Weekend Results

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Viking Invitational
I wouldn't call it a big win for Ross Wilson this weekend, but he had a very solid effort after what has been a brutal past couple of weeks at CRN's training camp and they got 1 more week left. He'll be ready to roll by Briarwood.

The course was in really good condition from what I heard and was well received by the runners. The uphill really helped the long distance guys from the more speed oriented ones like Francis and Logue. Both of those guys will need to make some strides later in the season, but I'm not too worried about either of them, especially Francis. Coach Molloy always has Bensalem peaking at the right time.

I didn't think Brophy would run this fast! That's a 10 second 5k PR in the first meet of the season! At this rate look to see him sub 15:20 at districts. I'm glad to see the Kazanjian's bouncing back after a rough track season, XC really seems to be their sport and I think they've got a shot at both being on the podium this year. Chris has taken a few strides over Matt, but they work together everyday in practice so I'm sure he's capable of sub 16. The Marcelis brothers both ran quite well, Tristan was faster most of last season, but he and Lukas are closer than ever. This 1-2 punch will help them place high in district 1.

Well PennTrack is making me look bad, William Tennent had a great 1-4 spread. If their 5th man can get up with the pack and they'll be in great shape. Council Rock North placed 5th and really looked bad out there. Brian Arita seems to have taken it to the next level, but Griswold will need to step it up for them to have a shot at making it out of districts. It is still very early in the season, my senior year I raced against Tennent at a road race at the beginning of the season and I would have been 13th on there team... I went on to beat all of them at districts.

8th Oakbourne Relays 
We didn't see a bunch of Hendersons Varsity this weekend including Russell and Collins which I'm not surprised out. Coach Kelly does this quite often. Those who did run for WCH did pretty well. The times were much slower than last year. I'm not sure if the conditions were bad or the changed the course, but I'm not at all concerned about the shape of these athletes. DTW seemed to have a really nice pack of 6 guys all running together, which is positive to see from this team. 

38th Cliff Robbins Invitational
This invite was not on my list at all, and it should have been. Dallas and Scranton Prep had a really great battle with Dallas edging them out 70-71. Dominic Deluca dominated the field with a comfortable victory, helping give Dallas the low stick they needed, but if there spread doesn't get pulled down from over 2 minutes they could have issues come the state meet. Scranton Prep has a great pack right now which will come in handy later in the season. Dominic Hockenberry was one of the So's I wanted to watch this season and he started off with a strong second place showing in this meet. If he continues to improve he'll be a top 5 contender in AA. I thought Abington Heights would have a tigher pack than they do right now, they've got some work ahead of them if they want to compete at the state level. 

42nd California University Invitational
I wasn't sure who would step it up for Mt Lebo to be a state meet team, but right now they're looking pretty good. Todd Gunzenhauser is just a sophomore and made huge strides this summer and has become an immediate impact runner for this team. Their 3-5 all finished together giving them a nice pack, but I'm not sure if it'll last in bigger invitationals... It seems to me they tempo'd this invitational. They did get my attention however and I'm excited to see how they fair later in September against some bigger competition. This is an encouraging sign. 
 
Big Valley Invitational 
A - Not sure what to say about the 'A' team's, but North Claron looks pretty solid right now and they're young.

AA - William Kachman and Zane Baker are on my So watch list and they ran quite well with a 1-2 finish. Baker really let his teammate and training partner go and has a lot of work to do if he wants to take that next step. Bedford is a very young team, they may not make tons of noise this season, but the next couple of years they may be at the top of the AA scene. Bo Dinger hasn't quite made the strides I was hoping he would, but it's a long season so he's got time to catch up to the Bedford Duo.

 AAA- Not a very big meet, but oh boy was State College dominant. Their 5th man from last year Kevin Drago wasn't even on the varsity squad in the meet has they had a 55 second spread 1-5 and their 6-7 looked really solid. Beating their District 6 rivals Altoona 23 to 60 this early is a great sign for their program. I'm very interested in there Fr Nick Feffer. It's rare to see freshman making it onto varsity squads at the beginning of the year, this kid could be in their top 5 come October. I'm liking this team more and more. Brad Foust had a nice race outleaning Adams for second place. Altoona is going to need someone to step up into that number 5 position if they want to challenge SC this season. 

