Weekend Results (11/16)

MIAA All-State Race

This was only a 2.9 mile course, so some faster guys did better than the more XC styled runners, but there was some really impressive performances non-the-less. 

Division II

Nick Carleo on Newburyport looked like an animal running 14:15 to win the meet. He was 6 seconds ahead of Paul Hogan who has been unstoppable all season. I had Carleo 6^th at Regionals, but now I’m thinking he could be in the top 5. Either way, he’ll be mixing it up with that front pack and should be able to make it to Nationals individually.

Christian Stafford of Pembroke took 3^rd in 14:32 followed by teammate John Valeri who was 6^th in 14:43. Both are in clearly very good shape and should be in the top 12 overall. This team as a whole is looking stronger and stronger, running with a team average of 15:08 for 2.9 miles is extraordinarily impressive. I’ll be re-scoring the meet with them in it as they just won All-States Division II with a score of 49 points.

4^th place runner Ty Enos of D-R ran 14:36 and he’ll be attending FL Regionals, so that’s a name to look out for as well. 

Division I

Two guys attending FL regionals went at it in Gabe Montague and Owen Gonser. Montague was the victor by 10 seconds in a 14:27 effort, which was the 3^rd best time of the day! Both are names to watch out for at FL. 

NJSIAA Group Championships!

All of New Jersey’s Group Championship races are on Holmdel’s course which is a very difficult course. Some guys will have gone harder than others, as next weekend is the Meet of Champions (aka the big one), but the results can be significant so I’ll be doing a rundown of all the groups.

Group I

Craig Corti of Wallkill Valley cruises to victory in 16:01. He’s run very well this season and he should be in the top 5 to 10 runners next weekend. His team attended NXN last season and I think he’ll go back again after they placed second in this group. Haddon Township(NJ#3) grabbed the victory with 3 in the top 10 and a team average of 17:03.

Group II

Nothing big happened in Group II, but Chris Luciano grabbed an easy victory in 16:02, winning by 19 seconds. He’ll be looking for a top 15 run next weekend. 

Group III

By far the group with the most fire power up front, the Group 3 boys really hammered the course. Tom O’Neill (15:26) showed his dominant hill running abilities, taking out some of the top NJ runners in Louis Corgliano (15:36), Steve Maine (15:41), and Kyle Kroon (15:42). It seems to me like Kroon is saving up for MoC’s, but O’Neill’s time is superb. All 4 of these guys are to be watch at MoC’s as they’ll be mixing it up out front.

Team wise Middletown North(NJ#7) grabs the victory thanks to a dominant top 2 in O’Neill and Lippert (5^th in 15:57). They have a strong 3-4 behind them, but the lack of a 5^th man is what really hurts this squad and why I believe they won’t be able to mix it up too well team wise at NXN Northeast. 16:28 avg. 

Group IV

Dylan Tarpey (15:39) broke away from Robert Stone(15:58) and David Mugavero (15:59) in the last 800m that proved to be a blazing finish. Tarpey could very well grab the MoC’s title next weekend as he looks totally on his game, and he has probably the best kick in NJ. I think Stone can and will race better next weekend, and he’ll be a guy to watch for the next couple weeks.

A big team battle placed out in Group IV, with 4 teams averaging under 16:45! WWPS (NJ#2) put 3 in the top 10 giving them 80 total points for the victory over NJ#9 Westfield (114), NJ #4 CHE (135), NJ #8 Millburn (141), and NJ #5 South Brunswick (164). This really will switch up team rankings going into the final weekend for NJ running, but WWPS seems to be a solid squad. Their main issue is also a lack of a #5 however which will hurt them come regionals. 

Group NP-A (Private Schools)

Seems like CBA(NJ#1) chilled out and just had a very solid, solid race overall. They usually don’t run their entire varsity at this meet, but they did a great job. I am a bit surprised that sophomore Blaise Ferro didn’t run as well, but this team is unreal right now. They score just 24 points with an 18 second spread and 16:05 team average. Mike McClemens gets an easy victory in 15:56. He’ll be hunting for top 5 next weekend.

Don Bosco’s Kyle Levermore is back and racing running 16:13 for 7^th place. It’s a good start for him as he’s got 2 more weeks to race into shape. Teammate Mike Higgins took 2^nd overall in 16 flat and looks good as well. They’re on the rise. 

Group NP-B

Trinity Christian’s Josiah Hanko(15:39) ran a really nice race to beat Liam Mullett (15:49) by 10 seconds for this Group title. Both of these studs are to be watched next weekend in the race for top 5 positions as well. Hanko = FL, Mullett = NXN.

Deuce at Singer Farm!

And last but not least the big PA meet of the weekend as we got to see some of PA’s top guys battle it out on a hilly, two mile course. Many of these teams did workouts going into the meet, so much of what happened didn’t change my mind about athletes and runners. Jaxson Hoey however is an animal as he stole the show with a big win over Russell and James. 

Rob Morro for O’Hara looked good as did Billy McDevitt from Black Friar XC. Chris Kazanjian didn’t race well, nor did Nick Smart, but again, I’m not worried about this at all. I know the CRN boys did a workout on Friday and this was used as a back to back workout for them, and I’m sure a lot of these teams did hard workouts Wed, Thurs or Friday. Shows that nobody is injured and people are ready to roll, which I like to see. 

I’m not sure where the 8^th grade Hoey was, which worries me a tiny bit, but I still believe he’ll be racing at NXN, which makes this squad dangerous.

That’s all for Now Folks! – A New NXN and FL Preview will be posted tomorrow afternoon, so watch out for that!

--ForrestCRN

P.S. I will consider weighing in on Russell being a top 5 all time XC runner after all of this XC season is over, but I will quickly discuss Danny Coval, since a lot of people don't give him enough credit.

His sophomore in XC he didn't run the district meet due to injury. Council Rock made it, and he asked to be suited up to try and help the team, despite not being healthy... he placed 2nd. Otherwise he easily would have gotten 3 state XC championships. I would also like to note that 1999 has shown to be the best year of all time in terms of running success from top high schoolers into college. This has been discussed as length on other forums and seems to be a general consensus. I say this because Coval placed 8th overall and beat out Alan Webb, who is a decent runner... Also to note, back then, it was illegal for PA runners to race non-PA meets, so running at FL would DQ runners from running any further PIAA XC races. This caused juniors to not be able to race FL. When a dominant guy like Coval hadn't raced against competition that was at his level in almost 3 years, his motivation would have been lower. If he would have been able to compete at nationals as a junior, I think it's pretty easy to say he would have been top 15 if not top 10. This would have put some things in perspective for him and extra motivation would be their from his knowledge of other competitors.

http://articles.philly.com/1999-11-24/sports/25496889_1_dan-coval-foot-locker-national-championships-top-eight-runners 

http://www.footlockercc.com/history/1999boys.htm

If you disagree that this wasn't the top year to be an XC runner, just look up some of the guys in this top 40 and their successes in both high school and college.
http://pa.milesplit.com/discussion/topics/24661 - Is a threat to check out as well.