Well it seems as though I missed some things. I’m still not
really positive about the back of this list (9 and 10), but I missed Morro for
O’Hara and after doing research (and thanks to some fellow bloggers) I found
that Mike Meehan of North Allegheny graduated this past year, which does change
some things up.
Top 10 Teams 2013 XC Season
1. West Chester Henderon—District 1: 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. Cardinal O’Hara – District 12: Going into the past two
season’s O’Hara has been one of the top two teams and finished 2nd
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. They also have an upcoming sophomore in Morro
who ran 9:50 for 3200 which is very promising. He could end up as their #3.
Overall this is a squad that has 6 solid runners which is more than most teams
in the state currently have and if they improve it could be another trip to
nationals for them.
3. North Allegheny – District 7: I’ve had to re-evaluate this
team. They’ve got a really solid top 4 in Louco, Seel, McGoey, and Love, but how
close will their spread be? All season they were under 20 seconds, but
completing that at the state meet is very difficult as we saw last year. They
fell apart a bit at the state meet, but still managed to finish 4th.
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. They’ve got some solid guys behind
them. Chang and McClure are both rising seniors and Baime made my rising
sophomore list. One of the 3 will need to step up for them to compete for a
title.
4. Lower Dauphin -- District 3: 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 – District 1: You can rag me for putting
these guys in the 5th 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 – District 1: 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 6th man last season. If
this pack can come together being Willig they very well could pass CRN.
7. State College Area – District 6: 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 – District 2: 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 6th 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 – District 7: 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 5th
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 – District 1: 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 woodworks for them.
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