Hornet Harrier Invitational  
I don't have a lot to say about this meet, but West Middlesex looked really strong right out of the gates. They've got a nice spread and their 3-5 guys are only sophomores which is a good sign for the future. They'll need to tighten the gap a little bit, but this is a team to watch for in the coming months. They're only a 'A' so depth isn't a huge factor, but they don't really have a 6th man or a low stick, so they'll need to stay healthy in order to place well. 

22nd Gateway Invitational  
A nice 1-2 victory for the Fox Chapel twins at this meet, pulling away from Jake Susalla of Plum at the end. Susalla really impressed this weekend being only a few seconds behind the Martin twins who are both All-Region runners in my mind. The fact that he was right with them the whole way says that he put in the work this summer and has the potential for a fantastic season. Keep him on your radar. Fox Chapel won the invitational, but they had over a 2 minute spread for their team. They're 5-6 guys were right with each other, which is encouraging that they have some depth in the back and hopefully they can work together to bring that spread down to about 1:15 to 1:30. This is a daunting task, but they'll need to do it in order to make it out of WPIAL's. 
  

That's all for now Folks!

--ForrestCRN

PennTrack's Top 10 Teams Overall

Top 10 Boys Teams (All - Public & Private)
 

1. West Chester Henderson (1)
2. North Allegheny (7)
3. Cardinal O'Hara (12)
4. Council Rock North (1)
5. Great Valley (1)
6. Pennridge (1)
7. Conestoga (1)
8. William Tennent (1)
9. Mount Lebanon (7)
10. West Chester East (1)

 

I saw this list and decided that I should discuss it a little bit since it is slightly different than my own. It seems they forgot that District 3 and 6 exist, but I won't get into that. Well maybe a bit... How can you forget teams like Lower Dauphin, State College, or even Altoona Area?!? It's just one of those things I guess. 

I'm not sure how District 1 gets 7 of the top 10 spots, but only 5 of these teams can make states. I think the top 5 teams are pretty solid and they can make good arguments for why each one of them should be on the list, but it really should be a top 6 with LD.

Lets start with Pennridge. Really interesting choice here. They were 14th in District 1 last season and they've got a lot of upside with 6 of 7 returners. After watching the North Central XC video series (now up on Flotrack) which I'd highly recommend, it makes me believe a team can go from 16th to 2nd in any league, division, ect in just 1 season, but District 1 is too stacked for me to believe this. The fast course of Lehigh really benefits this squad, especially their top guy, Joey Logue. Logue has the potential to be top 15 after his 37th placing last season. After him they have 4 guys in a 40 second spread which is quite solid. If they can move this to about 30 seconds and go 16:20 to 16:50 they've got a shot at cracking the top 8 at districts. 

 Next we've got Conestoga. They're quite like Pennridge in that they return 6/7 including their top 5. They're biggest upside is their top 2 guys are going to be juniors this season. Pennridge is only seniors which will give them a lot to strive for in finishing off their high school XC seasons strong, but Conestoga's young guys might make the So to Jr jump quite well and greatly improve. I bet their top 2 can be right around 16:00 which is what is needed for them to get into the 8. Their 5th man was also a sophomore and if he can make the jump into the 16:40 range with their 3-4 guys they have the potential to be a very solid squad in district 1, but I don't see them breaking into the top 5 to make states.

 William Tennent is our 3rd district 1 team in the top 10 who wasn't even top 10 at districts last season. They were the highest of the 3 at 12th place, but they have the lowest potential in my mind. They graduated their second man, but he's the only one gone. This squad did have 7 guys under 17:21 last season which gives them great depth and a very solid pack. The main issue is they don't have much of a front runner and I'm not sure how much this team will improve. They'll be going head to head with some great teams all season in the SOL National League, and I do see them being 8th or 9th in the district, but they don't have the fire power up front. 

