung hardest for him out of all the 2nd place finishers there were. He ran better than I expected at this meet last year. Both guys would be the first AA guys to qualify in a while. I think Jeff Weiss was the last guy to get the spot.
Kennedy and Pondel are also in the mix. Pondel will benefit from the slew of new front runners in the race, Kennedy has been Mr. Consistent this year in the top group of every race. The Ritz bros have the benefit of peaking for this meet. This is their states, not at Hershey so they can peak differently. That makes a big difference and they will hope to use it to their advantage.
Luke Jones, Connor Harriman, Max Norris and the Northeast Bradford boys are also in the mix for a top spot. I'd say Jeff Groh and Conner Quinn are deep sleepers here as well. Ross Wilson is a name worth keeping an eye on, perhaps for next year more than anything.
Ultimately, it comes down to who is ready for track season, and who is still pissed from states. That's how you run well at a meet like this. Should be fun to watch.
Let's start at Bowdoin Park in New York for the NXNE championships. The top 2 teams automatically qualify and the odds are that this means CBA and one other team will make it through. I've seen Henderson beat Don Bosco twice now and I think they have only gotten better since then. It's hard for me to imagine Henderson won't beat Don Bosco again. That being said, PA is at a serious disadvantage: their championship season was practically a month ago. I've seen Henderson underwhelm me slightly at this meet in the past, but I am optimistic that this is a different team.
O'Hara is interesting to me as well. Clearly, like Henderson, they are also in great shape. Belfatto running like he did at the 2 mile time trial is very encouraging because they will need 5 solid guys without the front runner(s) that Henderson has. Kevin James is a bit of an X factor here for O'Hara. They need a tight top 3 pack and a solid 5 guy spread. I am confident if they get 3rd and are reasonably close to 2nd than they will get an at large bid to nationals. They have been just as good as Henderson all season, tying them at states puts them as just as likely to place second at regionals as Henderson. They just don't have the front runner that Russell is and that is huge in a race like this. But if you look at NA in 2008 they got by very nicely with a tight pack and no front runner.
Germantown Friend's will be in attendance as well but I don't see any signs to indicate they will be able to pull of the stunner that they did a few years back and mix it up for nationals. Sami Aziz, however, has shown signs that he is in the mix for a nationals bid as an individual. Lyle Wistar has also shown that he is a top 20 type guy in this meet. Russell, I assume, will be the top PA guy across the line but Aziz and Wistar will be among the guys trying to chase down the next PA spot. If Henderson does miss out on the chance at Nats, Russell should still get through to Portland.
I expect both Henderson and O'Hara to go through taking #2 and #3 in that order. I hope they are still hungry to run hard and run fast. Both sides are still motivated and I am sure O'Hara still has quite a bitter taste in their mouth that only a trip to nationals will strip. Henderson won the big battle, but O'Hara hasn't waved the white flag. I wish NA was running in the meet, although most likely my prediction for them to finish as the top PA team would probably be proven to be a tad too bold.
At Footlocker, here are the names I picked off the entry list that I found worth noting:
Colin Abert
Brendan Shearn
Curt Jewett
Sam Williams
Cole Nissley
Brent Kennedy
Connor Harriman
Sam Webb
Austin Pondel
Jacob Fetterman
Ryan Smathers
Rico Galassi
Luke Jones
Alec Kunzweiler
Jeff Groh
Dan Jaskowak
Ross Wilson
Max Norris
James Zingarini
Ben Ritz
Sam Ritz
Aaron Valoroso
Conner Quinn
And many more
For me Jaskowak is my most likely guy to get through to Nationals. He ran great at this race last year and he is a front runner with a kick. He will benefit from a fast pace and a deep field. He won't be afraid to mix it up out front. Shearn is also a top notch guy in this field. I'm sure losing the state championship stung hardest for him out of all the 2nd place finishers there were. He ran better than I expected at this meet last year. Both guys would be the first AA guys to qualify in a while. I think Jeff Weiss was the last guy to get the spot.
Kennedy and Pondel are also in the mix. Pondel will benefit from the slew of new front runners in the race, Kennedy has been Mr. Consistent this year in the top group of every race. The Ritz bros have the benefit of peaking for this meet. This is their states, not at Hershey so they can peak differently. That makes a big difference and they will hope to use it to their advantage.
Luke Jones, Connor Harriman, Max Norris and the Northeast Bradford boys are also in the mix for a top spot. I'd say Jeff Groh and Conner Quinn are deep sleepers here as well. Ross Wilson is a name worth keeping an eye on, perhaps for next year more than anything.
Ultimately, it comes down to who is ready for track season, and who is still pissed from states. That's how you run well at a meet like this. Should be fun to watch.
Race Stories: Brent Kennedy
In a year where a lot of runners were up and down on the rankings, one consistent force seemed to be Kiski Area's Brent Kennedy. Kennedy, coming off a terrific sophomore XC campaign, proved he not a one trick pony on the track. He led his Kiski relay team to the medal stand indoors and outdoors in the DMR and 4x800m and performed some of the most impressive doubles and triples of anyone in the spring. All of this as a sophomore in high school. Coming into the XC season as the 7th place finisher at last year's state meet, expectations would naturally be high for Brent, but he didn't fold under that pressure: he rose to the occassion.
Early in the season Brent cemented himself as one of the top guys in the state with a big win at the Red, White and Blue invitational in one of the fastest 5k times of the year. He followed it up with an extremely impressive time at the Carlisle course where he was a close second to Vinny Todaro and then two impressive marks in the District 7 area at Tristates and WPIALs, just barely coming in second again to Dan Jaskowak before taking the gold at Districts.
Knowing that Todaro and Jaskowak would both be racing half an hour before him, Kennedy went into the state meet race confident and ready to compete for the title. He ran smart and put himself in perfect position throughout, getting his chance at the title with about a mile to go. After the pack was depleted by the grueling Aloha hills it was just Pondel, Kennedy and Russell left to jockey for state gold. Ultimately, Tony broke away in an impressive move that Kennedy highly respected. "The fact that he hung on to that commanding lead for the entire last mile shows how strong of a runner he is."
Kennedy used his kick to sprint into high gear up the final hill and snagged himself a silver medal as a Junior at the state championships, an achievement few can match. He leaves states without regret and ready for his next challenge at the Footlocker regional championships. He has hopes for the meet and appreciates the support he has gotten on his journey so far.
But really his story is just beginning.
Early in the season Brent cemented himself as one of the top guys in the state with a big win at the Red, White and Blue invitational in one of the fastest 5k times of the year. He followed it up with an extremely impressive time at the Carlisle course where he was a close second to Vinny Todaro and then two impressive marks in the District 7 area at Tristates and WPIALs, just barely coming in second again to Dan Jaskowak before taking the gold at Districts.
Knowing that Todaro and Jaskowak would both be racing half an hour before him, Kennedy went into the state meet race confident and ready to compete for the title. He ran smart and put himself in perfect position throughout, getting his chance at the title with about a mile to go. After the pack was depleted by the grueling Aloha hills it was just Pondel, Kennedy and Russell left to jockey for state gold. Ultimately, Tony broke away in an impressive move that Kennedy highly respected. "The fact that he hung on to that commanding lead for the entire last mile shows how strong of a runner he is."
Kennedy used his kick to sprint into high gear up the final hill and snagged himself a silver medal as a Junior at the state championships, an achievement few can match. He leaves states without regret and ready for his next challenge at the Footlocker regional championships. He has hopes for the meet and appreciates the support he has gotten on his journey so far.
But really his story is just beginning.
A break from race stories
I'm still trying to churn out the rest of the race stories that I have planned out but things haven't been completely smooth. I've gotten a bunch done but still have more to go and they will be up in due time.
But before then I just wanted to talk about the 2 mile time trial that was dropped on the PA XC community today. If you haven't seen the results they are definitely worth a peak. http://pa.milesplit.com/meets/128352/results/227955
Sami Aziz and Tony Russell battle it out for a couple sub 9:20 marks. Extremely fast times and very encouraging heading into the big meets at the end of the season. Both marks were faster than Brad Miles time trialed the year that he won Foot Locker Regionals. Barchet at 9:21 also is a new PR for him and is an encouraging sign for Henderson's #2. Their 3-5 were a pair of 9:35s and a 9:43. No Sam Haugh and Rimkis was their 5th guy (state medalist). Now obviously track teams don't factor directly to XC marks, but these are still encouraging times moving forward. Henderson is clearly in good shape and Russell is in the mix for a spot at Nationals whether the team makes it or not (and Aziz if he goes to Footlocker or NXN is dangerous for a nationals bid).
But more impressive (to me anyway) were the O'Hara boys. A little chip on their shoulder led to 5 PRs from their top 5 including a huge bomb shell from Jim Belfatto, originally an 800m guy who stepped on the XC trails and started making a name for himself in the fall with a top 50 finish at states. Belfatto ran 9:22.1 for 4th, finishing just behind Barchet! Now obviously an 800m guy like Belfatto is going to gain the edge when the race moves to the track but to see this kind of time out of him is simply stunning. Savage, James and Pitone were all right behind in 9:24, 9:26 and 9:32 respectively (I believe all are PRs, Pitone's may be close). We knew that those 3 were all very solid, two of them were top 10 guys at states, all were state medalists, and two of them arguably could have ran much better. Pastore quietly drops in a 9:39 3200m PR as well. That puts the entire top 5 under 9:40 for 3200m. Particularly impressive considering last spring they struggled to find a guy who could break the 9:30 mark. A very good sign for a bounce back race from this team at Nats. Hopefully they will mix it up with Henderson and we can get two teams to NXN for the first time in state history (I'm pretty sure anyway).
Ironically the two squads tied at 36 points a piece in the race when scored. However, this time Matt Hayes was ahead of Henderson's 6th man.
Does that mean anything? No not really, I just thought it was an ironic turn of events.
PS I enabled comments from anyone again on the blog, things were getting too boring, but I won't hesitate to pull the plug again if things get messy.
