Final Runner Update (Top 25 List)

Attempting to arrange a top 50 list of runners seemed just a bit too long now that the season is over, so I wanted to make a shorter list of the top 25 guys. I felt as though a top 50 would end up being too much copy and pasting from the state championship results. I may finish the second 25 after my semester is over, but for now this is the top 25!

1.       Tony Russell (Sr)

There is really no debate on who is the top XC runner in PA is at this point. Russell repeats as both the state and regional champion and hopefully he’ll finish off his season strong with an All-American finish at nationals. I’ve got to imagine he’s got a top 10 to 15 finish in his mind, if not higher.

2.       Griffin Molino (Jr)

Molino flew pretty far under the radar going into the state meet, since he didn’t run any big invitational, but he came on strong late winning the A title in a fantastic solo time of 15:54 and then went on to place 6^th at the Nike Northeast Regional to grab an individual spot to Oregon. I think he’s got an outside shot at All-American.

3.       Colin Abert (Jr)

I know that I’ll get some flak for this pick, but Abert ran 15:54 at the state championship meet and blew two CR’s out of the water by very strong runners. He didn’t have the best day at regionals but still placed 13^th overall, which isn’t too shabby. Abert is only a junior and had a really great championship season in PA, but it didn’t translate as well as he might have liked at Footlocker. I do believe he’s the 3^rd best guy in the state however.

4.       Ross Wilson (Sr)

Wilson made a huge bid for himself this past weekend placing 10^th overall at Footlocker Regionals and getting himself a birth to nationals. I wish we could have seen him at Nike Regionals against Molino and James, but he is capping off his season perfectly. 2^nd at districts and 3^rd at the state meet are very impressive numbers. Maybe he deserves to be #2 on this list, but both Molino and Abert ran 15:54 at states, which gives them the edge in my mind.

5.       Kevin James (Jr)

Kevin James placed 4^th at the state meet right behind Wilson, but found himself as the 5^th and last qualifier as an individual to Nike Nationals this past weekend. He has run some fabulous races this year and he’s still only a junior which some really tough competition ahead of him. Here’s a little comparison: Ryan Gil made it to nationals with his team as a sophomore and went to nationals as an individual as a junior (although he went through FL, it’s nationals)… Gil went on to win the XC state title the next year, is this is James fate for next year?

6.       Colin Martin (Sr)

Colin Martin really proved himself to be a stud this XC season, coming out of his twin brother, and state champions light. Colin beat his brother and Brent Kennedy at the beginning of the season at Tri-States and lost his training partner in Ethan due to injury. Colin didn’t let this impede his progress however going on to win his first WPIAL title and placing 7^th at states. He then ran a very strong footlocker regional race for 12^th overall. 

7.       Jaxson Hoey (So)

I figured at the start of this year a sophomore would make it into the top 10 in the state, but I didn’t have the slightest idea it would be Jaxson Hoey. Hoey has had some phenomenal races this season including a 9^th place finish at Carlisle, a win in the Singer Farms 2-Mile (9:55) and finally a 12^th place finish at regionals after falling. He really could have challenged for a top 5 individual spot otherwise in my opinion. Hoey has really burst onto the scene and is a fearless runner which is great to see from a young guy. He’ll probably be kept limited this winter and spring since he’s younger, but watch out for him next season leading the Malvern Prep team to potentially an NXN birth.

8.       Chris Kazanjian (Sr)

Chris Kazanjian had a really big XC season, backing up his fantastic 20^th place performance at states last year. Chris didn’t have a spectacular indoor or outdoor campaign and really flew under the radar at the beginning of the year. He had some very strong performances, but he ran even better when it counted placing 3^rd at districts and 6^th at states. He opted to run at Footlocker due to his high place finishes at those meets, but it’s tough to extend your season to the Regional meets from PA if you’re not 100% in it from the start of the year, as it’s an extra month of training. Hopefully Chris’ success on the trails will translate to some big PR’s on the track this coming track season.

9.       Jake Brophy (So)

Brophy didn’t have a great start to his season which got me a bit worried, but he came on really strong at the end battling new Hatboro star Casey Comber in dual meets, finishing 4^th at districts in a swift clocking of 15:24 and then going on to place 8^th in the 3A state race. Coming off of a 9:32 3200 in spring as just a freshman Brophy showed a lot of improvements this year and I can’t wait to see what he has in store on the track.

10.   Reiny Barchet (Sr)

I was really unsure where to put Barchet on this list. He placed 5^th at the state meet which is really fantastic, but sickness seems to have plagued many of his races this year. He placed 20^th at regionals which is really solid, but I truly expected a top 5 placement, especially after finishing second last season. I really hope his XC season finishes strong at nationals; Henderson will need it to. 

