Top 50 Runners! -- 2014 XC Pre-Season (More to Come Soon!!!)

1. Griffin Molino (Sr) – South Williamsport – (4A) – Making the rankings were really tough this season, especially the top 5. Molino is #1 for one reason – History. I was not overly impressed by his track season, yes he did run a 4:12.93 early on in the season, but he ran 9:37 at the state meet for 3200, and might have a lagging injury. He ran 8:50 indoors over 3000m to place 9^th overall. What it comes down to, however, is there are some guys who succeed on the track and others who succeed in Cross Country. Molino has succeeded in XC. He won the ‘A’ state meet in a blazing time of 15:54 and is the top returning finisher from Nike Northeast Regionals, where he placed 6^th last season. His time on the state course ties Abert’s who had major competition, and he beat Kevin James by 3 seconds at regionals. He starts off our list. 

2. Colin Abert (Sr) – Easton Area – (11AAA) – I’m always pretty hyped up about Colin Abert. I think he’s a total stud and he goes hard from the gun in every race. He absolutely ran away from Wilson and James in the State Championships last year to place second in the AAA, and I think he grabs a state Gold medal. His 15:54 should not be quickly forgotten. He barely got any training indoors, but still ran a solid 4:16.90 in the 1600. He doubled 4:18.95/9:33.75 at Districts. He’s also the second returner for FL NE Regionals. Barring injury, Abert will go to Footlocker Nationals. I’m big on sophomore XC medalists eventually winning the title. Abert, James, and Webb have all medaled twice now at the state meet. Abert finished his season with a 4:18.03 Mile in the Emerging Elite Section at Nationals

3. Kevin James (Sr) – Cardinal O’Hara – (12AAA) – We’ve been putting a microscope up to Kevin James since the beginning of his freshman year. Being in the spotlight for so long could get to someone, but James keeps coming up big, like most recently dropping a 9:03 for 3200m. He was 4^th in AAA States during XC and in the 3200m outdoors. He’s carried some great DMR teams with strong 1200m splits, and he placed 7^th at Nike NE Regional (2^nd returner). James will be the man to inherent the title Mr. Consistency from Cole Nissley. He always has good races, and he continually improves. I’m not sure if he’ll go to Nike or Footlocker regionals, but I also see him going to nationals.

4. Jake Brophy (Jr) – Central Bucks East – (1AAA) – If a junior is going to win the state title, it will be Jake Brophy. Brophy was 5^th in AAA last season and this season he’s split 1:55 and ran a solid 9:28 over 3200m. Placing 8^th as a sophomore is no joke, and we’ve got no idea how just how good Brophy could get. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him at the top of this list by the end of the season. His potential is overwhelming.

5. Jaxson Hoey (Jr) – Malvern Prep – (IND) -- There are some really strong candidates for the #1 position on this list, and during the track season Hoey has certainly made a name for himself. It’s even tougher to compare him to everyone else, because he is in the Independent league, but let’s run down his resume. 9:05.83 for 3200m, a converted 4:11.13 (3:53 1500), and 1:54.73 for 800m. He placed 12^th at Nike NE Regional (5^th returner). He’s just a strong, fearless runner who can kick with the best. Remember when he outleaned/outkicked Tony Russell and Kevin James at the Singer farms dual meet? Yeah, he’s an animal. Track is the last season I’ve got in my mind, and last year it caused me to put a ‘relatively-unproven’ XC guy, Zach Brehm, at #3 on my list, which was a mistake. I was going to put Hoey at #1, but he’s going to have to really bring down the house in XC for me to do that. (Hoey is in the Mile Finals for Outdoor Nationals)

6. Andrew Marston (Sr) – Conestoga – (1AAA) – Marston is high on this list for a plethora of reasons. He broke out last season and led his team to the state meet for the first time in over a decade. Marston is a steady runner who just ticks off pace, staying even the entire race. It’s not the best for someone who can win, but Marston will not die on the hills of any course. His 9^th place showing at the state meet last season proved that. He’s not the best track guy in the word, but he ran under 4:23 and 9:30 on multiple occasions throughout the year and ended with PR’s of 4:20, 8:45 (3k), and 9:17 for 3200. I really like what Marston has to offer as an XC guy and I think he’ll led Conestoga to big things next season.