But before then I just wanted to talk about the 2 mile time trial that was dropped on the PA XC community today. If you haven't seen the results they are definitely worth a peak. http://pa.milesplit.com/meets/128352/results/227955
Sami Aziz and Tony Russell battle it out for a couple sub 9:20 marks. Extremely fast times and very encouraging heading into the big meets at the end of the season. Both marks were faster than Brad Miles time trialed the year that he won Foot Locker Regionals. Barchet at 9:21 also is a new PR for him and is an encouraging sign for Henderson's #2. Their 3-5 were a pair of 9:35s and a 9:43. No Sam Haugh and Rimkis was their 5th guy (state medalist). Now obviously track teams don't factor directly to XC marks, but these are still encouraging times moving forward. Henderson is clearly in good shape and Russell is in the mix for a spot at Nationals whether the team makes it or not (and Aziz if he goes to Footlocker or NXN is dangerous for a nationals bid).
But more impressive (to me anyway) were the O'Hara boys. A little chip on their shoulder led to 5 PRs from their top 5 including a huge bomb shell from Jim Belfatto, originally an 800m guy who stepped on the XC trails and started making a name for himself in the fall with a top 50 finish at states. Belfatto ran 9:22.1 for 4th, finishing just behind Barchet! Now obviously an 800m guy like Belfatto is going to gain the edge when the race moves to the track but to see this kind of time out of him is simply stunning. Savage, James and Pitone were all right behind in 9:24, 9:26 and 9:32 respectively (I believe all are PRs, Pitone's may be close). We knew that those 3 were all very solid, two of them were top 10 guys at states, all were state medalists, and two of them arguably could have ran much better. Pastore quietly drops in a 9:39 3200m PR as well. That puts the entire top 5 under 9:40 for 3200m. Particularly impressive considering last spring they struggled to find a guy who could break the 9:30 mark. A very good sign for a bounce back race from this team at Nats. Hopefully they will mix it up with Henderson and we can get two teams to NXN for the first time in state history (I'm pretty sure anyway).
Ironically the two squads tied at 36 points a piece in the race when scored. However, this time Matt Hayes was ahead of Henderson's 6th man.
Does that mean anything? No not really, I just thought it was an ironic turn of events.
PS I enabled comments from anyone again on the blog, things were getting too boring, but I won't hesitate to pull the plug again if things get messy.
Race Stories: Tony Russell
Expectations can be the death of some runners at the state championship. There is a lot of pressure on guys who are the favorites coming into the state meet and sometimes that pressure is too much to overcome. Just ask guys like Drew Magaha, Zach Hebda, Ben Furcht, Chris Campbell and many more. So when Tony Russell came into the 2012 XC state meet fresh off a 15:11 dominating performance at Lehigh, many saw him as a prime target for pressure. But Russell fought off all the expectations and all the nerves and ran a perfect race en route to a new course record state championship performance and led Henderson to a surprise team title victory in the process.
After Van Cortlandt Park, a meet in which Russell ran the fastest time of any PA runner in the course's famed history, he was confident and ready to roll during the championship season. He used that confidence to run with poise in the state championship meet. He hung back while the others blasted the early pace and then held his spot in the hills before erasing the rest of the field in his final push for home. By the time Russell climbed the final small hill before poop-out, he was in the lead and feeling too good to worry about being caught. At the point it was merely a race between himself, the clock, and the rest of the Henderson and O'Hara boys.
For Russell the individual title was quite the experience, but taking home the team title dwarfed his individual achievements. At the annunciation of the champions Russell said the joy that his team was feeling was "priceless". After seeing the performance by both teams at the state championship, Russell is confident that Henderson and O'Hara have top 10 potential for the national meet. He hopes to lead the team to Portland to experience the course before next season, where almost the entire squad will be back with some high hopes for a bright future.
It will be a lot of pressure, but Russell has proved that its nothing the Henderson boys can't handle.
Race Stories: James Zingarini
For Council Rock North to surprise North Allegheny and take down a top 3 finish at states, the team needed a clutch performance from their third man at Districts, James Zingarini. At states, he did not disappoint.
Zingarini started off his race with a conservative opening mile, rolling through the mark at 4:55, exactly the pace he was aiming for. After that point came the difficult Hershey hills, the true make it or break point of the course. Here, his training on the Tyler State Park kicked in. It was here that all the hard work he and his teammates had put in over the summer helped him push from 38th at mile 1 up to 28th at mile 2, just on the outside of the medal stand.
The last mile was all about one thing, as James said, "Coach always says to run the last mile with our hearts, and I think I did that". He had picked out a couple of guys from the week before at Districts who he wanted to beat and coming up the final straightaway he used his 4:18 speed to begin to pick off those guys. It was his last XC race in a CRN uniform and he didn't want to let the opportunity go to waste. The result was an 18th place finish, his highest ever at the state meet.
His finishing kick paid off big time as the CRN boys upset NA in what James called the "exclamation point" on a great state meet performance. "I am really luck to have amazing teammates to train with. Not only are they sick athletes, but they're also my best friends ... I couldn't be more proud of my teammates."
Zingarini started off his race with a conservative opening mile, rolling through the mark at 4:55, exactly the pace he was aiming for. After that point came the difficult Hershey hills, the true make it or break point of the course. Here, his training on the Tyler State Park kicked in. It was here that all the hard work he and his teammates had put in over the summer helped him push from 38th at mile 1 up to 28th at mile 2, just on the outside of the medal stand.
The last mile was all about one thing, as James said, "Coach always says to run the last mile with our hearts, and I think I did that". He had picked out a couple of guys from the week before at Districts who he wanted to beat and coming up the final straightaway he used his 4:18 speed to begin to pick off those guys. It was his last XC race in a CRN uniform and he didn't want to let the opportunity go to waste. The result was an 18th place finish, his highest ever at the state meet.
His finishing kick paid off big time as the CRN boys upset NA in what James called the "exclamation point" on a great state meet performance. "I am really luck to have amazing teammates to train with. Not only are they sick athletes, but they're also my best friends ... I couldn't be more proud of my teammates."
Race Stories: Barrett Kemp
What was your strategy going into the state meet? How did the race play out relative to your expectations?
Last year the state course took its toll on you, but this year you had a great race. How do you think you prepared differently for this season compared to last?
This season had its ups and downs, but you pulled everything together at the right time. Was there a workout or key moment that gave you the confidence to compete with the best in the state?
Your team made a great run to the state meet and had an excellent finish. How did you feel about your team’s accomplishments?
My team is a constant source of inspiration and support, and I would give up anything to not be leaving them this year. I’ll keep it short: this year we worked harder than we ever have before, and, too, got closer than we ever have before – I’ll leave that to your imagination, but not all of it has been as nice as it sounds. They’re a fantastic bunch of guys, and I’ll miss all of them, come next year.
Quick shout-out to our coaches, too: Josh and Jenn Hoffman. They had their second child just weeks into our season, and still – even with a toddler and a baby on their hands – stayed true to us, and coached us to a great season. They’re a veritable force of nature together, and I love them both. Thanks.
Any postseason plans? Track goals? College plans?
As fun as it would be, I’m not going to be attending the Foot Locker competitions. Instead, I’m going to focus on my winter training and the college search – it’s pretty important stuff. I’d share hopes and dreams, but I like to keep that kind of thing to myself.
A big shout-out to every runner at States this past weekend, congratulations to all of you. Brendan, Sam, Curt, Ryan, and everybody else – it’s been an honor running with you gentlemen for the past four years, and I can only hope to face some of you again in college. I have never felt such a feeling of respect and camaraderie among people anywhere else in my life, as I have as a cross country runner. You guys are what make this sport amazing – let’s keep that running spirit alive! It’s been great, all of it -- love you all.
States has always been the most difficult race of the season for me – it’s everything you’ve been working for, month after month, culminating in one final 16-minute burst of effort. It’s easy to mentally work yourself up over it, and if you don’t watch yourself, that’s something that can seriously affect your race. That being said, my strategy this year was not to stress out – it was to keep calm and relaxed leading up to the race and then, come race day, channel all of my focus into that last, ultimate test of ability – the race itself.
More specifically, as far as the race, my plan was to play it safe. And that’s not as easy as it sounds, trust me. The ‘play it safe’ strategy comes into action the first mile, where my only goal was to settle in with the front pack – not push the pace or anything crazy like that. After that, it’s anybody’s race. As everybody who has ever run the State meet at Hershey knows, the Aloha Hills are one hell of a challenge mid- and late-race, and so in the end it basically comes down to a combination of who has the best training and who has the most fight in their hearts – anybody that tells you anything differently is lying or flat-out wrong.
That being said, I gave the last two miles what push I had – and thankfully, I had enough fire in my heart to keep the pace honest. Unfortunately, for other reasons beyond my immediate control, my body didn’t have the strength to put in that last-mile surge – but still, I finished 6th, a happy place after a long and indecisive season.
Last year the state course took its toll on you, but this year you had a great race. How do you think you prepared differently for this season compared to last?
To be honest, I couldn’t really say that there was too much of a difference in my pre-season preparation this year versus last year. Sure, I upped my summer mileage a little bit, and tried to throw in some more cross training and that kind of thing, but in the end I felt pretty much the same, readiness-wise.
What it boiled down to in the end, I think, was willpower. Sure, this year I was naturally a little stronger, a little faster and a little wiser, but ultimately, it came down to that one thing: that this State meet was the last race of my last year of high school cross country. When you know that going into a race, you try to hope that everything works out perfectly – that you won’t have any cramps, or muscle exhaustion, et cetera – but all of these things inevitably pop up. So, what do you do – you push harder than you’ve ever pushed before, and blot out all that excruciating pain like it’s not even there. You give it your all.
A lot of guys, myself included, would like to say we ‘give it our all’ every race, and that’s what makes us great runners. Well, that’s true, but I’ll tell you something – when it’s your last race, you really are giving it everything you’ve got. And that’s just barely enough.
This season had its ups and downs, but you pulled everything together at the right time. Was there a workout or key moment that gave you the confidence to compete with the best in the state?
I could list a number of important stepping-stones in my journey to states – important work-outs, speeches, et cetera – but I’d be lying if I said that any of those things made the difference going into the State meet. When it really happened, when it really all came together and clicked in my head, was on the starting line with my team. We have a kind of pre-race ceremony, a tradition, where we stride out into the middle of the field, form a huddle, say a few words, swaying back and forth, then – spit all together, in the middle of the huddle. It was only then, standing there with my team -- my true brothers – that it all sunk in, and I was ready to race.