Speaking of the SOL National League Council Rock South is a team to watch for while we're talking about decent District 1 squads. They were 23rd last year, but Jeff Wiseman was injured and Andrew Hanna was just a freshman and he should make huge strides this season, and I bet he'll be in the low 16s with Wiseman giving them a chance at having two medalists which is very solid. If the rest of this team comes along and they get 3 more around 17 minutes they've got a shot at top 10 in the District.

 Back to PennTrack's list we've moved across the state to District 7 and Mount Lebanon. This team has been very solid for the past 10 years and are coached very well, but I just don't see where the talent lies on this squad for them to be a top 10 team in the state. From WPIALs they return their 3-5 guys who all ran sub 10 for 3200 this season, but nobody faster than 9:50. This should be a solid pack of 3, but the other 4 guys on their varsity squad from last season graduated. They'll need to do some major rebuilding for them to make it into the top 3 again at WPIALs. 

 

Lastly we've got West Chester East who I also have 10th on my list. These guys have got a great top 3 and now we'll need to see how their 4-5 develops. If they can get 2 guys right around 17 flat at districts they may be able to squeak their way into the state meet. But a lot is unknown right now about these guys. They're a team to watch closely as the season progresses. 

 

That's all for now Folks!

--ForrestCRN

Top 10 Meets to Watch for!

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

John Sharp Viking Invitational 8/30

The Viking Course has changed this year to finally be 3.1 miles, but it’s basically a road race. Unless the race is smaller than in past year it seems as though not all the teams have signed up. From the list we’ve get to see some early team talent like Penncrest and CRNorth who both will be looking to make top 5 at districts later this season. Even though they’re not on the list, I’m hoping to see Pennsbury and Holy Ghost Prep at the meet as well, if that were the case then this race will be big. Up top we’ll have Ross Wilson along with the Kazanjian twins hoping to help their teams win this early invite; this should be Jake Brophy’s first meet and we’ll get to see where the young man is at. Hopefully we’ll see Webb along with Kardish from PB and HGP respectively in that front pack. It’s early in the season and CRNorth usually gets out to a slow start due to the tough three weeks of camp that they have leading up to the meet, but they did have 5 guys break 18 at their Friends Alumni Race which is quite hilly. Another two guys to watch for are the 800m standouts Kyle Francis from Bensalem and Joey Logue of Pennridge who placed 15^th and 18^th respectively last season. They may get out to slow starts, but we’ll see where they’re at, I’d put them both in the top 10 this season.

Red White and Blue Invitational 9/7

WPIAL guns will be brought out this year once again at the RWB Invite. Last season we got to see a taste of NA’s spread along with some great performances out front and it looks to be the same again this year. NA should have no issue winning this meet and we’ll get to see just how well they can do, I think they can score under 60 points this time around (76 last season). We’ll also get to find out where teams like Fox Chapel, Hampton, and Moon Area are this season. Last year Colin Martin was beat by his brother by 45 seconds, don’t expect to see that again. I’m excited to see how low the Martin twins and Kennedy can push themselves after a sub 15:30 effort from Brent last season, I bet all of them break 15:15 if the conditions are right. The NA boys look to follow up the trio putting at least 3 within the top 7-10 spots in the race. Aaron Benka and Nathan Sloan are two other names to look out for in the top 10.

PTXC 9/7

PTXC brought us some awesome results last year with some of the state’s best and this year it has attracted a similar top notch crowd. There should be a strong front pack consisting of the LD combo of Groh and Nissley who will look to place in the top 5 and help LD to a really good invite win. We’ve also got Colin Abert, Dominic Deluca, Sam Webb, and Aiden Demko to name a few. Lower Dauphin won the team title last season and I don’t see why they can’t grab it again. This was arguably Groh’s top race of the XC season and he will look to repeat the performance. Hershey should be a solid team again this season with a few low sticks. I’ll be looking for big team improvements from Altoona Area (12^th last season) and Dallas (8^th) both of which are developing teams that have a good shot at making states and should be followed closely. There are also some good freshman to watch out for in Levi Upham from NEB who’s hoping to carry on the mantel of Sam Williams and Curt Jewett along with Brian Delany from Manheim Township, a team who was once a dominant force in PA.

