Top 10 Teams List Update 9/23

Made Edits 9/25 due to my mistake with Delany being on Freedom's squad. It doesn't change their ranking however, but that portion was changed thanks to an anonymous poster. Sorry about the mistake.

1.       North Allegheny (7) Previous Rank 2^nd: A few weeks ago I said a team would have to do something really impressive and prove to me they were truly the real deal to get me to move WCH from that #1 spot? Yeah… well NA did that this weekend. Putting a 16 second spread on the state course is so legit. If you put this team in last year’s state meet they go 17, 29, 30, 33, and 34 giving them 88 points. Just some quick math and putting them behind all the people with the same times as them. And this is just how they’re doing in September! Are you kidding me?!?! Last season O’Hara scored 40 pts with 5 guys in the top 12. NA just scored 31 points by putting 5 in the top 9. Last year Josh Zemet placed 9^th in this meet with 16:52 as NA’s second man, this season their 5^th man was Cordon Louco who ran 16:37. Let’s remember that Zemet ran 16:20 (32 second improvement) and placed 15^th.

Name – Foundation to State (time difference)

Zemet – 16:52 to 16:20 (32)

Louco – 17:06 to 16:47 (19)

McGoey – 17:13 to 16:59 (14)

Mcclure – 17:32 to 17:34 (-2)

Love – 17:41 to 18:08 (fell mid race)

Meehan didn’t race at states due to injury and he ran 16:50, and Seel didn’t finish the Foundation meet (not sure why, but he was 16:48. If these guys improve 10 to 15 seconds going into the state meet they’ll have 4 to 5 medalists hands down, which I don’t even think Henderson could compete with. They and O’Hara had 3 medalists each last season. No question in my mind that NA will have 3 medalists and easily the top 5 in the top 30. Henderson better be nervous. They do have the advantage of possibly having 2 guys in the top 5 if not going 1-2 in the race, but they’re going to have to really prove themselves next weekend at Carlisle.

2.       West Chester Henderson (1) Previous Rank 1^st– Still yet to race. Going to really have to come out on fire cause NA is looking beastly. Will we see another tie at the state meet???

3.       Cardinal O’Hara (12) Previous Rank 3^rd – This team ran really well at Briarwood with a 43 point dominant performance. Kevin James is in similar shape to Tony Russell and Brendan Shearn of last year which is just scary good and they put 5 in the top 17 with a 47 second spread 2-5 plus freshman Ryan James is following in his brothers footsteps running 17:22 to dominate the JV race and he would have been 16^th in the Varsity race, so they’ve got a 6 man deep squad which will be helpful at states.

4.       Lower Dauphin (3) Previous Rank 4th  – This team proved themselves as well this weekend. They beat out State College by having a fantastic 1-4. Jeff Groh is back in form and will be a big time force at the state meet; I’d go as far as saying he could be a top 10 guy. Remember this guy was a district champion as a sophomore. Nissley is coming along as well, running 7 seconds faster than he did at the state meet last year. They’re 3-4 are legit as well. Sean Weidner is only a junior and I think he’ll be much better once state’s comes around. Now they just need a 5^th man, cause having 2 guys running 18:43 as their 5-6 is no good. One good thing I guess is that Jack Mulligan who was their 5^th @ PTXC dropped out. He was 50 seconds behind their 4 then, so if he is around 18 flat and scores them 55 points they’re in a much better position. Hopefully he works out whatever issue occurred in this meet. But LD does have the pieces to be dangerous.

5.       State College (6) Previous Rank 5^th  – These guys have come to play this season as they got a minute spread 1-5 one the state course right now which is solid. If they want to compete with LD in the future they either need to tighten that spread to 45 seconds or get Cather in the top 5 of that race. Their lack of a true front runner is their current issue, but this squad is very solid top to bottom giving them the 5^th spot in the state.

6.       Malvern Prep (Ind)Prevous Rank (N/A) – This squad ran really nicely this weekend and showed what I liked to see in teams. They have two strong runners who mix it in the back of the front pack in Jaxson Hoey and Billy McDevitt. After that they pack it up really well holding a 15 second spread 3-5. They only have 1 senior on the top 5 as well which is good for the future as well. They don’t have much depth after 5 though which could hurt them. We will get to see them go head to head with CRN at Salesnium later this season.  

7.       Council Rock North (1) -Previous Rank 7^th – CRN has a very solidified top 4 much like LD. The main thing that separates these two squads right now is their #2. What does that mean for CRN? They need to develop a 5^th man. Right now district 1 teams are having some issues as GV and WCE aren’t exactly where they hoped to be at this stage so CRN has some leeway at districts, but the state meet won’t be as forgiving. I do really like the competitiveness of the mid-distance guys in Griswold and Simmons. They’ll make a good 3-4 combo as the season progresses. 

8.       Freedom (11) Previous Rank (N/A)– These guys jumped onto the PA scene this weekend @ Foundation. Sophomore Daniel Quigley is just starting to develop as he leads a young team  with only 1 senior (#4) in the top 7. They do need to show me more as their 5^th man was 18 minutes, but I think Quigley has 16:40 potential at states and if the rest of this squad can move up by 20 to 30 seconds as well they’ll be in perfect shape once states comes around for a top 7 finish. 

9.       Downingtown West (1) – Previous Rank 9^th: Yes this team finished 4^th overall and lost to PA squad Conestoga, but they packed it up within 13 seconds for a two mile race and I think it was more of a tempo first mile for their squad and then they went out and went for it. These guys have extreme depth and I like what I saw from them over 5k. I really hate these two mile races. Please stop running them

10.   Conestoga (1) – This squad has a strong front runner in Andrew Marston who ran 9:53 for 3200 this past weekend. His team packed it up for a 36 second spread 1-5 which is really good to see. They’ll need to prove they can stay strong through 5k with a sub 45 second spread to be a real contender. 

 Now, let’s take a moment to acknowledge that we’ve got teams from 7 different districts represented in the state. I think there is something very special about that and shows that PA has got it going on all over the state.

Just Missed:

Pennsbury- Scored 177 @ Foundation. This team has a very solid 1-3 and they’re young with only 1 senior on varsity, but having multiple guys over 18 at the state course in their top 5 right now worries me.

William Tennent –Scored 95 @ Briarwood Division1 race. Ran well at Briarwood, but lost one of their top 5 due to injury so they lose the tight pack that was under 30 seconds. They’ll need to squeeze back to that if they want to make it out of district 1.

La Salle – Scored 93 @ Briarwood Division 1 race. Squad looked good beating WT by 2 pts this past weekend. Bilotta should be a lock to make states out of D12

WCE – Scored 190 @ Foundation. I like what this squad has and Cummings is clearly the real deal. I’d say he’s the Austin Pondel of last season. I think he’ll be right around 16 flat at states. But their weakness showed this weekend as their spread was destroyed on the hills. They’ll need to pull together if they wish to not only make it out of district 1, but be a top 10 team in the state.

Mount Lebanon – Scored 193 @ Foundation. This squad as a 46 second spread 1-7 meaning great competition at practice. I think these guys will hope into the top 10 by states if they can keep this spread up. I also like Todd Gunzenhauser’s chances of being a stud come November.