Your team made a great run to the state meet and had an excellent finish. How did you feel about your team’s accomplishments?
My team is a constant source of inspiration and support, and I would give up anything to not be leaving them this year. I’ll keep it short: this year we worked harder than we ever have before, and, too, got closer than we ever have before – I’ll leave that to your imagination, but not all of it has been as nice as it sounds. They’re a fantastic bunch of guys, and I’ll miss all of them, come next year.
Quick shout-out to our coaches, too: Josh and Jenn Hoffman. They had their second child just weeks into our season, and still – even with a toddler and a baby on their hands – stayed true to us, and coached us to a great season. They’re a veritable force of nature together, and I love them both. Thanks.
Any postseason plans? Track goals? College plans?
As fun as it would be, I’m not going to be attending the Foot Locker competitions. Instead, I’m going to focus on my winter training and the college search – it’s pretty important stuff. I’d share hopes and dreams, but I like to keep that kind of thing to myself.
A big shout-out to every runner at States this past weekend, congratulations to all of you. Brendan, Sam, Curt, Ryan, and everybody else – it’s been an honor running with you gentlemen for the past four years, and I can only hope to face some of you again in college. I have never felt such a feeling of respect and camaraderie among people anywhere else in my life, as I have as a cross country runner. You guys are what make this sport amazing – let’s keep that running spirit alive! It’s been great, all of it -- love you all.
Race Stories: Luke Jones
Luke Jones always manages to fly under the radar in the early parts of the season, but come states time the kid is ready to roll. For Jones, it is all about constant motivation and dedication. He is driven by the fact that when he misses a day of training, others are getting a leg up on him. And he is confident because he knows he has not let anyone get that edge.
Jones stepped out onto the state course an experienced veteran. He knew the tricks of the course better than most and had an edge over much of his competition. After Rico Galassi flew through the first part of the course in an absurd 9:55 2 mile split. But Jones was unphased and began to real his D2 rival back in, using his veteran advantage and great hill running. Before long it was just a 2 man race for the title and a matter of if Jones would catch Galassi. The hill training and sprint training that Jones had focused on all summer came into play as he worked up the last hill and made a charge for Galassi. Unfortunately, Jones just missed catching him at the end, but he finished in one of the fastest times of the day at 16 flat, just a second off Galassi but just as fast as the AA champ Todaro and faster than his rival from a year ago Brendan Shearn.
For Jones, peaking at the state meet is not just a fluke anymore, its a trend and his Elk Lake teammates must have picked up a few tricks: they were second in the team battle. Jones was pumped to get out there and race again with his friends, enjoying the moment during his senior year. Maybe that is the secret to performing in the clutch.
Jones stepped out onto the state course an experienced veteran. He knew the tricks of the course better than most and had an edge over much of his competition. After Rico Galassi flew through the first part of the course in an absurd 9:55 2 mile split. But Jones was unphased and began to real his D2 rival back in, using his veteran advantage and great hill running. Before long it was just a 2 man race for the title and a matter of if Jones would catch Galassi. The hill training and sprint training that Jones had focused on all summer came into play as he worked up the last hill and made a charge for Galassi. Unfortunately, Jones just missed catching him at the end, but he finished in one of the fastest times of the day at 16 flat, just a second off Galassi but just as fast as the AA champ Todaro and faster than his rival from a year ago Brendan Shearn.
For Jones, peaking at the state meet is not just a fluke anymore, its a trend and his Elk Lake teammates must have picked up a few tricks: they were second in the team battle. Jones was pumped to get out there and race again with his friends, enjoying the moment during his senior year. Maybe that is the secret to performing in the clutch.
Race Stories: Jack Macauley
Although the North Penn squad didn't make a return to states to defend their title, Jack Macauley made sure the state of PA did not forget that the school still knew how to train to peak well and dominate the Hershey course. Macauley dominated the middle part of the hilly course, working up to 2nd place at his peak and finishing in an impressive 6th place. The 9:15 two miler, track stand out, proved he is also a force on the hills.
The North Penn squad puts a big emphasis on the hills, running hills throughout the summer and regular season on a weekly basis. Those workouts built up the strength Macauley need for states. Couple that with some 1k workouts out that build up his confidence, and the man is ready for a great postseason race.
Macauley proved he was a gutsy runner on race day. After Abert took the race out, Macauley charged to the front of the pack and started to help push the pace to go after him. "Since it was my last race I didn't want to have any regrets and obviously wanted to do anything I could to win." On the hills Macauley really began to push, knowing that it would take a fast pace and big moves on the hills to ensure his victory. His quest for glory may have cost him a bit after that point, but he still put on a great kick at the finish to break away from a lot of the pack he was with and take down a 6th place finish. It was his highest finish at the state meet, and North Penn's highest finish since Brad Miles won the championship. Jack summed it up by saying this: Starting off I had the goal of winning states, as did many others. Even though this did not happen (shoutout to Tony for killing it this year) I am still happy with my finish at the state meet knowing that I put myself in the right position by the two mile and didn't let anyone else control my race.
What makes Macauley's feat more impressive is the fact that he has to dual with state caliber guys week after week in dual meets. Throughout the year Macauley battle guys like Chris Berry, Alec Brand, Jake Brophy and Conner Quinn, all top 30 caliber guys in the state at different points in the season. However, Macauley still enjoys racing the D1 guys and getting great competition and gaining great friendships.
The North Penn squad puts a big emphasis on the hills, running hills throughout the summer and regular season on a weekly basis. Those workouts built up the strength Macauley need for states. Couple that with some 1k workouts out that build up his confidence, and the man is ready for a great postseason race.
Macauley proved he was a gutsy runner on race day. After Abert took the race out, Macauley charged to the front of the pack and started to help push the pace to go after him. "Since it was my last race I didn't want to have any regrets and obviously wanted to do anything I could to win." On the hills Macauley really began to push, knowing that it would take a fast pace and big moves on the hills to ensure his victory. His quest for glory may have cost him a bit after that point, but he still put on a great kick at the finish to break away from a lot of the pack he was with and take down a 6th place finish. It was his highest finish at the state meet, and North Penn's highest finish since Brad Miles won the championship. Jack summed it up by saying this: Starting off I had the goal of winning states, as did many others. Even though this did not happen (shoutout to Tony for killing it this year) I am still happy with my finish at the state meet knowing that I put myself in the right position by the two mile and didn't let anyone else control my race.
What makes Macauley's feat more impressive is the fact that he has to dual with state caliber guys week after week in dual meets. Throughout the year Macauley battle guys like Chris Berry, Alec Brand, Jake Brophy and Conner Quinn, all top 30 caliber guys in the state at different points in the season. However, Macauley still enjoys racing the D1 guys and getting great competition and gaining great friendships.
Race Stories: Austin Pondel
When people looked down the list of returning medalists before the 2012 XC season, not many were picking Austin Pondel as the potential state champion in PA. But that didn't mean Austin wasn't ready to have a break out year on the trails this fall. Pondel stepped up his mileage over the summer and worked on his strength to help carry him through the difficult state course. He also injected some speed into his workouts: it was something he felt he could improve on and would need to improve on in order to achieve his goals.
Pondel realized his hard work had paid off early in the season when he exploded onto the scene at the McDowell invitational, winning big (21 seconds) and scaring the course record. Then Pondel waited for his next chance to prove himself, crushing his competition at a series of meets before finally getting his battle with D10 rival Dan Jaskowak. Pondel and Jaskowak pushed together all the way to the line in an impressive display of mud running and guts. It also proved to Pondel that he had more speed than he thought, holding off a guy like Jaskowak for as long as he did. Everything was coming together for a fantastic state meet.
However, the state meet almost never goes perfect. At the narrow start things were hectic for Pondel as he came extremely close to being knocked down in the crowd. Eventually, Pondel was able to navigate the stormy waters and climb to the lead. He pushed the pace from just before the two mile mark and kept things fast, a gutsy move on the state course that may have helped pull Tony Russell to the CR. Pondel held on strong over the final mile of the race and was just barely edged by Kennedy for 2nd at the finish. It was a truly impressive performance, especially coming off the mud run the weekend before.
Pondel was the top Senior in the race for the state of PA. It is an even more impressive feat when you consider all the individuals who bested him a year earlier at the state meet that returned, including the state champion Conner Quinn. Austin proved that hard work and strong will power can help you achieve your goals. He also kept the respect up for D10 giving the district another top 5 finish to boast.
Pondel realized his hard work had paid off early in the season when he exploded onto the scene at the McDowell invitational, winning big (21 seconds) and scaring the course record. Then Pondel waited for his next chance to prove himself, crushing his competition at a series of meets before finally getting his battle with D10 rival Dan Jaskowak. Pondel and Jaskowak pushed together all the way to the line in an impressive display of mud running and guts. It also proved to Pondel that he had more speed than he thought, holding off a guy like Jaskowak for as long as he did. Everything was coming together for a fantastic state meet.
However, the state meet almost never goes perfect. At the narrow start things were hectic for Pondel as he came extremely close to being knocked down in the crowd. Eventually, Pondel was able to navigate the stormy waters and climb to the lead. He pushed the pace from just before the two mile mark and kept things fast, a gutsy move on the state course that may have helped pull Tony Russell to the CR. Pondel held on strong over the final mile of the race and was just barely edged by Kennedy for 2nd at the finish. It was a truly impressive performance, especially coming off the mud run the weekend before.
Pondel was the top Senior in the race for the state of PA. It is an even more impressive feat when you consider all the individuals who bested him a year earlier at the state meet that returned, including the state champion Conner Quinn. Austin proved that hard work and strong will power can help you achieve your goals. He also kept the respect up for D10 giving the district another top 5 finish to boast.
Race Stories: Vinny Todaro
It was a field filled with big name runners with big race experience. Pretty much all the top AA guys had raced one another multiple times before. Essentially all of them benefited from not running the grueling state course the week before. It would seem the odds were tipped heavily away from Vinny Todaro, which makes it all more impressive that when all was said and done he took down the state championship.