7. Zach Brehm (Sr) – Carlisle – (3AAA) — Brehm is the big man on the track for PA right now. He’s won titles outdoors in both the 1600 and 800 and also has a nice XC resume including a 3^rd place finish at Districts and an 11^th place finish at the state meet. It’s tough to run strong races back to back out of District 3 and Brehm did that last year. He has earned a high placing on this list.(Brehm is in the Mile Finals for Outdoor Nationals)

8. Sam Webb (Sr) – Pennsbury – (1AAA) – I thought Sam Webb was going to peak as a sophomore after he placed 14^th at the state championships. He went on to run 9:13 that season outdoors. Last XC season he did have a rough transition with Harriman leaving, but he still managed to medal for a second time when he placed 19th. After breaking his leg, Webb came back to double a 9:11.9/1:59 at Districts and then a 9:08/1:58 at the state meet. Webb just keeps getting better, and he’s got more experience than anyone at the state meet, plus he has consistently come up big when it matters. This might be a bold pick, but Webb has really but himself in the spot to contend for a top 10 spot.

9. Aaron Gebhart – (Sr) – New Oxford – ( 3AAA)—Gebhart is one of my favorite XC runners. As a sophomore he placed 28^th at the state meet and I’ve been following him closely ever since. His 14^th place last year showed he was poised and ready once again for a tough battle on the hills of Hershey. I think he’ll be able to once again chop his place in half, for a 7^th overall finish at the state meet. I’d love to see him compete at FL Regionals. Btw, he also added PR’s of 4:21 and 9:16 on the track outdoors. The man gets it done.

10. Dominic Hockenbury (Jr) – Lake-Lehman – (2AA) – Not sure if this one is a big low for Hockenbury, but it’s really tough to place this young man. He’s been training with Dominic Deluca out in District 2, but he’s in AA, and competes with very few people on this list. He was 21^st at FL Regionals and was second to Deluca at States. He is clearly the favorite to win the AA title and is one of the top returners for FL next season. Outdoors he dropped a solo 9:17 to win the state meet, and I bet he could have broken 9:15 on a good day, which is huge for a sophomore. Hockenbury is definitely underrated and I’d love to see more from him to move him up the list.

11. Casey Comber (Sr) – Hatboro Horsham – (1AAA) – Comber came out of nowhere last season, going from a guy who didn’t break 17 as a sophomore to running 14:56 for 5k on the track! Also coming out of the outdoor season with PR’s of 4:19 and 9:17. The sky seems the limit for Comber who just keeps getting better and better. He always sticks himself in the front of races and competes hard. This young man is being coached by lineage of Dave Marrington (CRN) and Ross Coleman (HH). Ie, he’s getting some of the best training in the state for XC. And don’t forget, like I did, that Comber placed 13^th last year at States. The person before him to place 13^th was his teammate Connor Quinn, who had won states the year before. Could we see a role reversal with Comber winning his senior year? Who knows, but I sure wouldn’t doubt it.

12. Jeff Van Kooten (Sr) – Pittsburgh Central Catholic – (7AAA) – I would like to mention there are 12 guys on this list so far, and 8 of them are from different Districts. I think that’s awesome. On to Van Kooten. I don’t think we’ll see much from him at the beginning of the season. This young man comes on big at the end of the season, and he doesn’t fail to represent at the state meet. During XC he was 15^th after a rough start to his season, and outdoors he dropped huge PRs of 4:17 (District Champion) and 4:14 (3^rd at states). I love how he comes on at the end of the season. He’ll probably move down on the list a bit at the beginning of the year, but he’ll bounce back, as he always does.

13. Matt Mcgoey (Sr) – North Allegheny – (7AAA) – How does a 9:12 runner fall to 13^th on this list? Mcgoey was great in leading NA all last season, but he faltered at the state meet when he barely held on to grab a medal to place 24^th when he was a projected top 15 runner. Yes, I agree so many of these guys are very, very close in skill, but when a team title is on the line, Mcgoey hasn’t raced as projected for two years in a row (two years ago he was a top 30 contender who was 2^nd on his team only to place 62^nd and 4^th on his team). He has an opportunity next year to lead 3 other very strong seniors to a team title. Will he be able to pull off the win for the historic NA program?

14. Alex Knapp (Sr) – West Chester Henderson – (1AAA) – Henderson has been dominant at the PA state meet for the past 10 to 15 years. I highly doubt Coach Kelly is going to let this change, and Knapp will be the man leading the charge for this relatively inexperienced squad. Knapp knocked a 4:26 Mile and 9:32 3200 onto his belt. Most importantly, however, is that he silently was 18^th place at states last year. He’s going to have a big, uphill battle next season. He is the team’s leader and totally in the spot light. I believe Knapp will succeed with the heavy burden that is being handed down to him.

15. Zach Seiger – (Jr) – Red Land – (3AAA) – Zach Seiger caught my attention early on as a sophomore when he just wouldn’t let his teammate Aaron Lauer go. Seiger eventually surpassed Lauer and went on to place 28^th as a sophomore. This sounds surprisingly like another District 3 runner on this list, oh right, Aaron Gebhart. Gebhart placed 14^th as a junior, why wouldn’t Seiger follow this trend, or better it?

