Third Weekend, 9/13, Results/Analysis

Boardman Spartan Invitational – NA with a Big 4^th place Finish

Very impressed with NA this weekend especially Hunter Wharrey. Mcgoey lead the team with a fantastic time of 15:41.5 for second place, which is the best PA time in quite a while; Dan Jaskowak ran 15:43 his junior year, and Gil won in 15:58 as a senior and Rad Gunzenhauser was second in 16:00 the year before. The reason Wharrey was the guy I mentioned however, is because he has clearly taken the next step as a distance runner, running 15:44.5 for 3^rd place overall. The two of them probably are the top 1-2 punch in the state right now and they both might be able to place top 10 at the state meet, which would be huge for NA. They averaged 16:24 this year, and I’m not sure why. The course I heard was pretty quick, but over the past 4 years that they’ve attended they have averaged 16:36.5 (Always fluctuating between 16:35-16:37). It’s quite a drop in average time despite a slightly underwhelming finishing place from Scott Seel who is clearly missing his training partner in Seamus Love. But their 4-6 runners have formed a nice pack, which is great to see this early in the year. No worries here about NA.

19^th Cherokee Challenge – 3200m XC Race—No Sam Webb for Pennsbury? ‘Stoga Rolling

Conestoga once again looked strong out in the east with another short race, this time the distance was 3200m. Marston placed second overall in 9:29.36 that was just two seconds behing the winner Luke Petela who is from NJ. The time is pretty good, but not as impressive has his 8:51 3k last weekend. Still, Marston is in good shape. Alex Knapp put up a solid result of 9:50 to silence some of the haters this weekend with a 9^th place finish. The guy is better the longer the distance goes and it’s just another step towards 5000m. 

Biggest race of the meet, PA wise, was from Henry Sappey of DTW who ran 9:54 to 11^th place. He is really coming into his own this season and I can’t wait to see him run in a big 5k invitational. Ryan Barton makes his debut this season with a 10:07 time, which was pretty impressive as well. The DTW team has been running different varsities every week it seems, so I’m suspend judgment until they race as a full squad over 5k. Murray and Cruickshank for ‘Stoga were strong 2-3 guys this weekend as they sandwiched Alek Sauer taking 21^st and 23^rd a piece. If you merge results and count places ‘Stoga scored 120 points to DTW’s 173. I know the races were different and the scoring for the meet is odd, but I just wanted to throw those two numbers into the mix.

Briarwood Invitational – Longer than 5k; Hoey top runner in the state?

HOLY COW. Jaxson Hoey unleased big time in this race. The course was slightly longer than in previous years due to a college race before hand and some are claiming that Hoey’s 15:30 is much close, if not better, than Joe Rosa’s 15:19 from a few years ago. The junior ran like a total stud as he came out of the woods with Brophy and James with one loop to go. He apparently just blew them both out of the water beating Brophy by 9 seconds and James by 21!!! My goodness it’s unbelievable. He will be attending Paul Short this year where we get to see him head-to-head against Colin Abert for what will shape up to the a battle for potential top runner in the state. I know I’m leaving Molino a bit out here, but these two guys are on fire. 

That being said Brophy is still an animal. The junior ran 15:39, which is two seconds faster than Tony Russell ran as a junior on the course, and again, it was longer. Kevin James should look like a stud with a 15:51 time, but when you lose by 21 seconds it’s tough to do that. Still James is a top 5 runner in the state no questions asked. Sam Ritz looked good for the second weekend in a row running 16:05. He is finally developing into a strong XC runner, which is great to see. McDevitt and Josh Hoey were great once again placing 5-6 with Hoey beating out Arita. Ryan James is starting to make the move into stud zone with a 7^th place finish in front of Fortna and Morro. 

MP won with a score of 48 points and a 16:34 average time. Wow. These guys are ridiculous. The biggest scare for them is the lack of 6-7 runners, but Wills and Doane seem to be strong 4-5 guys behind a really strong top 3. O’Hara looked very good finishing second in 79 points. Drew Pastore was their 7^th man and is probably getting over a sickness or injury. He was ahead of James and Morro last season and if you put him in the mix at 11^th they lose 20 points and end up with 59, not too far off of Malvern Prep. These guys are way better than they look. Donovan and Nolen are solid 5^th men to be fighting for a spot once Pastore is back in action. CB West impressed once again as they tied a strong La Salle squad. LaSalle just packed it in tight with new runners like Mitchell and Goebel breaking onto the scene hard with 11^th and 14^th place finishes around established teammate Patrick Grant.  This is why District 12 needs to be allowed to send two teams to the state meet.

25^th Bulldog Cross Country Invitational -- Bensalem a threat?

Nothing too big happened here this season, but Bensalem packed it in really nicely with 5 guys in the top 11 and a spread of 17 seconds. They’ll need to be faster than a 17:12 average on Bulldog’s course to compete out of District 1, but they’re a team to watch out for that should crack the top 10. A nice win for Methacton junior Jeff Kirshenbaum who had a very solid year last year. It’s great to see CB South stud Matthew Scarpill running well this season. The sophomore was second place in 16:18. Eric Diestelow didn’t look great in a 5^th place finish with a time of 16:27.

In the Small School race we saw a nice win from Masterman’s big dog Julian Degroot-Letzener with a time of 16:21.9. Second place was sophomore Liam Galligan from Springfield Delco who ran 16:31.3. That’s a name we might see more of in the future.

19^th Lackawanna County Invitational -- Win for Kravitz

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this meet before, but I had to throw out there that Matt Kravitz of North Pocono won by 57 seconds with a great time of 16:06. I’m a big fan of this kid and he gets lost in the crowd easily since he’s in the Pocono region and doesn’t get much competition. 

Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational -- Carlisle wins again

PA #1 Griffin Molino made his debut this weekend with a convincing win in a time of 15:43. We still need to see him race in a big time setting, but he’s got to really prove himself with Abert and Hoey tearing courses up across the state. Jack Tidball of Tunkhannock looked great in a 16:02 placing for 3^rd overall. Brehm ran this race as a quick tempo it looks like as he was 16:13 for 4^th overall. His teammate Joe DeAngelo looked great in 6^th place and has taken a great turn for this squad. They beat Cumberland Valley in a dual meet this past week and looked pretty convincing doing it. They’re definitely proving themselves to be a top 10 team in the state. 

Perry and Evans of Scranton Prep looked really solid this week and I’m glad Perry is back and rolling up front for them. Not a bad race from Alex Milligan who placed 9^th overall in 16:33, but I’m surprised we didn’t see him up a bit further and possibly challenging Brehm at the end of the race. 

Carlisle won the meet on their 6^th man Issac Kole. He and Max Fiorintino are just sophomores, but they’ve both stepped up big time for Carlisle this year and will be their key to success if they can hold down the pack end of the squad. Scranton Prep returned all juniors and are a senior heavy squad. Ryan Burke was a bit further back than usual, but I like what this squad has.

That's All for Now Folks!

-- ForrestCRN

P.S. Top 50 will be out tomorrow night (if I can get all my homework done)