Todaro had a pretty simple plan, go out with the leaders and trust in his kick that had won him so many races already this season to get the job done coming up the last hill. It was a bold strategy on many levels: he was bound to have tired legs, he was running against a 1:55 half miler and the defending state champion, and the final part of the course was the only one he hadn't seen the week before. But Todaro was hungry for the gold. And in the end a good kick comes down to who is the hungriest.
All summer Todaro dealt with memories of near misses and crushing defeats. 26th at last year's state meet in XC, 9th indoors in the mile and a tough miss at outdoors after coming in with a 4:16 seed. He attacked a nearby mountain to get in extra hills over the summer and in season did a lot of 1k and 800m hill repeat workouts. This kind of training prepared Vinny to take the next step from heartbreak to elation.
The first big breakthrough came at the Carlisle Invitational. Todaro took down a stacked field that included Brent Kennedy and the Henderson boys and broke through numerous barriers as he won the race in a sprint finish in 15:31, a massive 38 second PR. It was then that he realized just how possible his dream of becoming a state champion was.
All dreams were realized on the state course in Hershey when Todaro executed his plan to perfection. There were no drastic moves or mistimed surges. Todaro sat in and used his speed to power up the last hill and break through the tape in a symbolic representation concluding his breakthrough season.
Todaro is looking forward to some down time now before track season where he will look to carry his XC momentum through to the mile and improve on his outdoor PR. He has also verbally committed to High Point University for next fall, where he will join many former PA studs.
Todaro had a pretty simple plan, go out with the leaders and trust in his kick that had won him so many races already this season to get the job done coming up the last hill. It was a bold strategy on many levels: he was bound to have tired legs, he was running against a 1:55 half miler and the defending state champion, and the final part of the course was the only one he hadn't seen the week before. But Todaro was hungry for the gold. And in the end a good kick comes down to who is the hungriest.
All summer Todaro dealt with memories of near misses and crushing defeats. 26th at last year's state meet in XC, 9th indoors in the mile and a tough miss at outdoors after coming in with a 4:16 seed. He attacked a nearby mountain to get in extra hills over the summer and in season did a lot of 1k and 800m hill repeat workouts. This kind of training prepared Vinny to take the next step from heartbreak to elation.
The first big breakthrough came at the Carlisle Invitational. Todaro took down a stacked field that included Brent Kennedy and the Henderson boys and broke through numerous barriers as he won the race in a sprint finish in 15:31, a massive 38 second PR. It was then that he realized just how possible his dream of becoming a state champion was.
All dreams were realized on the state course in Hershey when Todaro executed his plan to perfection. There were no drastic moves or mistimed surges. Todaro sat in and used his speed to power up the last hill and break through the tape in a symbolic representation concluding his breakthrough season.
Todaro is looking forward to some down time now before track season where he will look to carry his XC momentum through to the mile and improve on his outdoor PR. He has also verbally committed to High Point University for next fall, where he will join many former PA studs.
Race Stories: Kevin James
In order for Cardinal O'Hara to compete at high level again this season on both the state and national level they would need a few guys from their returning pack to step up. Kevin James stepped right up to the plate and accepted the challenge head on, establishing himself as one of the premier runners in the state early and often in this cross country season. But this transformation didn't happen over night.
Kevin started his preparation early this summer, rather than waiting until August. He stopped playing ice hockey and focused up on running, core, push ups and other little things that can improve fitness. Plus, he had some nice training partners to help him out. The O'Hara boys pack it up in races and practice is no different. Having guys like Ernie and Dan to work with in practice helped Kevin realize what kind of efforts it would take to compete at the highest level against the state's elite.
The boys all proved themselves at states, going out hard together in the front pack. James hung on after a fast first mile and rough cramp and kicked his way down the home straightaway for 22nd place, ahead of fellow PCLer Andrew Stone. James was one of only 3 sophomores to medal at the meet. Although the meet did end with heartbreak, James and the O'Hara boys ran fantastic races and they should take confidence with them moving ahead.
Kevin's goal for regionals in the coming weeks is simple: do whatever it takes to help the team get to nationals. They are hungry for another chance against the northeast's elite squads and a shot at redemption. After the XC season is over, Kevin is hoping to run some big PRs in the 3k and 3200m and go after state medals. He also wants to be apart of the O'Hara 4xMile squad, which has a shot at an All-American finish this year.
Kevin started his preparation early this summer, rather than waiting until August. He stopped playing ice hockey and focused up on running, core, push ups and other little things that can improve fitness. Plus, he had some nice training partners to help him out. The O'Hara boys pack it up in races and practice is no different. Having guys like Ernie and Dan to work with in practice helped Kevin realize what kind of efforts it would take to compete at the highest level against the state's elite.
The boys all proved themselves at states, going out hard together in the front pack. James hung on after a fast first mile and rough cramp and kicked his way down the home straightaway for 22nd place, ahead of fellow PCLer Andrew Stone. James was one of only 3 sophomores to medal at the meet. Although the meet did end with heartbreak, James and the O'Hara boys ran fantastic races and they should take confidence with them moving ahead.
Kevin's goal for regionals in the coming weeks is simple: do whatever it takes to help the team get to nationals. They are hungry for another chance against the northeast's elite squads and a shot at redemption. After the XC season is over, Kevin is hoping to run some big PRs in the 3k and 3200m and go after state medals. He also wants to be apart of the O'Hara 4xMile squad, which has a shot at an All-American finish this year.
Race Stories: Aaron Benka
The Grove City boys were in for a dog fight at this year's state meet and every point would matter: the team could finish anywhere from 1st to 5th in the field. Most knew that Dan Jaskowak would be a big gun out front, but what they may not have known was that another future stud had been running well as Grove City's #2 man all season and would be critical in the team title conversation.
After his phenomenal state race, Grove City's Aaron Benka is now inline to follow in the footsteps of a pair of great Grove City sophomores: Jacob Kildoo and Dan Jaskowak. Kildoo was 17th at states as a sophomore and Jaskowak was 50th. After their sophomore campaigns they went on to finish with a combined 3 top 5 XC state finishes and have run 9:09 and 9:14 for 3200m. Benka began his quest to match or better these marks with an 18th place finish this past Saturday at the state championships.
Aaron stressed how blessed he was to achieve what he has so far and claims he would be "nothing without God and Jaskowak". Having a big time front runner out front helps in more ways than just purely a low stick. Benka has made great strides under Jaskowak, just as Dan did under Kildoo before him. The Grove City trio of boys has started something of a tradition of excellence.
But Benka didn't come into the race thinking about where he ranked among his Grove City peers or what kind of big times and performances he was destine for. Benka stressed the importance of getting out smart at the beginning of the race and running an intelligent, controlled start in order to finish strong and best help the team finish. He was also battling a stress fracture in his leg. But Benka put individual pain aside for team glory and his strategy paid off. On the second hill he passed Pottsgrove's top runner Ian Yanusko, a key move for the Grove City squad as they tried to pass Pottsgrove in the team title race.
Although the team came up just short of their goals, Aaron is extremely proud of what his team has accomplished despite numerous injuries and other set backs. Looking ahead, he hopes to qualify for states in the 3200m and help the 4x800m squad perform well in the AA class state meet.
After his phenomenal state race, Grove City's Aaron Benka is now inline to follow in the footsteps of a pair of great Grove City sophomores: Jacob Kildoo and Dan Jaskowak. Kildoo was 17th at states as a sophomore and Jaskowak was 50th. After their sophomore campaigns they went on to finish with a combined 3 top 5 XC state finishes and have run 9:09 and 9:14 for 3200m. Benka began his quest to match or better these marks with an 18th place finish this past Saturday at the state championships.
Aaron stressed how blessed he was to achieve what he has so far and claims he would be "nothing without God and Jaskowak". Having a big time front runner out front helps in more ways than just purely a low stick. Benka has made great strides under Jaskowak, just as Dan did under Kildoo before him. The Grove City trio of boys has started something of a tradition of excellence.
But Benka didn't come into the race thinking about where he ranked among his Grove City peers or what kind of big times and performances he was destine for. Benka stressed the importance of getting out smart at the beginning of the race and running an intelligent, controlled start in order to finish strong and best help the team finish. He was also battling a stress fracture in his leg. But Benka put individual pain aside for team glory and his strategy paid off. On the second hill he passed Pottsgrove's top runner Ian Yanusko, a key move for the Grove City squad as they tried to pass Pottsgrove in the team title race.
Although the team came up just short of their goals, Aaron is extremely proud of what his team has accomplished despite numerous injuries and other set backs. Looking ahead, he hopes to qualify for states in the 3200m and help the 4x800m squad perform well in the AA class state meet.
Race Stories: Ross Wilson
The Council Rock North program has an impressive and historic resume, and this year's team came into the year poised to be one of the best the school had seen in some time. However, a third place finish at the Viking Invitational had almost everyone expressing serious doubts. But Ross Wilson held strong. He put in the work all summer long to be ready to compete for a top spot in the state.
When all was said and done his confidence paid off and the doubters were proven wrong and CRN sprung and upset over a young NA squad and Ross Wilson broke the 15:20 barrier and finished 7th at the state championship. Districts was really the break through day for the CRN boys, highlighted by Ross's 2nd place finish out front.
"I didn't truly believe I could compete with the best until after my District race." Wilson said. After that race he believed he had a realistic shot at winning the state championship. And he had convinced a lot of other followers of the sport he had a shot as well. Wilson and his teammates rocked a 3xmile workout all faster than 5 minute pace and cruised to a 2:20 800m and a couple fast quarters after it was all said and done. "In the beginning of the year we dreaded this workout, but by the end of the season it became more of a fun workout. I believe our training is part of what sets CRN apart."
On states day Wilson went out with the leaders as planned, but a quick opening mile put the breaks on his plan to make a big move after the Aloha hills. "If I were to do it again I would've tried to go out closer to 4:51 and worked my way up. Definitely a good learning experience for next year." Wilson ran a great race, but didn't quite have enough to outlast Tony Russell on this day. But next year he and the other top Juniors in the state will be back and hungry to unseat the champion.