16. Paul Power (Sr) – Spring Ford – (1AAA) – Paul Power seemed to silently fade during the outdoor season, but he was strong all three seasons. He was 10^th at districts and 20^th at states during XC and ran pretty solid through the track season, although he slowed down towards the end, finishing his season by just missing the finals of the 1600m at Districts. Power proved his chops on the XC courses last season and I have no doubt he’ll be back and hungry for more next season.

17. Sam Ritz (Sr) – Germantown Academy– (IND) – I’m always unsure of what to do with Ritz. Last season he was coming off a 4:11 Mile, but he didn’t do much of anything to note in XC. He competed well against Hoey in a couple of meets, but did not show up well at Footlocker Regionals. He did run a 4:13 Mile this outdoor season and 4:16 indoors, which isn’t a joke. I think if he competed at the PA state meet he’d be able to place pretty well, and the competition would be good for him. Overall it’s tough to know exactly where he stands.

18. Sebastian Curtin (Sr) – Mercyhurst Prep – (10A) – Curtin is quite an interesting runner. He placed 3^rd at states last season in ‘A’ with a solid time of 16:33 to the studs Molino and Parsons. He ran smart in the prelims at AA states for track and finished his season with a solid PR of 4:21 for 1600m. It’s almost impossible to predict Curtin taking down the #1 man on this list, Griffin Molino, for a state title, but he is a force to be reckoned with and should not be dismissed just because he is a ‘A’ runner.

19. Brad Foust (Sr) – Altoona Area – (6AAA) – Every year there is a medalist who shocks everyone in the AAA scene. Brad Foust of Altoona was that guy last season. He placed 21^st overall, and by God, I don’t know how he did it. I also didn’t know how Chris Kazanjian did it either, and I left him fairly low on the list. History comes into play here again, and I’m hoping Foust can give up to some hype. Much like Chris, Brad Foust didn’t do much indoors or outdoors on the track, at least compared to most of the state medalists on the list. Both indoors and outdoors his team went fresh in the 4x8, and it didn’t pay off, nor did we see any particularly strong splits from Foust. Maybe all the 4x8 work does something for XC, but Kazanjian did the same thing as a junior and had a killer senior XC season when he placed 6^th at states (3^rd at Districts). I’m hoping Foust makes me look good here.

20. William Kachman (Jr) – Bedford – District 6 – I’m not sure what it is in particular that got me so intrigued with Kachman, but this young man knows how to show up for races. He was the 3^rd place finisher in AA states behind Deluca and Hockenbury, which is strong company to find oneself in. Listen to this stat – For 9 weeks/weekends in a row William Kachman doubled the 1600 and 3200! 9 times he did this outdoors!!! My mind has been blown. He ended his season PR’ing in the 1600m trials (4:29) and the next day placing second in the 3200m (9:31). He’s basically been training himself to run 3 miles… or 5k all outdoor long. I have total faith he’s going to have a stellar XC season as he looks to beat Hockenbury for the AA title.

21. Nathan Morgan (Sr) – Lakeland – (2A) – I’ve had a really tough time placing guys between the 20-40 range this season. There are a lot of really close runners in my mind who could break out. Morgan ran exceptional last XC season and he also dropped his PR down to 4:21 in the 1600 this past outdoor season. I like how he finished up XC last year when he placed 5^th in ‘A’ with a time of 16:43. He’s got great upside, but it will be tough to test where he is during the season.

22. Hunter Wharrey – North Allegheny – (7AAA) – NA is going to do some great things next season and the pack will be held together by this gentleman. He broke out early in the XC season, but did not run well at WPIALS (19^th), yet he bounced back to place 29^th at the state meet. Indoors and outdoors not much is scene from NA, but Wharrey was able to drop a sizeable PR of 9:28 over 3200m. I think he’s got room to improve for next season and will help tow along Love and Seel.

23. Daniel Green (Sr) – James Buchanan – 3AA – Green hovered around the 30’s almost all season last year as he placed top 3 in all 4 of his meets leading up to the state meet, including a 3^rd place finish at Mid-Penns (Over Groh and Seiger) and he ran 16:23 to win the District 3 meet. He had a rough race at states and placed 16^th overall, but I believe he’ll bounce back and have a killer XC season next year.

24. Aaron Benka (Sr) – Grove City – (10AA) – This is one of my bolder picks on the list, but Benka did some really big things last year up until the state meet. He was also buzzing around the top 40, and let’s look at why: 13^th @ RW&B, 1^st @ West Seneca, 3^rd  # Sharpsville Blue Devil, 1^st @ Grove City, 2^nd @ Tri-States, 1^st @ District’s, 10^th @ States. Not too bad of a resume. He had top 3-5 finishing potential at the state meet, but didn’t totally pull it through and lost to his teammate Ryan Budnik for the first time last year at the state meet. All of this being said however, Benka comes from a long line of Grove City XC greats and I think he has a very successful season.

