Team Rankings Final Update 12/1/13

Before I get along with the Team Rankings I wanted to alert everyone that the At-Large bids have been chosen already and there are no real surprises, meaning sadly, no PA teams made it in. Here are the At-Large Bid teams: Central Catholic (NW), Dana Hills (CA), Liverpool (NY), and Hinsdale Central (MV).

It’s been a while, probably too long, since I last did a team update, but I’m avoiding finishing a 10 page paper right now so it seemed reasonable that I’d write some more, just of something else. 

 1. West Chester Henderson

Henderson clearly proved this season that they were the best squad in PA. Winning the state meet by 37 points, the largest margin of victory since 2006, and placing second at regionals to the #1 team in the nation is no joke. I think these guys have one more outstanding performance in them for nationals which I’m really excited about. A top 5 finish at nationals will be tough this season with some very strong teams in F-M, Arcadia, CBA, American Folk, and Gig Harbor up front. 

2.  North Allegheny

They maintain this spot for multiple reasons despite not racing at Nike Northeast Regionals. First off they finished second at the state championships beating out O’Hara by 4 points. 4 points isn’t a lot, but in a state that has had ties the previous two years it looks a lot better. Plus O’Hara had a fantastic day with Nick Smart running out of his mind, while NA’s top guy all season in McGoey had a very solid race, but not his greatest. This team did a great job of pack running all year and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see them go head to head with O’Hara and Henderson again. They return their 2-5 guys from states and with one more piece they’ll be in prime position to make nationals and be the top PA team. They found Hunter Wharrey this year, who will it be next season?

3. Cardinal O’Hara

After placing 3^rd at the state meet they ran a strong race at regionals for 4^th place with 161 points. Kevin James has really stepped it up to the next level, which is great to see from the junior who will be going to nationals. Nick Smart really came out of nowhere as a 5k guy; silencing all of the haters who claimed the 1:55 man was a pure middle distance guy. I can’t wait to see what this squad can put together for a DMR or 4x8 indoors with the fantastic pieces it has in James, Smart, and Belfatto. I wish we could see them attend nationals again as a team, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was a really great season overall though after losing 2 state medalists along with a strong XC running in Pitone.

      4. Malvern Prep

I had these guys in the top 10 all season, but it was tough to gauge how good they really were since they didn’t run many meets with other PA schools due to the private school status they have. The Hoey brothers have really burst onto the scene this year with Jaxson placing 12^th overall with a fall at regionals and his 8^th grade brother running some fantastic 5ks. Their coach is young and has really made something out of a young team, while still taking it easy on the millage with the young guys he’s got. They return 4 out of the top 5 next season and they should be really fun to watch with NXN as a big goal in mind.

 5. State College

I had a tough time with the 5-8 teams as they all placed very close and have gone back and forth all season. State College came up big at the state meet however and I’m going to give them major props for it. They didn’t look great at districts and raced many big invitationals all season to get into shape and really prepare themselves for the state meet and it paid off. Will Cather has stepped up big time as has Chris Golembeski. This squad claims to be 4x8 guys running 5k’s during XC, which flat out scares me for indoors. These guys should be rolling hard and can probably put together a strong DMR behind Cather. Freshman Nick Feffer PR’d at Hershey which is just insane and he’ll be a guy to watch in the future.

      6. Council Rock North

These guys are always peaking at the right time, this season taking 5^th place, just barely missing out on 4^th by 2 points. Ross Wilson led the charge placing 3^rd overall with Brian Arita having a fantastic states race for 38^th overall. Simmons and Griswold are more milers who put together very solid XC seasons with Simmons breaking 16 at districts. Freshman Tim Haas seems to be ready to carry on the legacy of great CRN distance runners while Arita will look to medal at states next season and lead 5 varsity returners back to the state meet.

      7. Conestoga

They placed 7^th at states to Carlisle on a 5^th man, but these guys dominated at district one and it was their first time to the state meet in over a decade. Not seeing Hershey or running it before to placing 7^th overall and second at districts is an incredible accomplishment for these guys. Andrew Marston went from 18^th at districts to 9^th at states, which is truly incredible. This young man will lead a squad of 6 returning juniors next season that will be very hungry. Now that they have seen and experienced the state meet, they’ll be yearning for more success in the future. I’m really excited for this team.   

      8. Carlisle

These guys battled all season with the likes of State College, but placed 6^th overall at the state meet. It’s extraordinarily tough to run Hershey back to back and I really wish the district 3 race would be moved to another course. Maybe I’m not giving them enough credit at 8, but all of that being said I think they had a really wonderful season. Zach Brehm ran very well all season placing 10^th at states, his biggest win at his home invitational. He is more of a stud on the track, that’s for sure, but 10^th at states is no joke. Behind him guys like Jon Carroll and Joe Deangelo had really fantastic seasons. Carroll’s may not have ended perfectly, but this team has a lot going for them and I think they’ll be even more successful on the track.

       9. Saegertown

A ‘A’ finishes in the top 10 you say?!?! This team had an average of 17:20 at the state meet and a total time of 1:26:39 and merging results puts them at 8^th overall. They really had a fantastic states race and they return 5 or 7 varsity guys! After a close battle against Masterman at Foundation they regrouped for the second half of the season, and boy did they come on strong winning states by 33 points. Putting 3 guys on the medal stand really did big things for this squad lead by Morgan Schenberg. They didn’t have a guy break 17, but their pack running brought them to a great score none the less. It’s rare to see a 1A team this good, but they deserve all the credit in the world for racing really well at the state meet.

       10. Mount Lebanon

These guys finished their season spectacularly with a second place finish at WPIAL’s and an 8^th place finish at the state meet. They had a really nice spread all year, constantly switching their #1 guy with Ian Baun taking the reins at states.  Todd Gunzenhauser is developing very well as a sophomore and his future is bright. Evan Hatton ended his season with an injury, but toughed it out to finish in his final meet. These guys lost a lot of pieces last season, but their great comradery is what brought them to such a high finish.

Look out for a top 25 runners list final update coming out either tonight or tomorrow!

--ForrestCRN