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PCL Indoor 3k 2013 vs. PIAA Foundation Meet 2012
At the PCL Championships this year we saw a slew of top performance, but perhaps no race was more exciting than the men's 3000m. The O'Hara boys were looking to stay competitive in the men's team title race and put in their big XC studs to try and take the race. But LaSalle's Tom Coyle, doubling back from the mile, had other ideas. Coyle put on a blazing kick to sprint away from O'Hara's Dan Savage, throwing down a very quick 8:46.88 to beat out Savage by about a second and half. Kevin James completed a nice double running 8:54 and Will McDermott also broke 9 minutes. O'Hara's top runner runners Ernie Pitone and Chris Pastore took 5th and 6th.

In what can only be described as the kick of the season, Pennsbury's Connor Harriman approached the final hill well out of contention. It was Ean DiSilvio's race to lose it seemed. But Harriman had other plans. He put on a huge kick to storm back over the final meters to beat out DiSilvio by a mere second. Behind him, Cardinal O'Hara asserted serious dominance, running to the win with 6 guys in the top 15 in the race. The beat out a very good NA team by 35 points.

District One XC Championships 2012 vs. AA Outdoor States 3200m 2012
West Chester Henderson toed the line with some big names and a great team going into the District One Championships, but I'm not sure anyone expected the performance their front runners would throw down. After a blazing fast opening mile, Tony Russell and Reiny Barchet were in the middle of the pack. But it didn't last long. The two surged their way through the field and went on to take 1st and 3rd in the race for Henderson with Russell winning in 15:11. The group led 5 guys under 15:30 and 14 guys to 15:50 or better. Not to mention 23 guys under 16 minutes. In the team race, it took a 16:23 average to make states, DT West upset Pennsbury for the last spot.

Coming into the AA States race, there was much talk about Brendan Shearn, defending XC state champion, being surprised by one of the other talented up and comers on the AA scene, headlined by Rico Galassi. Shearn pushed the pace early to try and take out Rico's kick on a brutally hot day. He really pushed the race from roughly 800m out and broke Galassi enough to take home his second state title of the year. Shearn's efforts on a hot day led to one of the deepest AA 3200m races ever. 9:44 was 9th in the race and the top 4 finishers were under 9:30. 7 of the top 9 return this year.

AA Outdoor States 1600m 2011 vs. Penn Relays DMR 2011
Tommy Gruschow was coming off an amazing series of races at the District 3 championships the week before states and had already run a great split on the 4x8 for Trinity. It made him a tired racer when he went up against North East's Ryan Smathers at the AA outdoor state championship. Smathers pushed the pace early, but Gruschow unleashed an unbelievable kick over the final stretch to take down the title. Both guys were under 4:20.

In 2011, there was a lot of buzz around some of the PA teams that would be competing at the Penn Relays like Henderson, Great Valley, Abington, CB West, LaSalle and Wissahickon. But no one expected CB South to come up and steal the show. After losing the greatest 800m runner in state history, Tom Mallon, CB South flew under the radar for most of the year. However, a great lead off leg by Joey Waddington and strong runner by Ryan Dickson but Austin Gregor in a position to mix it up with NJ powerhouse CBA. Although Gregor ultimately came up just short, it was an inspirational under dog performance by the boys in blue.

District One Outdoor 800m 2011 vs. 4x800m Indoor States 2013
Drew Magaha led the qualifying for the finals with a 1:53.5. So right away you knew the District One Championships 800m would be a fast race. Ultimately, Hong Cho didn't disappoint as he led the field around the track in a blazing fast 1:50.92 to break the meet record. Behind him, a doubling Connor Manley also eclipsed the old record in 1:51.50. Cho outsprinted Manley down the stretch of the race. 10 guys in the race ran 1:56.11 or faster as Mike Doyle got the last spot to states by just .04 seconds. The race featured 5 guys under 1:54.

At this year's indoor state championship meet, Bensalem came into the race underrated and under appreciated  Coming off an open championship in the 800m,  Brad Rivera stormed to the front for Bensalem and set the tone for the race. Pennsbury hung tough, however, matching the Bensalem legs with great runs by Harriman and Webb. O'Hara was also in the mix for much of the race. When it came down to the anchor Liam O'Connell and Kyle Francis, a couple suburban one rivals, went toe to toe, by AJ Chaborek from Henderson made a case for his squad as well with a big sprint into the pack. But when the teams hit the bell, Bensalem let the hammer down and broke away from the field with huge last lap from Kyle Francis to win in 7:51.