25. Kyle Gonoude (Sr) – Salisbury – (11AA) – Gonoude has really impressed me over the past two years. He’s a runner who always sticks his nose in races and isn’t afraid of a quick pace. He placed 7^th at states last season and ran a 4:21.50 in the prelims of the state meet outdoors, but finished 3^rd in 4:23 in the finals. I like his tenacity and he should be a guy to watch out for going forward.

26. Josh Smith – Avon Grove – (1AAA) – Smith is similar to Green in my mind. A runner with a strong resume throughout the 2013 XC season, with little track results, whom had a tough states race. Smith is the 6^th returning runner from District 1 last season where he ran 15:45 for 12^th place.  His 39^th states place does not do him as much justice as some of the other runners on this list. He did bring his 800m PR down to 1:58.31, which isn’t bad for an XC stud.

27. Jacob Connors – Wilson – 3AAA – Connors is one of the best pure-XC minded runners I’ve seen. He reminds me quite a bit like Jeremy Parsons, but being in AAA he doesn’t get to shine as much. Connors was 71^st at states his sophomore year and 32^nd his senior year (after placing 5^th at Districts in 16:28). I really like that he’s a pure XC runner. He gets the sport and is always fresh going into the season. Track can hurt some of the XC guys, but never Connors.

28. Sean Hilverding (Sr) – Waynesburg Central – (7AA) – You may ask yourself, who is Sean Hilverding, and how is he top 30 on this list? My answer to you is – The most underrated multi-time state medalist I’ve seen. Hilverding placed 6^th at XC states in 16:47 and ran sub 9:50 5 times this outdoor season, which ended in a PR of 9:33.47, which was good enough for 4^th place in AA. He placed 7^th in WPIALs the week before states, but the man knows how to get it done. I am hoping we’ll see more good things from Hilverding, who is a young man I know I’ll be following closely next season.

29. Zach Skolnekovich (So) – Quaker Valley – (7AA) – At 30^th, we have our first sophomore! His lowest place at a meet ever is 12^th, which is finished at the AA state championships in XC. His next lowest finish ever is 11^th, which is from AA states outdoors over 3200m. He ran sub 10 as a freshman, not once, not twice, but 4 times! A PR of 9:44 and 4:36 as a freshman, Zach Skolnekovich is the real deal and was the best freshman I saw last season in both XC and track. I think we’ll see some great things to come from this young man.

30. Jonathan Perlman (Sr) – Lower Merion – (1AAA) – Perlman is one of my favorite guys going into next season, but I don’t know where to put him right now. He finished 35^th in AAA states and 22^nd at District. He added PR’s of 9:33 and 4:22 (Full Mile) outdoors and he also ran sub 9 twice indoors over 3000m. I think Perlman could be a top 25 guy by the end of the season and he has a great chance of medaling.

31. Kyle Shinn (Sr) – Wyomissing – (3AA) – I’m not too sure what to do with guys like Shinn. He placed 5^th in ‘AA’ last season with a strong time of 16:46. Yet he didn’t do much at all on the track to prove to me he can do that again. PR’s of 9:47 and 4:35 aren’t bad, but he ran 4:34 as a sophomore. I’ve got Shinn here because of his strong District (2^nd) and states finishes. His teammate DiCintio has the best potential of the two, but they’ll work together to place well next season.

32. Brady Wilt (Sr) – Biglerville – (3A) – Wilt was always roaming in the 40’s last XC season in the rankings and now that the next season has begun Wilt has a great opportunity to shine in the ‘A’ scene. He placed 4^th at YAIAA behind big guys like Reilly and Gebhart; he won District 3; and placed 7^th at states in XC. He also got new PR’s of 4:28 and 9:42 this outdoor season. I’m going to be looking for some big things out of Wilt next season.

33. Dominic Peretta (Jr) – Beaver Falls – (7A) – I’m really not sure what to do with Peretta at this time. The double gold medalist in AA for 16/8 was extremely impressive outdoors.  At his district meet he doubled gold’ed as well, and PR’d in both events with times of 4:19.14 and 1:52.72. Watching the state meet he could have easily run 4:15 in my opinion. He also ran 9:39.29 for 3200m on the triple to place second at districts. He placed 3^rd at Districts during XC, but had a tough state meet where he finished 17^th.  He’ll have guys like Curtin, Morgan, and Wilt to compete against next season, and maybe he’ll really break out to give Molino a run for his money. He stays here for now until he can really prove his chops in XC.