But before the 2013 season gets under way Wilson will look to prove himself at the Footlocker Regional meet with teammate and fellow medalist James Zingarini and is aiming for a top 20 finish, although he acknowledges that the field will be tough to best. Then on the track he will team up with stud 9:11 3200m runner Mac Emery and aim to break the 9:15 mark and qualify for the Penn Relays in the 3k.
When all was said and done his confidence paid off and the doubters were proven wrong and CRN sprung and upset over a young NA squad and Ross Wilson broke the 15:20 barrier and finished 7th at the state championship. Districts was really the break through day for the CRN boys, highlighted by Ross's 2nd place finish out front.
"I didn't truly believe I could compete with the best until after my District race." Wilson said. After that race he believed he had a realistic shot at winning the state championship. And he had convinced a lot of other followers of the sport he had a shot as well. Wilson and his teammates rocked a 3xmile workout all faster than 5 minute pace and cruised to a 2:20 800m and a couple fast quarters after it was all said and done. "In the beginning of the year we dreaded this workout, but by the end of the season it became more of a fun workout. I believe our training is part of what sets CRN apart."
On states day Wilson went out with the leaders as planned, but a quick opening mile put the breaks on his plan to make a big move after the Aloha hills. "If I were to do it again I would've tried to go out closer to 4:51 and worked my way up. Definitely a good learning experience for next year." Wilson ran a great race, but didn't quite have enough to outlast Tony Russell on this day. But next year he and the other top Juniors in the state will be back and hungry to unseat the champion.
But before the 2013 season gets under way Wilson will look to prove himself at the Footlocker Regional meet with teammate and fellow medalist James Zingarini and is aiming for a top 20 finish, although he acknowledges that the field will be tough to best. Then on the track he will team up with stud 9:11 3200m runner Mac Emery and aim to break the 9:15 mark and qualify for the Penn Relays in the 3k.
Race Stories: Chris Kazanjian
Penncrest's Chris Kazanjian flew under the radar for a majority of the early part of this season. He was mixing it up at the front of a variety of different invitationals but failed to break through with that big time race. Until Championship season that is.
Kazanjian and his Penncrest teammates aimed to keep their squad fresh until the important meets of the season and it paid off. According to him, it wasn't until the district meet that he felt ready to run in the 15:40-15:50 range. And that's just what happened. Kazanjian ran down a slew of talented runners in route to a top 10 finish at the District Championships in a sizable PR. The next weekend things would be no different.
Kazanjian was out in one of the slowest times of all the AAA medalists, crossing in just a tick under 5 minutes for the first mile. Having never run at the state meet before, Chris went out conservatively, running smooth and having something for the hills. It worked out well as he picked off a lot of guys in the second half of the race and kicked his way up poop out to finish in 20th place. It was a valuable learning experience for him as well as a great race. Chris is a Junior this year and is optimistic for his return to the state course next year.
"One thing i will say is that i regret not getting out fast enough, both districts and states were too hard of a finish" Chris said about his race.
Its a tactic that he and his brother Matt, who also finished in the top 50 at states, will look to work on in practice. Chris really values having his brother as a training partner and he believes that on the track, he and his brother will be ready to run with the top guys in District One.
"That's what track is for haha, I consider myself a track guy over an XC runner, and I hope to have a season to be proud of in the 3k and 3200"
Kazanjian and his Penncrest teammates aimed to keep their squad fresh until the important meets of the season and it paid off. According to him, it wasn't until the district meet that he felt ready to run in the 15:40-15:50 range. And that's just what happened. Kazanjian ran down a slew of talented runners in route to a top 10 finish at the District Championships in a sizable PR. The next weekend things would be no different.
Kazanjian was out in one of the slowest times of all the AAA medalists, crossing in just a tick under 5 minutes for the first mile. Having never run at the state meet before, Chris went out conservatively, running smooth and having something for the hills. It worked out well as he picked off a lot of guys in the second half of the race and kicked his way up poop out to finish in 20th place. It was a valuable learning experience for him as well as a great race. Chris is a Junior this year and is optimistic for his return to the state course next year.
Its a tactic that he and his brother Matt, who also finished in the top 50 at states, will look to work on in practice. Chris really values having his brother as a training partner and he believes that on the track, he and his brother will be ready to run with the top guys in District One.
"That's what track is for haha, I consider myself a track guy over an XC runner, and I hope to have a season to be proud of in the 3k and 3200"
Race Stories: Colin Abert
When the gun sounded at Hershey this past Saturday, there were probably not many fans or fellow racers would could have picked District 11 champion Colin Abert out of a crowd. So he made it easy on them. Abert charged to the front as just a sophomore against a field of the best runners in the state and made a big statement, leading the group by nearly 10 seconds at the mile mark.
Abert, a sophomore from Easton Area, finished 125th at states last year as a freshman. A performance he was determined to overcome this season. He dominated the D11 field the week before in a very quick time for the course, a performance overshadowed by state champion Brendan Shearn roughly a half hour before. After a confidence building performance like that, Abert was ready to run with the best in the state.
After last year's experience, Abert knew the course narrowed quickly and in order to mix it up for a medal he had to use his front running style and get out hard at the start of the race. Abert knew the difficulty of the course, calling it "the hardest course in Pennsylvania", but that did not deter him from testing his limits on the first mile. "I think getting out fast in the beginning is what helped me to finish the way I did," Abert said. "It was a great feeling to be out in front going past the mile mark."
After his surprisingly quick opening mile, Abert continued to surprise spectators as he hung around with the leaders for a solid portion of the race, ran the hills well and kicked his way past the likes of guys like Conner Quinn and Sam Webb in order to finish in 12th place overall, the top sophomore in the field. Abert ran the hills exceptionally well, especially considering his opening mile. He was one of the fastest runners up poop out at the end of the race. It is especially impressive considering Abert claimed his main weakness last season was always hills. A summer filled with hill after hill has changed that, he know counts hill running as one of his biggest strengths.
Looking forward, Abert now feels his goal of state champion is within reach. Abert also hopes to continue to improve on the state course, he wants to be under 16 minutes next year. Finally, Abert is hoping to improve in a manner similar to the state course at the Footlocker Regional meet and compete for a spot at Footlocker Nationals in San Diego.
He has the guts and the determination to make these dreams come true. One thing is for sure, a lot more people can pick Colin Abert out of a crowd.
Abert, a sophomore from Easton Area, finished 125th at states last year as a freshman. A performance he was determined to overcome this season. He dominated the D11 field the week before in a very quick time for the course, a performance overshadowed by state champion Brendan Shearn roughly a half hour before. After a confidence building performance like that, Abert was ready to run with the best in the state.
After last year's experience, Abert knew the course narrowed quickly and in order to mix it up for a medal he had to use his front running style and get out hard at the start of the race. Abert knew the difficulty of the course, calling it "the hardest course in Pennsylvania", but that did not deter him from testing his limits on the first mile. "I think getting out fast in the beginning is what helped me to finish the way I did," Abert said. "It was a great feeling to be out in front going past the mile mark."
After his surprisingly quick opening mile, Abert continued to surprise spectators as he hung around with the leaders for a solid portion of the race, ran the hills well and kicked his way past the likes of guys like Conner Quinn and Sam Webb in order to finish in 12th place overall, the top sophomore in the field. Abert ran the hills exceptionally well, especially considering his opening mile. He was one of the fastest runners up poop out at the end of the race. It is especially impressive considering Abert claimed his main weakness last season was always hills. A summer filled with hill after hill has changed that, he know counts hill running as one of his biggest strengths.
Looking forward, Abert now feels his goal of state champion is within reach. Abert also hopes to continue to improve on the state course, he wants to be under 16 minutes next year. Finally, Abert is hoping to improve in a manner similar to the state course at the Footlocker Regional meet and compete for a spot at Footlocker Nationals in San Diego.
He has the guts and the determination to make these dreams come true. One thing is for sure, a lot more people can pick Colin Abert out of a crowd.
Next Year: Never too soon is it?
It will be very interesting to see Tony Russell try to defend his title in a year's time with teammate Reiny Barchet another threat for the title. Almost a Gottesfield-Williams eque duo has the potential to appear in 2013 on the XC courses. However, the top 3 guys return from District 1 and 3 of the top 5 guys in the state return including the top two finishers in the WPIAL. This is the second straight year that 3 of the top 5 finishers at the state meet have been Juniors, including the top two individual finishers. However, last year's top three returners each finished lower than they had the previous year with Savage finishing 10th, Jaskowak finishing 3rd in AA, and Quinn finishing 13th. The #4 returner Tom Coyle had to battle through injuries and also finished behind his place in 2011, finishing in 11th after being 8th the year before. So being a top returner far from guarantees success the next season.
However, Russell looked very dominant all season long with the exception of a poor race at Carlisle. Assuming he carries this momentum he will be a NXN individual qualifier if his team does not make the cut. This would put Russell up a few points on Quinn, who didn't qualify for the Footlocker Finals last fall and finished behind Jaskowak at the big race as well as Shearn and Pondel (not postive on that but I'm pretty sure). That's a good sign for Russell moving forward.
Ironically one of the more recent Junior year state champions came from Henderson, Ian Gottesfield, who finished 2nd as a senior after a very solid XC campaign. Craig Miller, the sophomore from Manheim Township, began his dynasty with his victory over Gottesfield in a sprint finish, the first of 3 straight titles for Miller. Perhaps the heir to the Craig Miller throne is Jake Brophy of CB East who had the highest finish of a freshman at the state meet since Vince McNally. He is a certainly a name to remember as time goes on, probably not anyone's pick to win states next year, but he has a lot of potential to turn heads if he keeps up this progression.
A Junior has won states each of the last two years, so what is to stop one from doing it again? Both Sam Webb and Colin Abert capped off their seasons nicely with 14th and 12th place finishes respectively. Abert led the race from way out front, probably not the best tactic on this kind of course. If he changes up his strategy, he may be able to compete for the win in a year's time. And Sam Webb probably picked up a lot of tips racing with Connor Harriman, who was essentially able to match his District finish at states each of the past two years (both on the trails and on the track in the 3200m). And perhaps the best sophomore this year was Kevin James from Cardinal O'Hara who pushed with guys like Savage and Pitone all season and just ran out of gas on a difficult state meet course.