Briarwood Invitational 9/15

Once again Briarwood seems to be one of the top invites of the year. Right now Henderson is not on the list, but I’d be shocked if they didn’t attend the meet once again this season. Tony Russell had a very tight battle last season and I think he’ll have one again this year with Ross Wilson of CRNorth, Kevin James of O’Hara and his teammate Reiny Barchet. Not only will these boys be pushing the pace up front, and I think we see at least sub 15:30, but their teams will be pushing each other as well. Last season O’Hara got the best of Henderson, but I think it’ll be much closer this season with both teams around 70 to 80 points. CRNorth looks to prove they can be a top 5 team in the state once again after losing two big seniors in Zingarini and Emery. I’m also looking forward to seeing where North Penn, DTE, and La Salle stack up. Other guys to look for are Ben Szuhaj of Penn Charter and Billy Caldwell of DTE.

Pre States 9/22

This meet should be the class invitational of the year as many top teams will be making the trip out to the states course. Right now NA isn’t on the list to go, but I think they’ll make the trip again this season. We’ve got some great individual talent in the AAA meet including guys like Individuals: Aaron Gebhart (New Oxford), Kyle Francis (Bensalem) Jake Brophy (CBE), Jeff Groh and Cole Nissley (LD), Billy Dougherty (Mt Leb), Sam Webb (PB), Kevin James and Jim Belfatto (O’Hara), Louco and McGoey (NA), and Will Cather (SC). I think Kevin James wins this race over Sam Webb and Jake Brophy. Then in a second pack about 10 seconds back will be Groh, Nissley, Gebhart, Cather and Belfatto along with a couple NA boys. O’Hara seems to do well in the early going, but I think this season they’ll be figuring out more about their team and NA takes the title by less than 5 points. Behind that LD will look to prove their worth finishing about 30 points behind those two teams. In 4^th I think we’ll see State College who will be attending this meet for the first time. They’ve got a lot to prove and I think they challenge LD for that 3^rd spot. Methacton finished 6^th last season and have a lot of returners despite their lack of a front runner. I’ll also be watching to see how much Moon Area and Abington Heights improve from last season as both teams have over 5 returning varsity athletes. Pennsbury should be another team to watch for; I’m interested to see how their varsity plays out this season.

In AA you’ve got Dallas with a great front runner in Dominic Deluca who will be challenged by young guns Aaron Benka (GC) and Dominic Hockenburry (Lake Lehman). Pottsgrove have 4 of 7 returning from varsity and will be looking to maintain their title, but will have to hold off 2^nd place finishers from last year Scranton Prep who have 5 Jr’s looking to do big things along with Dallas who have the low stick in Deluca who should win this race.

Carlisle 9/28

We saw some interesting appearances at Carlisle last season and the competition will be even better this season. After looking at the line-up I think this will actually be the best invitational in PA al year.

West Chester Henderson went last season, and Tony Russell had a bad race placing 8^th, I don’t expect that to happen again. This race we’ll get to see Russell, Barchet, Kevin James, Kennedy, and Zach Brehm go head to head with Kyle Levermore (NJ/Don Bosco) who ran 8:55 for 3200 last season. This should be a fantastic race up front. Kennedy was 2^nd last season, Russell looks for redemption after placing 8^th, Barchet was 3^rd, and Brehm looks to win at home. Cardinal O’Hara usually goes to the Great American Festival in NC, but the competition at this race last season may have convinced them to go here instead. The winner last year, Vinny Todaro, went on to win states, let’s see if that trend repeats.

 If WCH runs half of their varsity like they did last season they should easily get the victory unless O’Hara decides to come, in which case we’ll see a rematch from Briarwood. DTW and State College will be making the trip as well to mix it up for the championship. I think SC will do quite well in this meet and I think they beat out Don Bosco for 3^rd place.