34. Connor Holm (Sr) – Radnor – (1AAA)—I’m really not sure what to do with Connor Holm. He isn’t the top notch XC guy like many of these runners, but at the same time he did medal both indoor and outdoor at states. He ran 4:20 3 weekends in a row and was very consistent with his training in track. He was ranked on a few occasions last season and I think he has earned himself a top 35 position.

35. Ryan Budnik (Sr) – Grove City – (10AA)— This spot could be a bit low for Budnik who had a very strong XC season. He was consistently right with his teammate Aaron Benka other than Tri-States, but Budnik came back to place 8^th at the AA state meet right behind studs like Gonoude, Hilverding, and Shinn. Budnik saved his best race for last in XC, which does help him in the rankings. I have him decently below his teammate Benka, because Benka had a stronger overall XC year. On the track Budnik added solid PR’s of 4:30 and 9:42 to his resume. I like what he’s got going for him and he could easily move up this list.

36. Billy McDevitt – Malvern Prep – Independent – McDevitt has done some pretty great things over the past year and his resume is probably stronger than most guys in the 20-30 range. McDevitt did not have the biggest XC season last year, but he did place solidly at a few meets. He ran sub 9 twice over 3000m indoors and ended his outdoor season with a PR of 4:20.45 in the Mile. Just 05 faster than Billy Caldwell ran last season. I love what MP is doing with their program and he’ll have guys like Wills and Joey Hoey to push him along. I think McDevitt has a big breakout season.

37. Jack Tidball – Tunkhannock Area – (2AA) – Tidball is one of the top AA guys. He led his team to a State Title with his 11^th place finish at states. Returning with him is the rising junior Jacob Toczko and their duo will be a strong one in the AA scene. I like what Tidball brings to the table and with Toczko pushing him in practice he’ll be able to mix it up with the top AA boys at the end of the season.

38. Simon Smith (Sr) – Towanda – (4AA) – Smith was pretty high on my list last year due to some big wins like NTL and a solid 9^th place finish at PTXC. Towanda has a history of pretty strong AA runners and Smith should continue this trend next season, although his 13^th place at states last season doesn’t totally impress me, although I think he’ll greatly improve next season.

39. Brian Arita (Sr) – Council Rock North – (1AAA) – These past few seasons Arita has taken some key steps in really becoming a big CRN name. First he broke 16 minutes to help the team make states and then he finished 38^th at the AAA state meet when I just had him inside the top 50. This outdoor season he ran some tough 3200m races and slowed down at Districts to help the 4x8 team out. He also split 2 flat twice, which is way more speed than I thought I would ever see this young man have. I think he has stepped it up enough to make it onto this list with some strong names all around.

40. Nick Dahl (So) – Germantown Friends School – (IND) – It’s always tough to place independent league kids, especially a rising sophomore who has barely run any XC races, but any freshman who is running PR’s of 1:58, 4:22, and 9:28c needs to be on this list somewhere. 4:22 for 1600m!!! WHAT?!? And 9:30.87 for Two Miles at Henderson! Jeez. Those times are crazy. Hopefully we’ll see him jump into some big invitationals this XC season to really prove his prowess, because he deserves some credit, and I’d love to talk about him more often.

41. Mark Arzie (Sr) – Lakeland – (4A) – I’m not exactly sure what to do with Arzie on this list. He ran a faster time at states than most of the guys in the 30-40 range (16:52), but he didn’t have a great overall season to earn him a big spot on this list. He also did not PR during the track season. He only ran the 800 and his PR as a sophomore was 1:57, but senior year he only ran 1:58.35. He did however help anchor his team to a 3^rd place finish at states in the 4x8. One helpful piece for Arzie is his teammate Nathan Morgan (PA #21) who will help him every day in training. This could be a good season for Arzie who is the #4 returner in ‘A’.

42. Eric Diestelow (Sr) – West Chester East – (1AAA) – Diestelow has been one of the tougher guys to place on this list. He placed 17^th at Districts in a fantastic time of 15:48, which beat out guys such as Marston, Perlman, and Arita, yet at states he placed 64^th in a time of 17:06. Outdoors he dropped some solid times (4:22/9:35c), but he wasn’t able to make it into the finals of the District championships in the 1600. Last season Cummings had a huge jump in XC, could Diestelow be next in line?

43. Scott Seel (Sr) – North Allegheny – (7AAA) – Without his partner in crime, Seamus Love, what will we see from Scott Seel this season? Ideally NA will need to see him step it up big time and compete with Wharrey up from and contend for a medal, but Seel will need a jump for that to happen. He’s been very consistent for the Tigers the past 3 years and I think he stays steady for them again as a solid #3 man, but hopefully he gets another training partner up with him for them to win a state title.