Or maybe it will be someone who we has been off the radar for the past couple weeks. Caleb Wakeley was 25th as a sophomore and was running with Ethan Martin for all of 2011 but a rough 2012 set him back a bit. Maybe he can step it up and run with Martin and compete for a title with healthy legs and a determined spirit. Or perhaps Jeff Groh will be ready to break through whatever hardships he has faced at the end of this XC season and finish off those powerful starts on the home stretch. He proved he can run well on the state course when he won Districts as a sophomore.
And of course there are obvious choices for the victory besides Russell. Ross Wilson had a break out year and learned a lot about the state course and leading big races. Brent Kennedy was a consistent top finisher in every race this season and has a great kick as well. Plus Ethan Martin proved he is a clutch big meet racer and will have a great training partner all year long in brother Colin Martin who was 16th. All those guys are already looking ahead, planning to unseat the champion.
The team title talk seems less up for debate. Henderson returns a crud load of guys, 5 guys who were in the top 50 this year at states, just losing medalist Rimkis and returning big dogs Russell and Barchet. Plus, they have enough depth that many of their JV guys could step up in the summer and end up pushing for a state medal. The healthier Haugh gets the scarier the front pack gets as well.
But NA is just waiting in the wings with McGoey, Seel, Luoco and Love all returning with experience and hunger. Those boys didn't show their true ability as a young team at states this year and they and Henderson should compete hard for the top ranked spot, even if Henderson is the clear cut favorite at this point. Looking further down, Great Valley and West Chester East each return some nice pieces and Lower Dauphin returns their entire front group. A deep sleeper team may be the young squad over at Freedom in District 11 who may surprise a few people this time next year or perhaps this time in 2 years.
But really, you never know what is going to happen and that is what makes this sport so fun. Get your popcorn ready.
-train
However, Russell looked very dominant all season long with the exception of a poor race at Carlisle. Assuming he carries this momentum he will be a NXN individual qualifier if his team does not make the cut. This would put Russell up a few points on Quinn, who didn't qualify for the Footlocker Finals last fall and finished behind Jaskowak at the big race as well as Shearn and Pondel (not postive on that but I'm pretty sure). That's a good sign for Russell moving forward.
Ironically one of the more recent Junior year state champions came from Henderson, Ian Gottesfield, who finished 2nd as a senior after a very solid XC campaign. Craig Miller, the sophomore from Manheim Township, began his dynasty with his victory over Gottesfield in a sprint finish, the first of 3 straight titles for Miller. Perhaps the heir to the Craig Miller throne is Jake Brophy of CB East who had the highest finish of a freshman at the state meet since Vince McNally. He is a certainly a name to remember as time goes on, probably not anyone's pick to win states next year, but he has a lot of potential to turn heads if he keeps up this progression.
A Junior has won states each of the last two years, so what is to stop one from doing it again? Both Sam Webb and Colin Abert capped off their seasons nicely with 14th and 12th place finishes respectively. Abert led the race from way out front, probably not the best tactic on this kind of course. If he changes up his strategy, he may be able to compete for the win in a year's time. And Sam Webb probably picked up a lot of tips racing with Connor Harriman, who was essentially able to match his District finish at states each of the past two years (both on the trails and on the track in the 3200m). And perhaps the best sophomore this year was Kevin James from Cardinal O'Hara who pushed with guys like Savage and Pitone all season and just ran out of gas on a difficult state meet course.
Or maybe it will be someone who we has been off the radar for the past couple weeks. Caleb Wakeley was 25th as a sophomore and was running with Ethan Martin for all of 2011 but a rough 2012 set him back a bit. Maybe he can step it up and run with Martin and compete for a title with healthy legs and a determined spirit. Or perhaps Jeff Groh will be ready to break through whatever hardships he has faced at the end of this XC season and finish off those powerful starts on the home stretch. He proved he can run well on the state course when he won Districts as a sophomore.
And of course there are obvious choices for the victory besides Russell. Ross Wilson had a break out year and learned a lot about the state course and leading big races. Brent Kennedy was a consistent top finisher in every race this season and has a great kick as well. Plus Ethan Martin proved he is a clutch big meet racer and will have a great training partner all year long in brother Colin Martin who was 16th. All those guys are already looking ahead, planning to unseat the champion.
The team title talk seems less up for debate. Henderson returns a crud load of guys, 5 guys who were in the top 50 this year at states, just losing medalist Rimkis and returning big dogs Russell and Barchet. Plus, they have enough depth that many of their JV guys could step up in the summer and end up pushing for a state medal. The healthier Haugh gets the scarier the front pack gets as well.
But NA is just waiting in the wings with McGoey, Seel, Luoco and Love all returning with experience and hunger. Those boys didn't show their true ability as a young team at states this year and they and Henderson should compete hard for the top ranked spot, even if Henderson is the clear cut favorite at this point. Looking further down, Great Valley and West Chester East each return some nice pieces and Lower Dauphin returns their entire front group. A deep sleeper team may be the young squad over at Freedom in District 11 who may surprise a few people this time next year or perhaps this time in 2 years.
But really, you never know what is going to happen and that is what makes this sport so fun. Get your popcorn ready.
-train
A Few Announcements
So had a pretty brutal test today and I was kind of stressed out so sorry for the lack of posting that has been going on. I'll try to get on that ASAP and if you have any ideas feel free to comment them on here.
Which brings me to my next point, I have changed the comment structure so that there is no more anonymous option. I know that this may be disappointing to some of you, but, unfortunately, I have heard from multiple sources about comments either being upsetting or making people feel uncomfortable or just mean and unhelpful and frankly unprofessional. This past month was the biggest month in this blogs history with almost 40,000 page views over the course of the month and as a result some things had to change. I'm sorry to those who this effects, but hopefully this will solve more problems than it creates.
Also one more announcement, the Henderson boys are running a 2 mile on their home track in order to tune up for regionals next Wednesday at 4:15. Coach Kelly wanted to try to promote the meet and welcome anyone from the area to come out and run. It is a free event and a great chance to run fast with guys like GFS there and a rabbit is also a possibility. Girls are invited out too and a seperate race will be created if interest is high enough. If you plan on attending email Coach Kelly at kkelly1@wcasd.net. It would be really cool to see all the Chestmont guys go all out in a 2 mile with the GFS boys. Just something to think about.
There may be some college and open racers that enter as well.
Stay Classy.
-train
Which brings me to my next point, I have changed the comment structure so that there is no more anonymous option. I know that this may be disappointing to some of you, but, unfortunately, I have heard from multiple sources about comments either being upsetting or making people feel uncomfortable or just mean and unhelpful and frankly unprofessional. This past month was the biggest month in this blogs history with almost 40,000 page views over the course of the month and as a result some things had to change. I'm sorry to those who this effects, but hopefully this will solve more problems than it creates.
Also one more announcement, the Henderson boys are running a 2 mile on their home track in order to tune up for regionals next Wednesday at 4:15. Coach Kelly wanted to try to promote the meet and welcome anyone from the area to come out and run. It is a free event and a great chance to run fast with guys like GFS there and a rabbit is also a possibility. Girls are invited out too and a seperate race will be created if interest is high enough. If you plan on attending email Coach Kelly at kkelly1@wcasd.net. It would be really cool to see all the Chestmont guys go all out in a 2 mile with the GFS boys. Just something to think about.
There may be some college and open racers that enter as well.
Stay Classy.
-train
XC Top 50 11/5 Final Rankings (Probably)
I tried to take into account the year on the whole, but the obvious emphasis was on championship season, most importantly the state championship. Some guys got jipped just because their state race didn't go so hot and I am sorry to those folks, but this is the best I can do with the information I have.
Also just for fun I decided to put the ranking that each of these guys had over the summer in parentheses next to their final ranking. Anyone without a number wasn't ranked over the summer. Sam Ritz and Colin Abert are the first guys on my list who were not ranked over the summer. Josh Zemet is the first guy on the list who really came out of nowhere for me personally this year.
1. (18) Tony Russell, Jr West Chester Henderson
2. (17) Vinny Todaro, Sr Big Spring
3. (6) Brent Kennedy, Jr Kiski Area
4. (8) Rico Galassi, Sr Holy Cross
5. (33) Austin Pondel, Sr Corry Area
6. (2) Brendan Shearn, Sr North Schyukill
7. (1) Dan Jaskowak, Sr Grove City
8. (10) Luke Jones, Sr Elk Lake
9. (42) Max Norris, Sr Harriton
10. (9) Sami Aziz, Sr Germantown Friend's
11. (27) Ethan Martin, Jr Fox Chapel
12. (25) Ross Wilson, Jr Council Rock North
13. (13) Jack Macauley, Sr North Penn
14. (14) Sam Williams, Sr Northeast Bradford
15. (16) Curt Jewett, Sr Northeast Bradford
16. (11) Connor Harriman, Sr Pennsbury
17. (7) Dan Savage, Sr O'Hara
18. (4) Tom Coyle, Sr LaSalle
19. (28) Ernie Pitone, Sr O'Hara
20. Sam Ritz, So Germantown Academy
21. Colin Abert, So Easton
22. (3) Conner Quinn, Sr Hatboro Horsham
23. (15) Alec Kunzweiler, Sr Cumberland Valley
24. (44) Sam Webb, So Pennsbury
25. Josh Zemet, Sr North Allegheny
26. Colin Martin, Jr Fox Chapel
27. (24) Reiny Barchet, Jr West Chester Henderson
28. (40) Aaron Valorosa, Sr Towanda
29. Kieran Sutton, Sr Lake Lehman
30. Jacob Fetterman, Sr Hazelton Area
31. (36) Ean DiSilvio, Sr Allerdice
32. (21) Ben Ritz, Sr Germantown Academy
33. Jeremy Parsons, Jr Maplewood
34. Kevin James, So O'Hara
35. (26) James Zingarini, Sr Council Rock North
36. (12) Mac Emery, Sr Council Rock North
37. Chris Kazanjian, Jr Penncrest
38. Patrick Reilly, Jr Dallastown
39. (22) Lyle Wistar, Sr Germantown Friend's
40. Bobby Rimkis, Sr West Chester Henderson
41. Etienne Dumas, Penn Charter
42. (5) Ryan Smathers, Sr North East
43. (31) Barrett Kemp, Sr Oswayo Valley
44. (45) Andrew Stone, Sr LaSalle
45. Brian Shields, Sr Hampton
46. (30) Cole Nissley, Jr Lower Dauphin
47. (43) Francis Ferruzzi, Sr Upper Dublin
48. Evan Williams, Sr Governor Mifflin
49. (46) Ryan Hertzog, Sr South Western
50. Griffin Molino, So South Williamsport
Just Missing (Too Many to list them all really)
Aaron Gebhart, So New Oxford
Matt Willig, Jr Great Valley
(50) Ryan Archer, Sr Vincentian Academy
Joey Steadman, Sr Downingtown West
Jake Brophy, Fr CB East
Shawn Wolfe, Sr Anville Celona
(29) Liam Corcoran, Sr James Buchanon
(39) Dominic Deluca, Jr Dallas
Also just for fun I decided to put the ranking that each of these guys had over the summer in parentheses next to their final ranking. Anyone without a number wasn't ranked over the summer. Sam Ritz and Colin Abert are the first guys on my list who were not ranked over the summer. Josh Zemet is the first guy on the list who really came out of nowhere for me personally this year.