 Also look out for Will Cather (#34) Aaron Lauer (Red Lion #44), Patrick Reilly (#26), Christian Kardish (#20), Brady Wilt (#40) along with any guys WCH decided to run in the varsity race. Altoona Area looks to improve on their placement from last season as well.

Paul Short 10/5 (the # are where they are on my top 50 list)

Last season this meet (Gold) had some great competitors and many will be back this season. At the front of this race we’ll get to see some of the state’s top juniors: Colin Abert (12th), Sam Ritz (14^th), Aiden Demko (23^rd), Eric Diestelow (33^rd). Up front we’ll also see Matt Willig (19^th) Christian Kardish (20^th), Chris Cummings (35^th). This race if played out right could see a sub 15:30 result which would be awesome to see. There are some big AA teams like Scranton Prep, HGP, and Pottstown who will all be trying to prove their prowess on the AA scene. I’m excited to see how improved Easton Area is from last season as they have many returners and are looking to be the D11 champions. WCE won this meet last season and they should have 3 low sticks. This will give a great indication on who their 4-7 guys are and a preview on whether or not they’ll be able to hang at districts for a spot to states. They’ll be competing for the top spot with GV who placed 7^th last season but came on well by the end of the season. They’re a big team to watch out for as the season progresses.

For the Blue Division we will get to see Ben Szuhaj (22^nd) and the Penn Charter Squad, who I hope will move up to the Gold Division this season. If not he’ll be challenged by Kyle Francis (38^th) and the up and coming Kyle Gonoude.

I’ll be at this race to provide in depth analysis afterwards. Look to see me there if you’re attending!

Pittsburg Central Catholic Invitational (10/5)

Last season we saw a 14 second spread from NA and this race will be another good test to see just how fit this team is getting close to the state meet. Fox Chapel was their last season and Colin Martin looks to improve on this 8^th place finish from last season. I think he and his brother go 1-2 while leading a group of NA guys to the finish. Also look out to see Nathan Sloan (#39) mixing it up with the top group as well. This isn’t a huge meet, but it’ll help tell us how improved all of the guys in the WPIAL are.

Salesianum Invitational 10/5

This meet is in Delaware, but some top tier PA teams show up every year. Last season Jack Macauley showed just how much of a threat he would be at the state meet here. This season we’ll get to see HGP lead by Christian Kardish who is looking to mix it up at the top of the AA scene and should be rounding into shape. Penncrest will be attending as well who have the Kazanjian twins both of whom are looking to medal at AAA states this season. Great Valley will also be attending putting Matt Willig in that top pack. We’ll get to see just where GV is as a squad going into Ches-Monts along with teams like NP who are looking to regain their XC prowess after looking some top guys these past few years. I personally think Great Valley can win this meet, they were 3^rd a year ago and have 5 returners on their varsity squad. Teams that are in PennTrack’s top 10 like Conestoga and William Tennent will also be attending and we’ll get to see where they match up against the top tier District 1 teams like GV.

Manhattan Invitational 10/12

I like discussing meets with a lot of PA teams, but the Manhattan Invite will be great to watch as a fan of running, as the top 2 teams in the nation will meet for the first time in a preview of NXN North East Regionals between #1CBA and #2 WCH. Tony Russell took 4^th in the meet last year and Reiny was 31^st, they were beat 94 to 200, but this season I think they’ll be about 75 points behind. That may seem like a worrisome score, but Coach Kelly knows exactly how to get his guys peaking at the right time and I think they’ll really challenge CBA come Regionals and Nationals. But it should be an awesome race overall. 

That's all for now Folks!

--ForrestCRN

Blog Design

I'm just playing with the blog design a little bit right now. I think I've got a pretty good layout where it stands now, but I'd like to know what you guys think. I don't want it to be hard for all of you to read it!

I'll be posting the top 10 Meets of the Year later tonight, I was hoping to get it done yesterday, but the research I've put it has taken longer than expected, there are some really stacked meet this upcoming season.

Penntrack seems to be undergoing a lot of changes right now, and I'm not totally sure what's up with that and how it's all going to work, but it seems to be quite a bit more expensive so I'm hoping that whatever features they're adding are useful to all of us for information, cause heck, all I need is to see race results.

