New York flat out killed it today. Junior Mike Brannigan
from Northport brought the race out hard in 7:52 at the 2.5k mark and hammered
it home running 15:29.9, one of the fastest times on this course since the Rosa
twins!!! According the Milesplit twitter this is a Junior Course record! His
performance helped bring 12 runners sub 16 for the Bowdoin Park layout, 3 of
them on F-M’s team helping them to score 48 points with a 16:02 average!!!
Brannigan’s teammates followed up nicely with 4 guys in the top 20 to score 76
points and a 16:10 average. US#12 Liverpool finished 3rd with 94
points and a 16:21 average and the Assisi XC Club was 4th overall
with 107 points and a 16:27 average!
What’s great about the Nike Regionals for Northeast and New
York is they’re run on the same course. US#1 CBA wins the Northeast Regional
scoring 85 points with a 16:15 average which is #4 All-Time apparently. I’m not
sure if this accounts for Northport and F-M’s performances today, but either
way, they both killed it. West Chester Henderson (Warrior TC) follows them with
114 points and a 16:23 average. One big difference is how hard both races went
out. Russell and Kevin James lead the field in the first 2.5k in 8:03, 11
seconds slower than NY runners. This played very well into Russell’s hands who
runs the second half of races very well, and he was able to grab the victory by
just over a second.
Ridgefield (CT) came up really big for a 3rd place finish
scoring 151 points and a 16:32 average. Cardinal O’Hara finishes just behind
them with 161 points and a 16:33.8 average.
Looking at the team averages it looks as though New York
will at least send 1 team since Liverpool was ranked US#12 going in and they
had a 16:21 average which beat Henderson’s. Ridgefield’s average is 5 seconds
behind 4th place NY finisher Assisi XC Club, so I’d have to imagine
that they’d be picked first.
That being said, if no teams from the Northeast get an
At-Large bid, the runners who individually make it look as follows:
1) Tom O’Neill – Lions TC (NJ) – O’Neill didn’t run great at
MoC’s but he comes up big when it matters to make nationals.
2) Christian Stafford – Titians Track Club (MA) – Stafford came
up huge for his team who needed two low sticks to compete for those top 4
places. He did that for them, but their bottom half didn’t look great as they
finish 7th overall.
3) Trevor Hopper – Ridgefield (CT) – Hopper had a great
chance of making nationals going in, but I never suspected his team would run
so well behind him, putting 3 guys in the top 25! Really great racing by
Ridgefield, they deserve a lot of credit.
4) Griffin Molino – UNA-PA-DuBoistown (PA) – Molino ran a
really fantastic race, mixing it up out front at 2.5k in 8:04. He fell a bit
off the pace, but got the top done in the end. He is also the top junior
finisher in the race.
5) Kevin James – Cardinal O’Hara XC (PA) – James and the O’Hara
boys wanted to make it back to nationals after a great 5th place
finish last season. He lead the charge with 3 in the top 25 (team wise), but it
just wasn’t enough in the end. James however will get to make the trip out to
Oregon for the second straight year.
Other PA performances to note: Jaxon Hoey placed 12th
overall and was the top sophomore in the race running 16:03! Aidan Tooker
(15:46) and Peter Ryan (15:58) are the only sophomores from NY who ran faster. Tooker’s
performance was a sophomore record.
Aaron Gebhart was 16th overall and had a really
solid race. He’ll be competing for a nationals spot next season for sure.
Belfatto and Smart both had really nice race’s, it was just tough on the
younger guys to extend their seasons for O’Hara.
Kyle Levermore ran a really great race placing 15th
overall still coming back from injury. His teammate Higgins lost a shoe in the
first mile which really hurt his time… and foot. His place hasn’t been registered
either.
CBA also ran as a back in the end placing 35-38 with their
4-7 guys since Fran Bogan is sick. This team is scary good and I underestimated
them, but I also assumed Barchet would place top 5, but he was 20th
overall. Hoping he has a bounce back race next weekend for a repeat
All-American performance.