1. (18) Tony Russell, Jr West Chester Henderson
2. (17) Vinny Todaro, Sr Big Spring
3. (6) Brent Kennedy, Jr Kiski Area
4. (8) Rico Galassi, Sr Holy Cross
5. (33) Austin Pondel, Sr Corry Area
6. (2) Brendan Shearn, Sr North Schyukill
7. (1) Dan Jaskowak, Sr Grove City
8. (10) Luke Jones, Sr Elk Lake
9. (42) Max Norris, Sr Harriton
10. (9) Sami Aziz, Sr Germantown Friend's
11. (27) Ethan Martin, Jr Fox Chapel
12. (25) Ross Wilson, Jr Council Rock North
13. (13) Jack Macauley, Sr North Penn
14. (14) Sam Williams, Sr Northeast Bradford
15. (16) Curt Jewett, Sr Northeast Bradford
16. (11) Connor Harriman, Sr Pennsbury
17. (7) Dan Savage, Sr O'Hara
18. (4) Tom Coyle, Sr LaSalle
19. (28) Ernie Pitone, Sr O'Hara
20. Sam Ritz, So Germantown Academy
21. Colin Abert, So Easton
22. (3) Conner Quinn, Sr Hatboro Horsham
23. (15) Alec Kunzweiler, Sr Cumberland Valley
24. (44) Sam Webb, So Pennsbury
25. Josh Zemet, Sr North Allegheny
26. Colin Martin, Jr Fox Chapel
27. (24) Reiny Barchet, Jr West Chester Henderson
28. (40) Aaron Valorosa, Sr Towanda
29. Kieran Sutton, Sr Lake Lehman
30. Jacob Fetterman, Sr Hazelton Area
31. (36) Ean DiSilvio, Sr Allerdice
32. (21) Ben Ritz, Sr Germantown Academy
33. Jeremy Parsons, Jr Maplewood
34. Kevin James, So O'Hara
35. (26) James Zingarini, Sr Council Rock North
36. (12) Mac Emery, Sr Council Rock North
37. Chris Kazanjian, Jr Penncrest
38. Patrick Reilly, Jr Dallastown
39. (22) Lyle Wistar, Sr Germantown Friend's
40. Bobby Rimkis, Sr West Chester Henderson
41. Etienne Dumas, Penn Charter
42. (5) Ryan Smathers, Sr North East
43. (31) Barrett Kemp, Sr Oswayo Valley
44. (45) Andrew Stone, Sr LaSalle
45. Brian Shields, Sr Hampton
46. (30) Cole Nissley, Jr Lower Dauphin
47. (43) Francis Ferruzzi, Sr Upper Dublin
48. Evan Williams, Sr Governor Mifflin
49. (46) Ryan Hertzog, Sr South Western
50. Griffin Molino, So South Williamsport
Just Missing (Too Many to list them all really)
Aaron Gebhart, So New Oxford
Matt Willig, Jr Great Valley
(50) Ryan Archer, Sr Vincentian Academy
Joey Steadman, Sr Downingtown West
Jake Brophy, Fr CB East
Shawn Wolfe, Sr Anville Celona
(29) Liam Corcoran, Sr James Buchanon
(39) Dominic Deluca, Jr Dallas
Pop Quiz Revisited
Remember these from over the summer?
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!
It is interesting to look back at these and see what happened. Just bringing it up for fun.
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!
It is interesting to look back at these and see what happened. Just bringing it up for fun.
States Wrap Up
Well there will be much more opinions to come but real quick I'll let you know about my first thoughts reviewing the races. Also just want to say thanks to everybody who I talked to up at the meet. It really meant a lot to hear from you guys and I hope you enjoyed the state experience.
A
The first of 3 races in which I was wrong about the winners, but one of the only ones where I can say I got something right. Northeast Bradford was clearly a team on a mission this year and they proved it at states. Nice bounce back for Elk Lake, however, they had a very strong showing in a "rebuilding" year. Rico you are a bold man. When I saw you coming down the last down hill before Poop Hill I thought for sure Luke was going to run you down. But you held on with a wire to wire win and I am very impressed. Not many can do that on this course. But Luke Jones is certainly a big time racer when it matters most. That is an achievement that can't be overlooked as well. Barrett Kemp really came back strong. I picked him to be in the top 3 or so last year and he had an off day and a lot of signs indicated he wasn't anywhere near top speed this year, but he came on very strong to end the season and capitalized at the most important meet of the season. Very impressive. His team didn't do too bad either. Griffin Molino is another name to remember. I was really impressed with the way he ran, he is going to be a serious title contender next year. Although the Parson boys are pretty good, as they proved during this race. Hunter Johnston a nice bounce back race from Districts again. I guess worth noting, 17:11 was 25th in A.
AA
Grove City came so close to the upset, but couldn't quite get there. Admittedly, I think Pottsgrove was a little off their game. They didn't have a single state medalist, but proved that true pack running can prevail. The top 5 or so were not all that surprising to me, but of course I didn't expect that Todaro would pull of the win. Incredibly impressive performance by him, he ran a perfect tactical race where he was patient and made his move at the right time. Shearn is gutsy and a strong runner but when he got to the hill Todaro just had more left. I imagine one of these 3 guys is going to make it to San Diego for Footlocker (throwing Jaskowak in there). The D3 course hasn't effected the AA champs as Todaro becomes the 4th in 5 years or something like that (only Shearn has broken it up). Shawn Wolfe, however, felt the previous weeks hills, he is better than that finish. He didn't help Anville Celona, however, to an impressive team finish. Deluca may have made too much of a move from 1 to 2 miles, he had nothing left for the final hill. But he will be dangerous next year. Props to Tunkhannock for a nice states race as well, they show up well on this course. Avery Scripture a nice race as well in there. Should be a name to remember come track season.
AAA
And finally ... to all those Henderson guys who I saw at the meet yesterday: Congrats to Henderson for proving me wrong on two accounts. Last year you could make the argument that O'Hara choked and lost to a team they were definitely better than. This year, O'Hara ran very well, they maybe could have had a few more points here or there, but they had 5 guys in the top 50! 3 State medalists and 2 top 10 finishers! Henderson was the better team (not by much) but the better team and they took the title with their own 3 state medalists and their own 5 in the top 50. My heart feels for O'Hara because obviously this is a tough way to lose back to back years, but they have nothing to be ashamed of. They are a great team that just ran into an even greater team. Major props to Ernie Pitone, heck of a race.
But really the story here has got to be Tony Russell. He easily won the state championship yesterday in record time. He ran a perfect race, very smart, not taking the lead sooner than he had to and breaking away from the field in time to leave nothing in doubt. Tony is one of the best I've seen in all my years of covering the sport (which is like 7 but still) and he made a huge statement on Saturday with that win. Austin Pondel, you represented my fantasy team well, you had a great race. Kennedy too was awesome in his performance, and Macauley made a gutsy move in the middle of the race that I respect. Harriman unleashed a killer kick again as did James Zingarini who helped CRN to the surprise upset. I give credit to those guys for performing well. I am sorry to see NA go down, Seamus Love lost a shoe apparently in the race and that cost the squad. They paid for their youth, but next year they will be up there competing for a title. Although it is hard to doubt Henderson at this point.
The big thing I take away from this is that District 1 is truly the best district in AAA. I'm sorry to all of you out there who hate me for saying that, but I think if you are honest with yourself, I do a fairly good job of not being biased towards my own District. But look at the history of the state meet! With the exception of NA squeaking a team and individual in there, the winners in my years of following the sport have been D1 teams and D1 individuals. 15 of the top 30 individuals in the race 5 of the top 10 teams (top 9 technically). It's crazy and it goes to show you that if you are District 1 guy who didn't make states, keep your head up. You may be on the medal stand next year.
There are other things I know I'm leaving out, like how WCEast exceeded my 10th place finish and proved plenty of people (although to be fair they did finally fall victim to Great Valley), how D3 again suffered in both the individual category and the team category for their race a weekend ago, about Colin Abert taking the race from the gun and still somehow hanging on for that medal, and much much more. But those were what I saw as the highlights.
To end with I'm going to address something that is going to sound a lot like an excuse (and that is because it kind of is) about my big theory on state champions. The switch to three classes this year led to two new state champions who were not state medalists the year before: Todaro and Russell, who were 26th and 27th last year in the AAA race, just off the medal stand.
However, if you recombine the races into AAA and AA and A each would have been medalists in their respective new class. So technically the theory wasn't invalidated.
Anyway, congrats to everyone who ran at the meet, you left it all out there!
Later in the week, I will try to have some rankings in place and I'll look at all the posts I've made over the past year and comment on what I've gotten right and what I have gotten oh so wrong.
Talk to you guy soon.