That's all for now Folks!

--ForrestCRN

Will Cather XC Journal #1

 Will Cather from State College High School out of District 6 AAA is a 4 time state medalist with even higher hopes for this season. He's gotten into some great races and has PRs of 4:22 and 1:55 on the track. I had a great time reading his Journal and I hope all of you do as well. Look for him and a pack of Maroon jerseys close behind him this season!

1. Talk a little bit about your outdoor track season. Did you feel it was successful? And what did you take out of it?
   Overall, my outdoor track season was somewhat of a disappointment in my opinion. My season started off extremely well, when I ran a 4:22 mile in our dual meet against Chambersburg. That meet had me very excited and striving for some huge goals for myself, as well as our 4x800 meter relay team. Our goal was a state championship in that relay and we had the runners to pull it off. We had five guys break two minutes in the 800 last season (Kyle Adams 1:57 open, Chris Golembeski 1:59.9 open, Sam Bollinger 1:57 leadoff leg, Connor Stashko having a nine second PR at one meet by dropping a 1:57.7 split, and myself at a 1:54 relay split). My teammates continued to impress me throughout the season, with PR after PR. One guy I would like to recognize especially was our lone senior on the relay, Sam Bollinger, who had not run track since junior high (fun fact: Tony Russell was also on our junior high team). Sam ultimately decided to focus on soccer in high school and had not run track until his senior year, when I convinced him to give it one last try. I, along with our entire team, wish him the best as he looks to try and walk onto the Penn State track team his freshman or sophomore season. Unfortunately, I had a nagging shin injury that worsened throughout the season. Eventually, it got to the point at districts, where I felt it crack in the mile, and struggled to finish the race. It turns out I was running on a very serious tibial stress fracture. Ultimately, because of my injury, I was only able to run the 4x800 at states and we were hurting as a team. Kyle Adams suffered a serious foot injury and Sam had suffered a bad knee injury. The three of us could not practice most of the week before states. My first run after districts was the warm up before the prelims of the 4x800. We still finished 7th as a team in the 4x800, which was a huge disappointment for all of us. We wanted that state gold medal and we were all crushed with our final result. From this, I learned that every team has suffered setbacks. Our team also learned it’s not about dwelling on the past. What’s done is done. All teams go through tough times but the best teams can pick themselves up and learn from these experiences.

2. How has your summer been going in terms of running? Has training been steady? What was the most memorable or fun run you had this summer?

     After states, I took four weeks off, in order for my injury to heal. I was very lucky it did not take any longer, especially since my doctor told me that it could have taken up to three months for it to heal. Once I was off and running again, my summer training started with around 35-40 miles per week and we worked our way up to about 50, before the start of two a days. We are now running approximately 55-60 miles per week and we are feeling very good with where we are at. We ran as a team for our summer runs, so there were a lot of fun runs we had together. If I had to pick one, it would be the time we got lost in the Greenbriar woods and split our group up, to see who would get back home faster. My team ended up losing the challenge. 

Will Cather (Red shorts) and his teammates Rolling at XC Pre-season (2013)