Really excited about next weekend as PA boys send 3
individuals and 1 team automatically to the national meets, while PA girls send
3 individuals and 2 teams automatically to the national meets!!!
Unionville was led by Courtney Smith, who gets the win in
sub 18. She was followed by 3 teammates in the top 10 to help give them the
team title. Emily Fisher is still recovering from mono and placed 53rd
overall. She is usually the teams 3rd runner. Give her another two
weeks of strength and this team will be scary good. Their team average of 18:56
was just beaten only by F-M who ran 18:44. If Fisher can bring her time down a
bit they can easily challenge for the national title.
Just a fantastic job today by all PA competitors;
#padontplay
--ForrestCRN
The course was frozen for the NY teams but it thawed out creating dangerous conditions with a lot of mud. CBA's top guy fell along with many other runners. Rumor has that Sam Webb may have a broken leg from a fall.
ReplyDeleteWoot! Some girl coverage. Congrats to Pennsbury and Unionville!! Pennsbury was running without Maddie Sauer, their #1 at Nike Regionals and Nike Nationals last year. I assume she's been sick for quite some time because she hasn't been running like herself. Unionville's Emily Fisher is recovering from mono. She's usually their #2 by about a second to Olivia Young. Imagine if her time/place was put to just behind Young. FM wouldn't stand a chance.
ReplyDeleteOn the boys side... NY should look very scary right now. NE regionals best was 17 seconds behind them. Yeah they took it out faster... but they also closed faster so if the NE squad took it out faster they would have died a bit harder. Looks like CBA will be going down a few spots.
I don't know what the whole ice thing means... but if the conditions were frozen for NY teams that's a lot worse than thawed out and muddy for NE teams. Frozen is absolutely harder to run in than muddy.
-RTJ
The wheels from the gators really messed up a lot of the course. NY did kill it though. That's just the explanation for why the NE times were slow. If they went any faster a lot more people would have gone down in the muddy turns.
DeleteIt is mean but let's face it, anorexia and other eating disorders are fairly common in the XC community among young women and even men. That type of skin and bones physique should not be applauded, even if they have success. It is the dirty little secret of the distance running community. Regardless of their success, it will catch up to them severely compromising their long term health and shortening their running careers. Hoping the rumors I have heard about that very talented runner are not true and wishing her all the best & continued good health and success.
DeleteEctomorph body types are common among runners, especially young runners. Low body weight, thin bones, smaller muscles built for repetition, not power. It has nothing to do with eating disorders
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DeleteSo true. Some of them are difficult to look at now though. Like I know about ectomorphs, etc...but when their chest is concave and their skin is so taut around their face that their teeth seem ginormous, there is more going on there. That's just unhealthy. Hey, eating disorders abound in the running community, especially with females. It's a fact.
Delete"Frozen" meant more like the ground was hard packed and really fast. By the time NE went it was about 10 degrees warmer and a lot muddier but only on the top of the ground so people were slipping around a lot
ReplyDeleteSam Webb fell and broke his leg. Jaxson Hoey tripped over Webb while he was on the ground and rolled down the hill for a little bit. Got up and still finished 12th taking a 2nd team all region spot for the Blackfriars
ReplyDeleteHenderson was impacted more by the mud because they train on dry ground.
ReplyDeleteFirst off that's a sorry excuse.
DeleteSecond, there's no need to have excuses. They placed second and qualified and only lost to two teams that they've already list to. Sure they didn't run great but their performance wasn't bad enough for people to ask for/give excuses.
Henderson is an inner city school on a small campus without woods and trails to train on, it's all pavement, no mud.
Delete"Inner city school"? Good one. Clearly written by someone who has never been to Henderson. The school is situated in the borough of West Chester and practically steps away from some of the nicest, most rural and challenging trails in the state.
DeleteWhy does anyone need excuses? They did as well as they were projected, perhaps even better.
Henderson is in rich rural west chester. about the farthest thing from inner city
DeleteWho doesn't train on dry ground?
