Trying to get things up as fast as possible so I'll just keep churning these out when I can.
70. Nate McClafferty, Conrad Weisner- 4:11.37 (30th), 1:54.65 (175th) McClafferty was a part of a glory era for Conrad Weiser which began in 2008 when the squad surprised at the District 3 championships and flat out dominated the field. McClafferty was 19th as a sophomore and was the team’s 5th man. As a Junior, McClafferty continued to impress. The Conrad Weiser boys grabbed a second straight district title with McClafferty as the team’s #2 man taking 7th overall in a quality field.
Outdoors McClafferty turned heads when he upset Ed Schrom to win the 2010 District 3 1600m Championship in a time of 4:19.92. Nate proved it wasn’t a fluke the next weekend at states when he dropped his time to 4:14.79 for 5th place (tops among Juniors). Although he wasn’t known for his cross country achievements, in 2010 Nate rounded out his career on the trails with his 3rd straight top 20 finish at the District 3 championships. He finished with a PR sub 16 for 5k as well.
In 2011, McClafferty was a force on the track. Indoors he nearly stole the Mile championship when he put on a huge move with 800m to go. His mark of 4:15.24was second to Wade Endress’s near record setting 4:13.34. Outdoors, McClafferty continued to roll. He ran 1:54 in the open 8 and anchored his team’s 4x8 to a second place finish at Districts in a blazing time of 7:50. The 4x8 effort and a lost shoe nearly cost him in an individual trip to states, but he grabbed a spot with a 3rd place finish in the district final. In the final he dropped his PR all the way down to 4:11.37 with a blazing kick to catch and pass Ned Willig for 2nd, however, his effort was not quite enough to beat the record setting day of Drew Magaha, who ran 4:07.
McClafferty is now attending Duke University where he has dropped below 4:10 and run 1:51. Also worth noting, Nate was a Latin convention champion at 1600m before he became a stud on the state level. Gotta rep Latin.
Outdoors McClafferty turned heads when he upset Ed Schrom to win the 2010 District 3 1600m Championship in a time of 4:19.92. Nate proved it wasn’t a fluke the next weekend at states when he dropped his time to 4:14.79 for 5th place (tops among Juniors). Although he wasn’t known for his cross country achievements, in 2010 Nate rounded out his career on the trails with his 3rd straight top 20 finish at the District 3 championships. He finished with a PR sub 16 for 5k as well.
In 2011, McClafferty was a force on the track. Indoors he nearly stole the Mile championship when he put on a huge move with 800m to go. His mark of 4:15.24was second to Wade Endress’s near record setting 4:13.34. Outdoors, McClafferty continued to roll. He ran 1:54 in the open 8 and anchored his team’s 4x8 to a second place finish at Districts in a blazing time of 7:50. The 4x8 effort and a lost shoe nearly cost him in an individual trip to states, but he grabbed a spot with a 3rd place finish in the district final. In the final he dropped his PR all the way down to 4:11.37 with a blazing kick to catch and pass Ned Willig for 2nd, however, his effort was not quite enough to beat the record setting day of Drew Magaha, who ran 4:07.
McClafferty is now attending Duke University where he has dropped below 4:10 and run 1:51. Also worth noting, Nate was a Latin convention champion at 1600m before he became a stud on the state level. Gotta rep Latin.
69. Matt Fischer, Unionville- 9:03.01 (15th), Outdoor 3200m 2010
Fischer is one of many strong runners within the Unionville family. One of his first big time races came in 2008 when he ran well under 16 minutes at the District championships, finishing in 15:49 in a stacked field. Outdoors Fischer ran 4:21 and made the state championship final. However, he was unable to finish the finals, suffering from a serious leg injury that would end up carrying through to his 2009 XC season.
But in 2009 Fischer made a big statement to close out his XC season. After the Unionville boys were just 20th as a team at Districts in 2008, they came back with a vengeance and qualified for the state championships behind strong performances by Matt Fischer and teammate Glenn Burkhardt. It was one of Fischer’s first races back from injury and he helped the team finish 4th. The next weekend at states, after finishing 36th at Dsitricts, Fischer turned heads with a 24th place finish at the state championships. Unionville finished a strong 6th as a team at states, one of their best ever finishes.
After a quiet indoors, Fischer and Burkhardt ran a series of strong 2 miles, highlighted by Fischer’s first trip under 9:20 at Henderson. At Districts, Burkhardt and Fischer rolled on the field. Fischer was leading over the final 800m before fading at the line and being beat out by Burkhardt. The Unionville boys beat the North Penn duo of Sam Bernitt and Brad Miles who were the 1-2 finishers in Cross Country at Districts. The next weekend at States Fischer really made his statement. He hung tough off a very fast pace in an extremely deep 3200m (at the time it was one of the deepest races in state history) and then took off over the final 400m. He closed in about 61 seconds at the bell and ran a blazing 9:03 3200m (#15 in state history). He beat out Footlocker finalists like Gil, Miles and Gunzenhauser in the race as well as strong performances by Alex Monroe and Jacob Kildoo.
At Penn State Fischer went on to have a very successful career qualifying for multiple national meets, including this years Outdoor championships. Fischer has run 14:01 and 3:46 as well as 8:04 for 3k.
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