44. Alek Sauer (Sr) – Pennsbury – (1AAA) – Sauer is a man who needs to earn his XC chops a bit more before I can move him up on this list. I’m placing similar to Kyle Francis was last year. He’s a man with a lot of speed (49 split; 1:54 open; 1:52.9 split triple at states) and strong strength to triple like that. He ran sub 16 at Districts last season, but he finished 86^th at states last season. The hills are tough on him, but he’s quick and should finish pretty high up at the District meet, but like states, I believe Arita will get him again, which is why he’s lower on the list.

45. Brian Delany (Jr) – Manheim Township – (3AAA) – Delany is one of my boys. He could be the next big thing out of MT. He finished 7^th at District 3 just a second behind his fellow sophomore Zach Seiger, but unlike Seiger who finished 28^th, Delany had a tough race and finished 67^th overall. He finished 10^th at PTXC, 10^th @ Foundation, and 4^th at the L-L League Championships, which are all very impressive finishes. Delany should not be forgotten about and he could easily be on the top 20 of the by the end of the season. His PR of 9:57 outdoors does leave him here for now however.

46. Ben Wilson (Sr) – Central Dauphin – (3AAA) – Wilson is a guy I don’t give enough, if any credit to on any normal basis, but he has by far earned his way on this list. A solid resume of 8^th @ Mid-Penns, 17^th at Districts, and 44^th at states are all solid marks, and enough to make this list. Outdoors he ran very well with a 5^th place finish at Districts in the 1600 where he PR’d with a time of 4:22.70. He was not able to repeat it at States, but he ran sub 4:30 5 times outdoors. I like the results he has put up and he could be an outside medal contender at the AAA state meet.

47. Jack DiCintio (Jr) – Wyomissing – (3AA) – I’ve been trying to figure out where to place him, but I do believe he deserves to be on the list. He had a really tough states race, 17:22 for 32^nd place, but he came back on fire running a huge PR of 16:31 at FL Regional to win the sophomore meet, which is no joke – This is the 4^th best SO time in the meet (Hockenbury was the #1 soph in 16:16). Then indoors he ran 9:02 at Kevin Dare for 3000m and followed it up with a solid 9:12 a few weekends later. Outdoors he focused on the 4x8, but still ran 9:47 for 3200m. He split under 2 at states and ran 1:59.54 at the Distance Festival. I like the resume this young man has and it clearly points to a breakout season.

48. Ben Szuhaj (Sr) – Penn Charter – (IND) – Szuhaj was ranked 24^th going into last season, which might have been a bit high, but this young man has had some really solid races. He reminds me a bit like Caleb Wakely. A big sophomore season and then injured riddled junior year. Hopefully he is able to bounce back and have a solid season. He placed 38^th at FL Regionals and then ran 9 flat indoors for 3000m and outdoors he ran 4:26 for 1600m and 8:51 for 3000m at the Distance Festival. He had a tough year, but finished it with a win at the Distance Festival with a time of 8:56 for 3000m. He’s just starting to get back, and he was always better at XC, so I am excited he could breakout again.

49. Seth Slavin (So) – Pleasant Valley High School – (11 AAA) – There definitely needed to be another rising sophomore on this list, and I believe Slavin has earned his way on here. Ryan James had the second best states race out of sophomores, but Slavin had a killer track season: From running 10:05 for Two Miles indoors to ending his outdoor season with PR’s of 4:38 and 9:46! That’s absolutely killer on the track for a freshman. He’s going to be scary to watch this outdoor season.

50. Mike Kolor (Jr) – Seneca Valley – (7AAA) – There are so many other people who could get this last spot, but hey, it’s my list, and I’ll play some favorites here. As you all know I’m a big Mike Kolor fan. He ran 4:28 indoors and finished his outdoor season with a 4:20 Mile PR along with some quick splits on his team’s 4x8. He’s got a stud XC teammate in Tanner Quiggle (who could easily have this spot) and the two of them will be a nice duo out in District 7, so this place is dedicated to both of them.

SENIORS

·         Elias Graca (Sr) – Fox Chapel Area – (7AAA)

·         Jared Luckanitz (Sr) – Governor Mifflin – (3AAA)

·         James Cooper (Sr) – Conestoga – (1AAA)

·         Dominic Digiacomo (Sr) – Twin Valley – (3AAA)

·         Colten Trimble (Sr) – South Side – (7A)

·         Kyle Perry (Sr) – Scranton Prep – (2AA)

·         Ben Ziegler (Sr) – Freedom – (11AAA)

·         Tanner Quiggle (Sr) – Seneca Valley – (7AAA)

·         Ethan Linderman (Sr) – Canon-McMillan – (7AAA)

·         Jonathan Weese (Sr) – Canon- McMillan – (7AAA)