11.   Zach Brehm (Jr)

Zach Brehm had an up and down XC season, often running tempo in races, but he came up big when it mattered. He earned a huge victory at the Carlisle invitational in a clocking of 15:28, was runner up in the district 3 meet and came back to place 10^th overall at states as the top D3 runner in the meet. It’s difficult for D3 guys to go back to back like that so I give him major props for his performances. This can only lead to big things on the track and if goes to the Henderson Puma 3200 race I bet he’ll help bring about a possibly sub 9 clocking from a few guys on this list, if not such a time for himself.

12.   Chris Cummings (Sr)

I ragged on Cummings quite a bit this season for possibly peaking too early, but the man had some really fantastic races all season long and finished it out with a 15^th place at Footlocker Regionals which I didn’t see Cumming… see what I did there, yeah it was corny… Cummings won Foundations in 16:17, claimed a league title over Russell (even if Russell wasn’t going 100%), ran 15:30 multiple times over the course of the season and finished it off his PA scene running in 12^th at the state meet. He has made a really fantastic improvement, a jump this big is rare for a senior, but he really put it together well and proved that good summer training can make a big difference.

13.   Dominic Deluca (Sr)

Dominic Deluca had one goal on his mind going into the season and that was making FL nationals and I was really hoping he would get it. He clearly put in some great summer work running 15:43 at PTXC for a CR and won the state meet pretty easily in 16:21, fairly unchallenged. Then training with Dominic Hockenbury he looked towards the big meet of the season: Footlocker Regionals. It didn’t come together for him however as he placed 20^th overall, which is still really fantastic. Deluca will have even more motivation now to prove himself once again on the track and improve his 9:13 3200 mark from last year. 

14.   Jeff Groh (Sr)

Jeff Groh at 13 you ask? 13 is the unluckiest number, and that sadly is how some would describe Jeff Groh’s season: Unlucky. That however is not the reason he is 13^th on this. Groh is 13^th for many different reasons. Coming into the season I was very unsure, but optimistic about Groh’s season. He had been inconsistent in the past, but he came out on fire at PTXC 5 placing 2^nd to Dominic Deluca. He then went on to place second to Chris Cummings at Foundation. I was really excited about how well he was doing when he was struck down with a stress fracture during Mid-Penn’s where he still managed to finish 4^th overall. Groh could have shut his season down, but he would race one more time: for his team. Groh placed 16^th overall at his district race which would be not only good enough to send his squad to the state meet, but it would be good enough to get Lower Dauphin the District 3 Title. I really hope he gets back to health soon, as this young man showed extra-ordinary passion for the spot and his teammates, truly putting it all on the course for them on October 23^rd, 2013.

15.   Aaron Gebhart (Jr)

This could be a bit high for Gebhart, but hey, I’m a huge fan, what can I say. Gebhart has put himself in the mix in all of his big races this season: 5^th @ Carlisle, 3^rd @ Districts (District 3 I might add), and then 14^th at the state championships. He added a 16^th place finish at Nike Regionals which is really impressive. I have no doubt next year this young man will be in the running (no pun intended) for a nationals qualifying spot next year. I really like the consistency from him especially with starting his season late.

16.   Andrew Marston (Jr)

Boy did Marston surprise this season, especially at the state meet. After leading a fantastic Conestoga pack at districts to second place finish and state birth, Marston took charge as a low stick placing 9^th at the state meet! That halved his finish at districts… just saying. Plus he decided to attend Footlocker regionals to prove it wasn’t a fluke, finishing 22^nd in the process, proving any possible doubters that he is legit. Marston probably has the slowest 3200 PR on this list in 9:53, and I can’t wait for that time to drop; potentially into the 9:20’s this outdoor season. He’s got a lot of teammates around him who are juniors and he’s a great leader for this squad to have.

17.   Nick Smart (Sr)

Still not sure if this is too high a placing for Smart, but the man came up HUGE for O’Hara when it counted and almost got them into second place at the state meet after placing 11^th overall. Smart had quite the shaky season, but going into the year many people doubted his ability at the longer distances after his 1:55.1 open 800 performance in the spring. Smart however went on to place second in the PCL to James, and 5^th at districts running a fairly conservative race. O’Hara needed 3 medalists to beat the spread of NA, and Smart did his part… (Wow I rhymed, I’m really on a roll here!... much like Smart rolled on the states field), anywho, Smart backed it up at regionals placing a solid 28^th overall.  For a guy just started to get into XC he had a really nice season and I can’t wait to see him run a Mile or 1200 indoors.

