Top 10 Teams

These are who I believe are the top 10 teams going into next years XC season.

Tonight I will post a list like Etrain did with just the Names and #'s to make it easier to see the lists for both individuals and teams.

Lastly, I talked with the blog owner and he/she will most likely not be doing blogging at all and I'll be taking over the account for the most part. The person will remain anonymous still.

Top 10 Teams 2013 XC Season

1. West Chester Henderon: They have the Returning State Champion, a two time All-American, 4 All-Americans, and they’re the returning state champions in XC. What more could you ask for? Oh wait, about 14 guys with the potential to make varsity. This team has such extreme depth that they would still contend for the title with injuries to Russell and Barchet (Reiny). Obviously I hope this doesn’t happen. These guys could be as good as ’06 Coatesville and if everything goes well they’ll be competing for a national championship. Crossing my fingers here, cause I’d love to see 4 or 5 medalists at the state meet from them and I think it’s possible.

2. North Allegheny: The one team with a chance at stopping Henderson from willing. Let’s look at the past two years—O’Hara was the team to beat these past two years, and both times they ended up losing in a tie breaker. Granted, Henderson looked to be on that level, but after losing 36-92 to Henderson at Briarwood things weren’t looking great for them, yet they pulled it off. When it comes to NA I have 2 questions. 1) Where is Mike Meehan? He was just a sophomore last season and was a second behind McGoey at the PCCI and was the top guy for NA at the PIAA Foundation meet placing 6^th overall. If he is back and the team is anything like their 14 second spread (without Zemet) that they had at the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Invitational, they may just upset Henderson. That leads to my second question) How close will their spread be? All season they were under 20 seconds, but completing that at the state meet is very difficult. They fell apart a bit at the state meet, but still managed to finish 4^th. They’re all a year older now and this experience could help them to that. Last teams to have such small spreads were ’06 Coatesville and ’96 Council Rock. If they want to win they’ll need to do so.

3. Cardinal O’Hara: Going into the past two season’s O’Hara has been one of the top two teams and finished 2^nd on tie breakers. They’re going to have to work really hard and get lucky to finish top 2 again this season, but they do have great pieces despite the loss of 3 in their top 4. Kevin James is one of the best runners in the state and Belfatto is a great #2. Nick Smart was injured during XC last season, but he’s a 1:55 strength guy who could break into the top 50. Christian Donnelly and Drew Pastore traded off spots quite a bit last year and both will need to step up to push O’Hara into the top 2. Overall this is a squad that has 5 solid runners which is more than most teams in the state currently have.

4. Lower Dauphin: This team returns its top 4 and they have a lot of room to grow on last season. Cole Nissley and Jeff Groh are a great 1-2 tandem and their 3-4 guys from last season, Josh Santeusanio and Josh Weidner, both ran solid at the state meet. They seem to be the top team in district 3 right now, and coming out of a strong district like that on top is always helpful. There 6-7 guys are also returning which provides them with a greater depth than most teams. Weidner seemed to take the next step this spring with a 4:30 1600 and Jack Mulligan started to catch up with the group. Groh will have to reprove himself in XC after he asserted himself this spring track season.

5. Council Rock North: I thought Brian Arita was 50^th, sorry about that, and maybe you can rag me for putting these guys in the 5^th position, but hear me out. Ross Wilson is a fantastic front man; Arita and Griswold have both started coming into their own and are in great position to break out next season. Jesse Laitman was 17:13 at districts and he’ll be moving onto the varsity squad. Rob Simmons will be running XC for the first time and he’ll be the biggest question mark on the top 5. He ran fantastic relay splits, but wasn’t great in open races. I think of XC in many ways to a relay squad because you’re running for a top 5 spot on your team and low points. Again, this is a team with a great front runner, a solid 2-3 punch and a 4-5 that should be decent enough to get them out of district 1.Plus they have historically great coaching.

6. Great Valley: Much like 06’ when Coatesville was dominant beyond imagine, the Ches-Mont league was extremely strong. This could be the case again. GV has a shot to prove themselves again as a top squad in PA. Lead by Matt Willig who looks to verify his prowess as an XC force they have a really strong pack behind him. Doran hit 9:03 at the Yale relays but never got close afterwards and Zatlin (9:41 3200) has battled injuries the past two years. Both guys are waiting to break out. Behind that they have two 4:41 1600 guys in Peter Flanagan and Sam Marano. Both will need to prove themselves in XC, but have strong potentials. Kyle Kilroy will also be back for XC, I don’t believe he runs track, and was their 6^th man last season. If this pack can come together being Willig they very well could pass CRN.

7. State College Area: They’ve got a real nice front runner in Cather (4:22/1:55) and there spread 2-5 last season was under 30 seconds. If they can keep this up with their top 6 guys returning you might see SC become a force at the state meet. I don’t know too much about the guys on this team, but they really could be a top 3 team if they keep improving. It all depends on how fast there 2-5 can be at the state meet. They didn’t make it last season which makes it tough to really predict where they will be for XC. Here are some quick stats though: Sam Bollinger 4:33/1:58, Kyle Adams (#2 last year) 1:57, Matt Beyerle 4:48/10:01, Alex Milligan: 4:44/10:07. Most were underclassman, so if they can make the sophomore to junior jump we may see this team climb the list very quickly.

8. Tunkhannock: It’s rare a AA team gets on the list, but they had a 34 second spread last year at states and they return their top 4 and their 6^th man Jacob Toczko who was just a freshman and right behind their track stud Alex Nole. This group should continue to improve together and with a 40 second spread of less they should take the AA title quite easily. Hopefully they get into some big XC meets to prove themselves against these AA teams, since they have a solid 5 guys unlike many teams on this list. Toczko is another freshman to look for as he ran 4:51 and 10:35 which are real solid marks for a freshman. If he takes the next step and even leads this group they’ll be golden and maybe a top 5 team in PA.

9. Fox Chapel: Behind WCH they easily have the best 1-2 punch in the state with the Martin twins. Scoring 10 points or so with two guys is always helpful when it comes to team scoring. Behind them are juniors Elias Graca and Aaron Bliss. Both were only 18 flat last season on the Hershey course, but if they can push each other, and with the help of the Martin twins they could both really improve. FC will still need a 5^th man that could come through in Chris Good (10:41 3200), but these 3 still have a long way to go.

10. West Chester East: Cummings, Diestelow, and Dages. This is a wonderful top 3 that will serve WCE quite well. There 4-7 graduated though which is a big hit to this team. I’ve heard rumors about Ryan Orr (jr ) being a solid #4 who was injured in XC and didn’t run track, but they’ll need more than that if they want to make it to states. The biggest thing they have on their side is a lot of competition on a daily basis in the Ches-Mont league. Guys could step out of the woodwork for them.

Teams to Just miss the list: Abington Heights (return 1-5 and missed states by 1 point), North Penn, Pennsbury, William Penn Charter, and Hempfield.

That's all for now Folks!

--ForrestCRN