Evan's Thoughts on the Weekend - 9/20

What’s up everybody!  This weekend was crazy, absolutely crazy.  I know I typically stick to the Western side of the state, but this weekend was too exciting for me not to go statewide.  Cardinal O’Hara got a huge win at Foundation, Paul Power went 15:50, and, a little shameless plug for myself, I made my debut at 8k for The Ohio State Running Club, running 28:33 for 29th at the Otterbein Invitational.  But, on to some more in depth from all of the meets.

PIAA Foundation:

AAA

I’ll begin with the individual races.  Paul Power is ridiculous, running 15:50 in his season opener to run the fourth fastest time on the Hershey course ever.  I know there was a little bit of controversy on the blog yesterday as to whether or not the Foundation course was the same as the state course, but I ran Foundation as a sophomore, junior and senior as well as states as a senior and can assure you they are the same.  15:50.  That puts him just behind Tony Russell, Brad Miles and Rad Gunzenhauser and ahead of runners like Ryan Gil, Zach Hebda, Wade Endress.  Power is the real deal this year.  Kevin James also has a huge race to take 2nd, a big bounce back from his race at Briarwood last weekend.  Jake Brophy rounded out the top 3 with a course best of 16:01.  McGoey and Wharrey looked good, going 4-5 in 16:17 and 16:21 but I definitely expected their times to be a little bit quicker.  Ryan James had a big race for COH, taking 6th in a PR of 16:29.  A PR at the Hershey Course.  He’s going to be dangerous in the team battle at states.  Sean Weidner of Lower Dauphin is making big steps, taking 11th in 16:41.

Now, on to the exciting team race.  Severna Park from Maryland continues their domination of the best teams in Pennsylvania, but thats beside the point.  Penntrack #4 ranked O’Hara made a huge statement this weekend.  They took down #1 ranked North Allegheny by 5 points, throwing themselves into the state title talks in a year that looked like it could be a down season for them.  However, I think the biggest story of the meet is Mt. Lebanon.  My boys back home.  PA #9 Lebo was only 5 points back on NA and 10 points back on Cardinal O’Hara.  Ian Baun has established himself as a fantastic front runner on a very deep team, running 16:38 to take 9th.  Gunz looks to be rounding back into shape, going 17:17 and Ian Harris, who had a breakout 16:37 at RWB runs 17:20 to be their 3rd guy.  To put into perspective how good Mt. Lebo is this year, I was the top guy at Foundation last year and I ran 17:20, I would have been their 4th this year.  Bryce Brandenstein, as just a freshman, has cemented his place as a solid 4-5 guy on Lebo’s squad.  He went 17:32 and was the top freshman by roughly 15 places.  He and Matt Stone have been trading off as 4-5 runners all year and will be a definite help to the Blue Devils at the end of the season.  Josh Kalapos, a JV guy all last year, had a few low 4:50 miles in track and has stepped up big as a strong #6 for Lebo and ran 17:56 after running 19:48 in the JV race last year, thats some serious improvement.  Now, obviously Conestoga has not raced a 5k yet, so we will have to see what happens with them, but in my opinion, your top 3 teams raced at Foundation this past weekend.  The order of those teams at the end of the season?  We’ll just have to wait and see.

AA

Dominic Hockenbury gets a rather unsurprising win in 16:10, essentially jogging the last half of his race after going out in 7:39 (4:55 pace) for the first 2.5k.  Brady Wilt of York Suburban ran well to take 2nd, running 16:43.  Noah Smith of Ringgold had himself a nice run, finishing 5th in 16:49, a strong performance for him on the states course.  Besides Hockenbury, the race was pretty close up front, with the 2-7 runners separated by only 9 seconds.  

In the team race, York Suburban had a nice win over Grove City, 100-130.  YS put two in the top five, something that will definitely help them come November.  Grove City looked very strong though, with Ryan Budnik making a nice comeback from a rather underwhelming RWB performance to start his season, running 17:08 as GC’s top guy.  He always seems to run well on the Hershey course, obviously very beneficial to Grove City when states rolls around.

A

Julian DeGoot-Lutzner gets a nice win, running 16:38 to take first by 11 seconds.  Colten Trimble looked strong, running 16:55 for 3rd.  Andrew Koryak dropped a big 17:08 for 4th, he’s looking to join Elias Graca as an 800 guy who can run cross country.  Nick Sweet had a rough race, only going 17:44 after being with the top pack at halfway, hopefully he can make a comeback before the season ends.

Altoona Mt. Lion Invitional

Brad Foust, a returning state medalist, ran a quick 16:20 to win relatively uncontested over teammate Jerrod Sunderland and Bedford’s William Kachman.  Kiski Area was at this meet and its very strange to me that Eric Kennedy was not in attendance.  I’m hoping for the best, especially after seeing him at a road race over the summer where he ran 16:23.  Altoona won the team battle easily with 43 points, the next closest team being Greensburg Central Catholic with 168.

2nd Vulcan Invitational

Nick Wolk of Peters got himself a quick win in 17:06, which believe me, for the CalU course, is flying.  He took down sophomore standout Casey Conboy of Baldwin, who ran a spectacular 17:16 for 2nd.  Dennis Doyle of Baldwin, a runner I had very strong hopes for at the beginning of the season, looks to be struggling a bit this year, only running 18:03, hopefully he can bounce back before it really counts.  Baldwin beat out Bethel Park for the team title 37-43.  They should make for a fun little battle come WPIALs, most likely for the #4 spot.  Fox Chapel was in attendance but looks to have left their top guys at home, making it two weeks since Graca has run, not too worried though.

Sharpsville Blue Devil Invite

Jeff Van Kooten gets his second win of the season, clocking 15:45 to beat Zach Skolnekovich, the sophomore stud form Quaker Valley by 22 seconds.  Andrew Maxwell of Slippery Rock runs 16:07 for a huge PR (16:43) and has set himself up nicely to battle with Budnik and Benka for the individual title in District 10.  Zach White of West Allegheny has himself a nice race, going 16:28 for 5th, a nice showing after a few races that he definitely could have run better at.  

Thanks for reading!

-Evan Hatton