ReplyDeleteLiterally the worst excuse I've ever heard
ReplyDeleteActually Henderson doesn't train on dry ground. In fact they don't train on ground at all. They do workouts underwater.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting about Hoey if it's true. He may have beat Kevin James if he didn't fall and he may have been the one going out to Oregon. This team is even better than I thought. Placing fifth and their top 4 all return. They may adjust their season next year to running at Nike Regionals and I think they may get it.
ReplyDeleteThat sucks for Webb and pretty much kills any relay chances for Pennsbury. Must have been a hard fall. Was it because of the slippery conditions or just being knocked over because of the crowd?
I'm 100% sure that comment was someone trying to make people react the way they did, but nevertheless, Henderson doesn't need excuses. They made Nationals. The way they ran this meet means nothing since they made it through. Yes, I would have liked to see Barchet/Moy a little higher and their 3-5 a little tighter, especially Barchet, but they have a week to work on that.
-RTJ
This is very much speculation, but from the way Barchet talks in interviews he is only really focused on nationals. I have a feeling he'll race very well their and in many ways this was like Districts leading into states. His team had a really great shot at qualifying whether he went 1-2 with Russell or if he placed 20th. At nationals however Henderson will need two guys in position for All-American if they want to place top 3-5 and I think they'll get that from him and Russell this season.
DeleteI'm terribly sorry about Webb. That's a brutal way to end a season. I hope the recovery is quick for him and I wish the best.
As for Hoey, the kid is just an animal of a sophomore who is no doubt going places. His brother is still maturing and their coaches are very aware of slowly bringing him into the running scene. He's low millage and doesn't do nearly as much as some of the older guys. I have no doubt this squad will have nationals on their minds going into next XC season. They've got a fantastic top 4 and the Hoey's are going to get exponentially better since they've both still very young. Another young squad to look for in the future is La Salle from Rhode Island. They've got a bunch of freshman and sophomores leading them as well.
--ForrestCRN
I don't buy it. Barchet has had some good races this year but overall he's had some performance slumps. I wouldn't lump a runner like Moy in the same category. Barchet ran 21 seconds slower yesterday than 2012 race, while Moy was 48 seconds faster from 2012-aside from Waltz 2nd most improved from that team I think. Hope Barchet can get it done at Nats. Hoey's are the new dynasty in XC!
Deletewhat would the chances have been for Malvern to go to Nationals had they gotten 4th at Regionals?
ReplyDelete0% chance. They would have needed 3rd place and even then it would be a long shot.
DeleteMalvern has a ton of talent-5-6 guys who broke 4:50 in middle school(to put it in perspective-Henderson has had one guy ever run under 4:50 in MS) Mcdevitt use to crush Kevin James in the CYO. the Hoeys are studs-josh is probably better then Jaxson. If they don't get to NXN next year, something is wrong. They do have the advantage of not having to worry about their league and the PA indepent schools meet. I'd like to see them go to a couple of decent meets next year.
DeleteO'Hara is loaded w/ guys who ran around 4:50 in middle school. Henderson has their fair share of talent also. Doesn't matter though, 8th grade times don't really translate perfectly into high school times.
DeleteOh and to say "something is wrong" if Malvern doesn't make nationals is an absurdly dumb statement.
Ditto on the something is wrong statement.
DeleteI've seen very slower 8th graders become state medalists in high school, as well as fast 8th graders have very unremarkable high school running careers. 8th grade times don't mean squat.
Many 8th graders with quick mile times simply reached puberty earlier than their competition. A bunch never really get any better and some go backwards as they fill out and gain weight.
DeleteMalvern Prep is going to be scary good for a few years thanks to the Hoey brothers. There are actually 3 of them at MP. The youngest is in 6th grade and won the middle school championship this year. Check out their parent's pedigrees- both were/are amazing runners. These kids are legit.
DeleteThe 3rd place team Ridgefield CT didn't make it. At-large qualifiers have been announced, they are from CA, IL, NY, and OR. On a side note, I can't stand that the voters have fallen in love with CA teams, think there around 8 CA teams ranked in the US top 40. They must be impressed by all the fast running out there. Yeah ... it's easy to have a 15:30 team avg. if you run on a golf course.
ReplyDelete