·         Julian DeGroot-Lutzner (Sr) – Masterman – (12A)

·         Dan Wilcko (Sr) – Fairview – (10A)

·         Ryan Tung (Sr) – North Penn – (1AAA)

·         Alex Milligan (Sr) – State College Area – (6AAA)

·         Drew Wilkinson (Sr) – Red Land – (3AAA)

·         Bo Dinger (Sr) – Punxsutawney – (9AA)

·         Dominic Stroh (Sr) – Altoona Area – (6AAA)

·         Sean Weidner (Sr) – Lower Dauphin – (3AAA)

JUNIORS

·         Matt Kravitz (Jr) – North Pocono – (2AAA)

·         Todd Gunzenhauser (Jr) – Mouth Lebanon – (7AAA)

·         Andrew Hanna (Jr) – Council Rock South – (1AAA)

·         Kevin Lapsansky (Jr) – Easton Area – (11AAA)

·         Daniel Kyvelos (Jr) – Parkland – (7AAA)

·         Jake Susalla (Jr) – Plum – (7AAA)

·         Matt Murray (Jr) – Dunmore – (2A)

·         David Fletcher (Jr) – Mount Carmel Area – (4AA)

·         Ryan Paradise (Jr) – Emmaus – (1AAA)

·         Owen Seeber (Jr) – Cumberland Valley – (3AAA)

·         Jacob Toczko (Jr) – Tunkhannock Area – (2AA)

·         Grayson Hepp (Jr) – Germantown Friends School – (IND)

·         Colin Wills (Jr) – Malvern Prep – (IND)

·         Rock Fortna (Jr) – Central Bucks West – (1AAA)

·         Joseph Espinal (Jr) – Wilson Area – (11AA)

·         Patrick Grant (Jr) – LaSalle College High School – (12AAA)

·         Rob Morro (Jr) – Cardinal O’Hara – (12AAA)

·         Will Loevner (Jr) – Winchester Thurston – (7A)

SOPHOMORES

·         Ryan James (So)  - Cardinal O’Hara – District 12 – (12AAA)

·         Alex Tomosko (So) – Mechanicsburg – (3AAA)

·         Nick Feffer (So) – State College Area – (6AAA)

·         Yahya Soliman (So) – Cumberland Valley – (3AAA)

·         Garret Smith (So) – Northeast Bradford – (4A)

·         Matthew Scarpill (So) – Central Bucks South – (1AAA)

·         Eric Kennedy (So) – Kiski Area – (7AAA)

·         Drew Alansky (So) – Downingtown West – (1AAA)

·         Shaun Hay (So) – Peters Township – (7AAA)

--ForrestCRN

Post #200 -- Getting Ready for Summer

I hope everyone is having a good wrap up to your school year as the season is winding to a close. We've got some runners going to nationals from PA, but other than that the 2014 Spring season has come to a close meaning... you guessed it... CROSS COUNTRY SEASON is just around the corner. And by around the corner, it's 2 1/2 months away until any racing starts, but as I begin my training for the XC season I will begin some posts. I will be doing a top 50 individuals list with explanations along with a top 10 teams list. I'll be doing write-ups on the top 10 teams as well with a discussion on each of the runners on the teams. I may put together some district previews together as well for the smaller districts to get some more runners into the discussion.

If you have any suggestions at all for posts that you guys would be interested over the summer please e-mail me at fk246898@muhlenberg.edu or post up your ideas on here. I'm willing to write about anything in the track world. I will also be doing some posts about the professional scene as well, just to get some track talk out there.

I'm hoping to have a top 50 out by next week around Friday (8 days), but we shall see. There are a lot of fantastic runners that I'm going to need to shift through, but I sure am getting excited for the season!

--ForrestCRN

Mr. Underrated

A new thing I'm going to try and start is different 'awards' throughout the year, ect. Mr. Underrated may be one of them, I'm not totally sure how it's all going to pan out, but just some new ideas I've been coming up with.

I apologize for not doing a write up on the Henderson Distance Festival; I got really caught up with my summer research. I'll note the really big things - 1. Joe Logue 1:51.01!!! How is a time like that PA #3? For a guy who ran 1:51 mid as a sophomore it's a shame to see him not dip under the 1:51 mark, but he might run at nationals (speculation) so we shall see. Either way he's had a fantastic career. The 1500's by Brehm and Hoey were really solid. No big surprises from either of them, but they raced to expectation, which can be tough to do consistently and they fit that ticket. Kevin James also drops a nice Mile PR and his teammate Nick Smart had a big PR in the 800 of 1:52.9. Lastly Casey Comber is a beast running 14:56 for 5k on the track! Good lord he's scary, watch out District 1!!

You may be wondering at this point: What about Reiny Barchet?