18.   Ethan Martin (Sr)

Ethan Martin’s season was plagued by injuries as he started off placing 3^rd at RB&W, almost 20 seconds behind his twin Colin. Soon afterwards we learned that he had suffered a hamstring injury(if I can recall correctly). He returned mid-October to gruel out a really tough and muddy Tri-States race for the win. He placed second to Colin at WPIAL’s and finished off his season with a 16^th place finish at states. Formerly 4^th overall last year I’m sure Ethan isn’t too happy with his performance, but this should only motivate the returning 3200m state champion. Coming back from injury is very difficult, especially in XC, so I give him major props for running 3 very solid races at the end of the year. 

19.   Casey Comber (Jr)

Casey Comber has got to be one of the top 5 biggest surprises of the year. Comber didn’t break 17 at Lehigh last season while this year running 16:34 for 9^th at districts. He then backed it up with a 13^th place finish in AAA. He also broke a CR of Matt Kacyon’s in a dual meet over Brophy. Comber also won a few Large School invitational sections during the season. He has showed great strength and I think this will translate very well to the 3k and 3200.

20.   Jeremy Parsons (Sr)

Parsons was undefeated until his district race where he was taken down by junior stud Sebastian Curtin. Parsons didn’t let this phase him as he challenged Molino, taking the states race out in 4:40/9:57, before losing 30 seconds of ground in the last mile. Parsons really went for it and I’ll give him major credit for that. He held on to place second overall. I’m not sure if Parsons was injured or sick at the end of the year, something that would have hindered his performances, but he ran gutsy and it paid out pretty well. All-in-All the young man had a very successful season.

21.    Cole Nissley (Sr)

Cole Nissley is one of my favorite PA runners for the past two years because of 1 word that I’ve used to describe him many a time: Consistent. Nissley goes out and races hard every weekend and always performs very strong, no matter the course or the circumstances surrounding the race. He finished 16^th overall at the state meet and is just a very strong runner. He extended his season and placed 53^rd at FL. Not a great showing race wise, but the extra strength will no doubt benefit him come outdoors.

22.   Matt McGoey (Jr)

McGoey may have been 24^th at the state championships, but this season as a whole is what boosts him into the top 25 on this list. McGoey had some truly phenomenal invitational races this season including 4^th @ RB&W, 8^th @ Boardman, 3^rd @ Foundation, and 3^rd @ WPIALs. Going into the state race he had only lost to guys who are top 15 on this list. He was NA’s #1 man all year, and maybe the pressure got to him a bit as he’s only a junior.  All-in-All this young gun is a really great talent who should be mixing it up in the top 10 next season and I can’t wait for him to tear down his 9:06 3k and 9:23 3200 marks from last track season. 

23.   Jeff Van Kooten (Jr)

It seemed as though every weekend Van Kooten was running in a big invitational, and he was always getting better and better. He started off the season placing 115^th at RB&W(not sure if somebody else was racing under his name), but he went on to take top 5 in 3 smaller invitationals along with 19^th at Carlisle, 8^th at Tri-States, and finally 6^th at Districts. Van Kooten was on my radar as a possible medal contender, but placing 15^th overall was not something I saw in his future. It seems as though that 15h spot is reserved for great District 7 breakout races at the state meet. Van Kooten really proved himself on the tough hills of Hershey to earn himself a spot on this list.

24.   Jim Belfatto (Sr)

Belfatto was cruelly the one who took 27^th at the state meet, but I won’t be as mean. Belfatto had a truly outstanding season placing second in District 12, 3^rd at PCL’s, 3^rd at Delco’s, and 6^th at Briarwood. He then finished out his season very strong with an 18^th overall finish at Nike Northeast Regionals in an attempt to get his squad back to the national meet, but to no avail. Belfatto really stepped it up this XC season for O’Hara which is why he finds himself on this list.

25.   Dominic Hockenbury (So)

It was really tough deliberating who would get the final spots, but Hockenbury’s 21^st place performance really put it over the edge for me in terms of talent, will, and racing smarts. Hockenbury was overshadowed by fellow district two and first name friend, Dominic Deluca. The two trained together for FL regionals and he really showed it, never letting Deluca out of his sights. Hockenbury finished second in 4 meets this season including districts and states along with winning his section of Foundation. His state time of 16:36 isn’t all that flashy, but he did what he needed to in order to grab that spot. He’s the top returner next season and I’m excited about how far he’ll go as a junior.

Just missed: Aaron Benka (Jr), Alex Knapp (Jr), Sam Webb (Jr), Sebastian Curtin (Jr), Paul Power (Jr), Brad Foust (Jr).

Next year looks really excited with 3 sophomores in the top 25 and all 5 of my just missed runners are juniors. It should be a bundle of fun :)

--ForrestCRN