Quick Thoughts and Ches Mont's

Mid-Penn’s

Cumberland Valley looked strong once again even with Soliman as their 3^rd man. If he can stay within the top 3 and ~15 seconds behind Wasko they’ll be set. A 37 second spread from this team is exactly the consistency we’re looking for.

Up front I love what Seiger and Green have been able to do at these bigger meets. Not backing down from Brehm who has now raced 3 hilly courses in a row. Demko helped solitify himself in the top 50 with a 4^th place finish just two seconds behind Brehm. Weidner has another good race and Milligan is leading a fairly impressive SC squad that placed 2^nd overall (told you guys to watch out). Matt Beyerle had a very impressive race (I expected him and Feffer to be together). Hershey continues to impress with a third place finish and Carlisle has some work to do with DeAngelo having another underwhelming performance. 

Slippery Rock

Griffin Mackey looked great in his win over Van Kooten who seemed (from pictures) to have gone with him and then fell back. I hope Van Kooten is okay come championship season, but Mackey is a force to be reckoned with and could be a state medalist on a big race day.

Eastern States Race

I think it would be awesome if more PA teams decided to go up to the Eastern States race. I think it’s a great opportunity to get in some amazing competition. 

This race went out hard from the gun with the best Northeast runner Alex Ostberg destroy the course in an 11:57 effort. Very few people have broken 12. Bryce Millar must love a fast pace, because after losing to Marston two weekends ago he came out and blazed a 12:02 for a clear second place finish. I’m not sure if Conestoga got caught up in the madness of going out fast, but Marston placed 16^th overall in 12:33, which isn’t a bad time at all. This is around where I would have placed him at the start of the season (see Northeast Top 25). Sam Ritz had a really big race in 12:31 for 13^th place! Ritz is really starting to get his XC legs under him during his senior year and he may have an outside shot at making it to the footlocker finals. 

La Salle’s 12 second spread beating out Conestoga? Wow. That’s huge. Stoga had a faster average time, but lost to them by 26 points. 5^th man Cruickshank didn’t race, but this team will need to show big things back in PA if they want to be in the running for this state title.

Delco’s

Kevin James looked superb in a new meet record. He’s been so far ahead of his team this year and racing very hard after his loses at Briarwood and Foundation. I hope it’s not too much for him to handle before championship season, but I think he’ll be good. The team behind him looks very strong also. The times from Ryan James and Rob Morro are really impressing me and Pastore was 8 seconds behind where he was last season. If he places ~60^th at states they’ll have potentially the best 4^th man, which is way different than last season. It’s starting to look like the state title winner will score around 120 points.

NTL Coaches Invite

Simon Smith follows up his big race at Paul Short with a 16 flat clocking to beat out the NEB studs in Upham and Smith.

Ches-Mont’s

Well Ches-Mont’s is today, which I totally forgot about until this morning. After a tie from DTW and Henderson at Carlisle it should be a really great battle between the two squads. I honestly would be surprised if Henderson did not win this meet. They‘ve got a nice pack of 3 runners to work with up front and a solid 4^th runner who is a freshman. DT West has under impressed this season and their runners have been very up and down this season. Everything will need to come together for this team to win a title. It’s amazing what changes in a month. 

The battle up front should be fun to watch. Sappey has looked good and his team will need that 1 point to beat Henderson. Knapp has theoretically the best times, but I don’t think he’s nearly in the shape he was last year. Diestelow had a nice two mile race and could always put himself in the mix. Or maybe we’ll see Josh Smith make a big jump in fitness back to where he was last season. 

That's all for Now Folks

--ForrestCRN