3. What XC races did you learn the most from last season? And how have they impacted your training or racing? 

There are three races that I will remember most from last season. The first one was the Mid Penn Championships. Before the race, I knew that there was some immense competition I would be facing. Some of the names included Vinny Todaro, Liam Corcoran, Nate Hamilton, Cole Nissley, Alec Kunzweiler, Alex Coburn, Zach Brehm, Jon Colwell, Addison Monroe, and many more extremely talented runners. My coach told me before the race to shoot for top 5. I could not believe my coach was telling me this, as I would have been lucky to have beaten one or two of the guys I just named. Nonetheless, I ran my smartest race of the season, sitting on a lot these guys and saving a kick for the end. I ended up outkicking Alec Kunzweiler (probably the best kicker in the state) and almost caught up to Nissley. I ran a 16:33 on the Big Springs course, which is comparable in difficulty to states course, and took home 5th place. The second meet I will always remember was districts. This race was heartbreaking to say the least. We were favored to win the meet, yet we came in third place. However, I can honestly say that a bit of karma got served our way. Before the meet, we anticipated that it would be a two team competition between ourselves and Altoona. Yet, it was Mifflin County who stood victorious afterwards. The majority of their varsity consisted of seniors, who were inspired and not afraid to take us down at districts. I came down with bronchitis the week of districts but still ended up taking second in the meet to Jon Colwell, who successfully led Mifflin County to their first ever district title (shoutout to all of them). From this meet, my teammates and I learned that you cannot count a team out, especially one as dedicated as them. We also learned the importance of the fifth guy. That meet, the first team to have their fifth guy cross the line was Mifflin County. Their number five guy dropped almost a minute off his time that race and secured the victory for them. Let this be a lesson to any varsity squad; anyone has the opportunity to do something special at any meet. If you believe in yourself and in your teammates, you can make it happen. Finally, the third meet I will always remember is cross country states. Despite still being pretty sick, I still planned on attempting to medal. I took the race out way too fast (4:50 first mile) and ended up paying for it at the end. The first half of the race, I was up running with Russell and Barchet, of West Chester Henderson. I died the last half of the race, struggling to even finish and ended up running a 17:01. I learned from states that you have to race smart in order to expect a satisfactory performance. I did not run smart, and paid dearly because of this. I was also really inspired by seeing my former teammate (Russell) win the state title. That in and of itself kept me motivated to chase a state title of my own in track during my junior year and I will continue to strive for it during this upcoming season.



4. You added two state medals indoors last season along with a state appearance in XC last season and a medal outdoors. How have these experiences impacted your goals, and what are they for this upcoming XC season? 

Having four state medals is great, don’t get me wrong, but I still wish to achieve much greater things. As for individual goals, I was stuck in the low 16’s all of xc season last year, so my first individual goal is to break 16:00 and hopefully get my time down close to 15:30. I also want to win the Mid Penn Championship meet individually, along with the district meet. My final individual goal is to place top 10 at the state meet, which is a very ambitious goal on my part but I believe it can be done. We are racing in the Foundation Meet for the first time this season, so that will help a lot. 

5. What races are you looking forward to most this season other than just the state and district meets?

I am really excited for the Foundation Meet, as well as the Mid Penn Championship. I want to see how well I perform early on in the season on the state course, so I can better gage a good time to shoot for when the state meet comes around. As for the Mid Penn Championship, this is where I had arguably the best race of my life last year. I see no reason why I can’t win it this year. I’m sure it will be a great race between Groh, Nissley, Brehm, and I for the individual title!

6. What are the expectations that you and your teammates have for this upcoming season? Team Goals, ect.

We have yet to win a district track title or a cross country title in my time running for State College and we will certainly strive for that this season. So first and foremost our team goals consist of winning districts (no easy task) and if we accomplish that and move onto states, placing top five as a team. A side goal of ours is also winning the Mid Penn Championship meet as a team. Lower Dauphin is an outstanding team but we know that we can compete with them on a good day, along with any other Mid Penn team. Another goal I have for this team is getting 5-7 guys under 17:00 for our district meet. This team has a ton of talent that I hope will be shown throughout the year. It is our depth that makes us even more special, as I can see 10-12 guys fighting for the final couple of spots on varsity this season. It’s going to be awesome!



7. After breaking out on the PA scene last XC season how has your mindset changed?

In all honesty, it has not changed much. I feel like I cannot be recognized as an elite runner without my teammates being recognized along with me. Only one of my state medals has come in an individual event thus far. That means there were three other guys right by my side, helping our team achieve some pretty great things. I have to recognize my main training partner, Kyle Adams, for all he has done for me both on and off of the track. Without him, pushing me every single practice, trying to stay stride for stride with me at all times, the team and I would be nowhere close to where we are at right now. He puts in just as much time and effort, so do not be surprised if you see him right up with the top guys in the state this season, dropping times he and I would both be pretty satisfied with.