Our Lady Of Sacred Heart are the returning champions and
they’re very strong again this year. They have the top individual returner in
Nick Kocent who just placed 23rd @ Tri-States along with two other
strong runners in Ryder Ballou and John Ziegler. They placed 13th
overall at Tri-States for team rankings, the next two best teams from A at the
meet were 33rd placing Vincentian Academy (who placed 2nd
in the district last season) and an up and coming Avonworth team who placed 34th.
The top individual going into the meet is Carter Smith. He
was one place behind Kocent last year, but this season he has stepped up and placed
11th overall @ Tri-States. Other names to note are Colten Trimble, Andrew
Koryak, and Adam Joyce.
‘AA’ – Top 3 teams go to states
This should be a very interesting team race. At the
Midwestern Athletic Conference Quaker Valley annihilated Mars Area 32 to 92,
but Mars had a big comeback at Tri-States placing 4th overall. Nathan
Mrdjenovich stepped up big at Tri-States and if he keeps rolling he could
really help this team. Zimmerman was their top guy @ MAC’s, but he was their 4th
@ Tri-States. If everyone can have a good day they should have a very strong
pack since guys keep moving all over. Quaker Valley’s Zach Skolnekovich is a
stud of a freshman who won MAC’s. They’ve got a really nice spread, so even if
Mars Area has a good day I think they’ll be able to hold on to a title.
South Fayette returns everyone from last season and was 3rd
at the meet, but they placed 37th @ Tri-States and didn’t look too
good. If they can bounce back this week, they definitely have the pieces to do
so. Knoch placed 9th @ Tri-States and they have a strong returning
squad including the top returning individual from last season, Preston
Carlsson, who is currently their second guy, right behind Brandon Grumski, a
stud sophomore, who placed 19th @ Tri-States. I think this team will
grab the 3rd spot and make it to the state meet.
Individuals to watch for are Uniontown’s Nate Edenfield who
placed 6th overall @ Tri-States. This team has a strong top 3, but
drop off heavy at 4-5 positions. They could challenge Knoch however in a
smaller meet setting. Jacob Campbell is another name to watch out of New
Brighton.
‘AAA’ - 4 teams and 20 Individuals Make it to states
This race should be dominated by the Martin Twins and North
Allegheny. It’s a shame we won’t get to see Brent Kennedy mixing it out front
with the Twins, but I’m hoping that Matt McGoey sticks with them for most of
the race. NA’s pack looks to prove they are the real deal in challenging WCH,
since we haven’t seen them race all of October. If everyone’s healthy they
could score a record low at the meet. Last season they had 5 in the top 14,
this season I fully expect to see 5 in the top 10 if not top 8. Individual
challengers for top 10 spots include Nathan Sloan who is returning off injury
and Anton Martinez who is the new North Hills machine. Jeff Van Kooten has been
running strong this season as well and I think he could make moves into the top
15. One more guy to watch out for is Caleb Wakeley. I really like this kid and
he medalled as just a sophomore but since then he has struggled with injury problems.
He placed 9th @ Tri-States, just a second behind Van Kooten and 3
behind Martinez. If he can pull something together there is no doubt he’s
talented enough to be a top 10 guy in this race.
Mount Lebanon has continually progressed this season and their
pack is coming together very well. They’ve had different front runners all
season and a 26 second spread @ Tri-States. I have no doubt they’ll place
second overall and make it to the state meet. This team is turning in the right direction and I believe they have a great shot at making the top 10 in AAA.
Behind them the battle for 3rd and 4th
should be fantastic. Seneca Valley placed 5th overall @ Tri-States
and should be able to grab one of the two spots, but they’re being chased hard
by a young Baldwin squad, North Hills, and Fox Chapel. FC didn’t race their 3rd
man Elias Graca last meet and if they had run him (project based on his early
season performance @ RWB) he would have been around 50-60th place,
which puts them ahead of Seneca Valley. If he does race I believe they have a
great chance of making it to the state meet.
I apologize for the lack of time and place projections with
this meet. I have two papers due this week and I had two exams on Monday so I
haven’t been able to spend as much time with this as I would have liked. If I'm able to get a lot of work done before WPIAL's I'll be sure to make a top 30 individuals with time predictions list.
--ForrestCRN
AAA only takes 3 teams and 15 individuals. Do you have any predictions for the three girls races?
ReplyDeleteDid they down grade WPIAL from last season? Last year they took 4 teams from this district.
DeleteAnd I don't do girls predictions on this blog. Etrain did it last season with the help of RTJ, but the audience isn't there.
--ForrestCRN
Good overview. Fox Chapel should take the third team from SV in aaa. They may even take Mt Lebo with the Martins scoring so low. FC is getting some stellar coaching advisory from a well known D7 distance studmaker. I also think Quaker always runs so well at Cooper they should hold on to aa fairly easily. S Fayette has dropped off in performance the past month and a half, but they should advance and Knoch is a good pick to be there for state qualifying. Good to see Wakeley up near the front last week. -- btw to anaonymous above about the number of indivs and teams this 3 teams/15 indivs from each of the three new classifications was done last year too. So D7 sends 45 indivs and 9 teams per gender over the 3 classifications to states rather the previous 40 indivs and 8 teams when there was only aaa and aa.
ReplyDeleteOh, and good call on Carter Smith from Eden Academy in A. He's run great all year from RWB to present and may win by a 40 sec to a minute in A.
ReplyDeleteThey only took 3 teams last year, Mt. Lebo and Hampton tied and run high said they both qualified.
ReplyDeleteCarter Smith is a good runner but won't win by a minute! That's just a ridiculous comment. D'heaven Kelley, Colten Trimble, Will Lovener, Andrew Koryak, and Nick Kocent will all be well within a minute. I could even see one or two of them challenging Carter for the win.
ReplyDeleteRe: Smith's continued excellent racing this year--I said 40 sec to a minute, slight hyperbole, but Smith was +47 on Koryak, +52 on Trimble, +53 on Loevner, and 1:42 up on a tired D'Heaven Kelly at the Tri States muckathon. Kocent ran fine but was 18 sec back. I admit it was a hyperbolic statement but not ridiculous. I'm concerned D'Heaven had such a good time at Mingo then way off at same course at Wash County then TriStates...maybe tired. Also Trimble and Koryak may be somewhat overraced. We'll see.
DeleteCanon-McMillan?
ReplyDeleteWinchester Thurston was the 2nd place A school at Tri-States and should be competing for a top spot vs. OLSH. Vincentian and Avonworth were 3rd and 4th, respectively.
ReplyDelete