A
The first of 3 races in which I was wrong about the winners, but one of the only ones where I can say I got something right. Northeast Bradford was clearly a team on a mission this year and they proved it at states. Nice bounce back for Elk Lake, however, they had a very strong showing in a "rebuilding" year. Rico you are a bold man. When I saw you coming down the last down hill before Poop Hill I thought for sure Luke was going to run you down. But you held on with a wire to wire win and I am very impressed. Not many can do that on this course. But Luke Jones is certainly a big time racer when it matters most. That is an achievement that can't be overlooked as well. Barrett Kemp really came back strong. I picked him to be in the top 3 or so last year and he had an off day and a lot of signs indicated he wasn't anywhere near top speed this year, but he came on very strong to end the season and capitalized at the most important meet of the season. Very impressive. His team didn't do too bad either. Griffin Molino is another name to remember. I was really impressed with the way he ran, he is going to be a serious title contender next year. Although the Parson boys are pretty good, as they proved during this race. Hunter Johnston a nice bounce back race from Districts again. I guess worth noting, 17:11 was 25th in A.
AA
Grove City came so close to the upset, but couldn't quite get there. Admittedly, I think Pottsgrove was a little off their game. They didn't have a single state medalist, but proved that true pack running can prevail. The top 5 or so were not all that surprising to me, but of course I didn't expect that Todaro would pull of the win. Incredibly impressive performance by him, he ran a perfect tactical race where he was patient and made his move at the right time. Shearn is gutsy and a strong runner but when he got to the hill Todaro just had more left. I imagine one of these 3 guys is going to make it to San Diego for Footlocker (throwing Jaskowak in there). The D3 course hasn't effected the AA champs as Todaro becomes the 4th in 5 years or something like that (only Shearn has broken it up). Shawn Wolfe, however, felt the previous weeks hills, he is better than that finish. He didn't help Anville Celona, however, to an impressive team finish. Deluca may have made too much of a move from 1 to 2 miles, he had nothing left for the final hill. But he will be dangerous next year. Props to Tunkhannock for a nice states race as well, they show up well on this course. Avery Scripture a nice race as well in there. Should be a name to remember come track season.
AAA
And finally ... to all those Henderson guys who I saw at the meet yesterday: Congrats to Henderson for proving me wrong on two accounts. Last year you could make the argument that O'Hara choked and lost to a team they were definitely better than. This year, O'Hara ran very well, they maybe could have had a few more points here or there, but they had 5 guys in the top 50! 3 State medalists and 2 top 10 finishers! Henderson was the better team (not by much) but the better team and they took the title with their own 3 state medalists and their own 5 in the top 50. My heart feels for O'Hara because obviously this is a tough way to lose back to back years, but they have nothing to be ashamed of. They are a great team that just ran into an even greater team. Major props to Ernie Pitone, heck of a race.
But really the story here has got to be Tony Russell. He easily won the state championship yesterday in record time. He ran a perfect race, very smart, not taking the lead sooner than he had to and breaking away from the field in time to leave nothing in doubt. Tony is one of the best I've seen in all my years of covering the sport (which is like 7 but still) and he made a huge statement on Saturday with that win. Austin Pondel, you represented my fantasy team well, you had a great race. Kennedy too was awesome in his performance, and Macauley made a gutsy move in the middle of the race that I respect. Harriman unleashed a killer kick again as did James Zingarini who helped CRN to the surprise upset. I give credit to those guys for performing well. I am sorry to see NA go down, Seamus Love lost a shoe apparently in the race and that cost the squad. They paid for their youth, but next year they will be up there competing for a title. Although it is hard to doubt Henderson at this point.
The big thing I take away from this is that District 1 is truly the best district in AAA. I'm sorry to all of you out there who hate me for saying that, but I think if you are honest with yourself, I do a fairly good job of not being biased towards my own District. But look at the history of the state meet! With the exception of NA squeaking a team and individual in there, the winners in my years of following the sport have been D1 teams and D1 individuals. 15 of the top 30 individuals in the race 5 of the top 10 teams (top 9 technically). It's crazy and it goes to show you that if you are District 1 guy who didn't make states, keep your head up. You may be on the medal stand next year.
There are other things I know I'm leaving out, like how WCEast exceeded my 10th place finish and proved plenty of people (although to be fair they did finally fall victim to Great Valley), how D3 again suffered in both the individual category and the team category for their race a weekend ago, about Colin Abert taking the race from the gun and still somehow hanging on for that medal, and much much more. But those were what I saw as the highlights.
To end with I'm going to address something that is going to sound a lot like an excuse (and that is because it kind of is) about my big theory on state champions. The switch to three classes this year led to two new state champions who were not state medalists the year before: Todaro and Russell, who were 26th and 27th last year in the AAA race, just off the medal stand.
However, if you recombine the races into AAA and AA and A each would have been medalists in their respective new class. So technically the theory wasn't invalidated.
Anyway, congrats to everyone who ran at the meet, you left it all out there!
Later in the week, I will try to have some rankings in place and I'll look at all the posts I've made over the past year and comment on what I've gotten right and what I have gotten oh so wrong.
Talk to you guy soon.
Taking a Trip to States
I will be making the trip up to the state championships at Hershey this weekend for perhaps the final time. If anyone wants to meet up, talk track, just meet the man behind the posts feel free to give me a call or text or something. My name is Jarrett Felix and my number is 215-450-1099. I am 20 years old and I hopefully don't sound like a child predator for making posts like this. I know there are at least a few parents out there who are readers so this meet up chance applies to you to if you feel you want to talk to the guy posting up some of the things your kids are reading or whatever. I'm planning on wearing some Muhlenberg gear, I'm a Junior here and a Co-Captain of the Cross Country team so if you want to talk to Muhlenberg also feel free. And I have a facebook if you want to facebook stalk what I look like. Again, not trying to be creepy, just trying to be accessible to the readers. Hopefully, its a fun time and a cool race.
Now I am going to get sentimental for a moment.
I know he doesn't really read this blog anymore, because he is a focused man, but if he does, I hope he isn't too embarrassed by what I say.
What's really cool about getting older and following the sport for a while is watching kids improve and rise to the highest level, from relative obscurity to well known commodity. For me, I'm most excited about the state race because I get to see my good friend Francis Ferruzzi run in probably his last race of his High School career on Saturday. Francis and I went to high school together and we have done countless runs together over the years from the time he was a Freshman until now. I'd be lying if I said I knew right when I saw him that he would run 15:45 and break the school 3k record indoors. I still remember the first run anyone did with Francis and my friend Todd told us all, watch out for this kid he is going to be good. We didn't listen to Todd then (which was silly because the kid is a genius), but we should have.
At Paul Short, Francis took off on all of us older guys and led our pack through the first mile, a gutsy move for a Freshman at the biggest meet of his young career. He ended up running under 17 minutes, one of the only Freshman in our schools history to boast a mark like that. That was the moment when I knew he was something special. At Districts, Francis was the top Freshman in the race. He was a key part of our team's 10th place finish at the District meet after losing virtually our entire varsity team from the prior season. It was the last race that Francis and I ever ran together.
Francis and I are neighbors and we have grown over the years to become good friends. We have ran together so many times that is just habit. Whether it be hill work outs at 7 in the morning or late night long runs at 2 in the morning, it was a quality run. Over the years he has become faster and faster (especially relative to me), but I still often times think of him as that little freshman I met a few years back.
Since going off to college, I've missed a lot of races I really wish I could have been at, whether it was the Trojan Track Classic sophomore year or his PTFCA classic 3200m last year. Honestly, there are a lot of moments that I really regret missing, only able to hear about it through a short phone call before the cool down.
That's why this year, for his final race, there is no where else I would rather be than cheering for my friend on the brutal Hershey course. Our high school cross country career comes full circle this weekend at Hershey.
There are thousands of stories like ours this weekend at Hershey. Thousands of runners whose dreams are realized, whose friends and families are watching the final race of a high school career, filled with ups and downs (ironically much like the state's course).
So Saturday, remember the journey of how you arrived at this moment. Seize the power of the moment and run with it all the way through the final hill.
Because before you know it, you will be an old guy like me, sitting a computer screen, remembering the good old days of running with his best friend.
Good luck everybody.
Now I am going to get sentimental for a moment.
I know he doesn't really read this blog anymore, because he is a focused man, but if he does, I hope he isn't too embarrassed by what I say.
What's really cool about getting older and following the sport for a while is watching kids improve and rise to the highest level, from relative obscurity to well known commodity. For me, I'm most excited about the state race because I get to see my good friend Francis Ferruzzi run in probably his last race of his High School career on Saturday. Francis and I went to high school together and we have done countless runs together over the years from the time he was a Freshman until now. I'd be lying if I said I knew right when I saw him that he would run 15:45 and break the school 3k record indoors. I still remember the first run anyone did with Francis and my friend Todd told us all, watch out for this kid he is going to be good. We didn't listen to Todd then (which was silly because the kid is a genius), but we should have.
At Paul Short, Francis took off on all of us older guys and led our pack through the first mile, a gutsy move for a Freshman at the biggest meet of his young career. He ended up running under 17 minutes, one of the only Freshman in our schools history to boast a mark like that. That was the moment when I knew he was something special. At Districts, Francis was the top Freshman in the race. He was a key part of our team's 10th place finish at the District meet after losing virtually our entire varsity team from the prior season. It was the last race that Francis and I ever ran together.
Francis and I are neighbors and we have grown over the years to become good friends. We have ran together so many times that is just habit. Whether it be hill work outs at 7 in the morning or late night long runs at 2 in the morning, it was a quality run. Over the years he has become faster and faster (especially relative to me), but I still often times think of him as that little freshman I met a few years back.
Since going off to college, I've missed a lot of races I really wish I could have been at, whether it was the Trojan Track Classic sophomore year or his PTFCA classic 3200m last year. Honestly, there are a lot of moments that I really regret missing, only able to hear about it through a short phone call before the cool down.
That's why this year, for his final race, there is no where else I would rather be than cheering for my friend on the brutal Hershey course. Our high school cross country career comes full circle this weekend at Hershey.
There are thousands of stories like ours this weekend at Hershey. Thousands of runners whose dreams are realized, whose friends and families are watching the final race of a high school career, filled with ups and downs (ironically much like the state's course).
So Saturday, remember the journey of how you arrived at this moment. Seize the power of the moment and run with it all the way through the final hill.
Because before you know it, you will be an old guy like me, sitting a computer screen, remembering the good old days of running with his best friend.
Good luck everybody.
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