Reiny Barchet -- Mr. Underrated

I first saw the name Reiny Barchet as a junior looking over results after, what was at the time, the biggest meet of my life -- The District 1 Championships in 2010. It was demoralizing to notice that a freshman had just run 16:05 and placed 14th overall for West Chester Henderson. Yes, that ladies and gentleman was Reiny Barchet. He then went on to place 63rd at the PA State Championships, which is one of the highest placing in the past decade. As a freshman outdoors he ran under the difficult 10 flat mark hitting 9:52.99 to place second in the Ches-Mont league.

At this point all signs pointed to Barchet as being an outstanding runner, but there wasn't too much of a stir about him. He seems to be elusive in the rankings, even then.

Sadly as a sophomore he suffered multiple injuries and did not compete during the XC season. Outdoors however he broke another very difficult time for his grade - 9:30, when he ran 9:28.40 to place 9th overall at the district championship. This left him one spot out of qualifying for the state championship meet. He also won the Ches-Mont championship for 1600m

His junior year was a time for redemption on the XC course. His teammate, Tony Russell, took the spot-light however and often times we forget how great Barchet's resume is. Here are a list of his accomplishments from Junior year XC
- Ches-Mont League Champion
- Bronze Medalist (3rd place) at the District 1 Championships
- State Medalist (19th place)
- Runner-Up at the Nike Northeast Regional Championships
- 21st @ Nike Nationals (All-American Honors)

How many times does an XC All-American get forgotten? In an extremely tough, muddy day Barchet battled with the best in the nation to prove how great of a grinder he is. The man sticks to a pace and is really an XC horse. (I'll get back to this later)

Indoors he just missed out on medaling but ran a great PR of 8:51 to place 10th overall and outdoors he repeated as Ches-Mont 1600m Champion along with running a huge PR of 9:08.97 over 3200m. He was unable to repeat the performance but placed 7th at Districts and 22nd at States.

Instead of injury, his senior year Barchet battled illness throughout the season. Many weeks he lost time training, but made sure to race at invitationals for the sake of his team. After a rough 6th place finish at Ches-Mont's Barchet did what he always has done -- Whatever it takes for his team to succeed. He finished 6th overall at Districts and then came back at the state meet to run a blazing 16:05 to place 5th overall to ensure that Henderson would get the win. Then at Nike Regionals he stuck with the pack of Henderson runners to help them place well as a team, which only placed him 20th overall. Then on a rough day at Nationals Reiny continued to battle the sickness and placed 127th overall.

Outdoors Barchet ran a PR over 2 Miles with a time of 9:06.44 at the Henderson Distance Festival and wrapped up his career placing 3rd in the 1600 and 6th in the 3200 at the District 1 championships and then 10th in the 1600 and 7th in the 3200m at the PA State meet.

He then raced one final race in a Henderson uniform running an excellent Mile time of 4:11.51 to win the Boys Mile section of the Henderson distance festival. On his own track Reiny Barchet went out a winner, and my goodness he deserved it.

You might be wondering why I have only talked about Reiny Barchet's individual accomplishments at this point in the article, but I will get to that soon. Lets review his career quickly

-- 2x XC State Medalist; 1x Outdoor State Medalist
-- 3x XC State Meet Qualifier, 1x Indoor State Qualifier, and 3x Outdoor State Qualifier
-- 3x District Medalist in both XC and Outdoor Track
-- Broke 10 flat as a freshman, 9:30 as a sophomore, 9:10 as a junior, and 9:05 as a senior in the 3200
-- 3x Ches-Mont Champion
 -- 2x Regional Medalist and National Qualifier for XC
-- 1x All-American in XC

I point out all of these accomplishments first to show how great of an individual runner Reiny Barchet really is, but he is the best team runner out there.

Barchet does anything and everything for his team. He has been on and contributed to Three District Title winning XC teams, Two State Championship teams, Two National Qualifying teams, a Multi-time All-American Indoors (2x DMR, 2x 4xMile). Is there anything you cannot ask of this man? He straight up gets the job done better than anyone else and lays it all out for his teammates.

Next year Reiny Barchet goes off to Colorado to run for the Buffalo's where he will be competing for a top 7 spot on the National Championship team. They return all 7 runners along with Jake Hurysz who was injured. Why would the best team in the Nation want Reiny Barchet? The answer to me seems quite clear, but I'll spell it out. Barchet placed 21st at XC Nationals as a junior in horrible weather conditions. He runs with a pack as well and puts everyone on the line for his teammate. He's tall and built like a horse, which means he's going to be even better over 10000m than he was over 5000m. I have no doubt, if he stays healthy, that Barchet will one day contribute to the Buffalo's amazing squad.

This concludes the first Mr. Underrated Post.

--ForrestCRN