Top 50 Rankings (and 25 Honorable Mentions)

As talked about before, here is the beginning of my top 50 document that I have been working on. Technically this piece is not inside the top 50, these guys are just honorable mentions, but I think these runners deserved a mention, even if they couldn't quite break in at the top. So hopefully you enjoy.

As you might remember, I'm currently in the process of relocating to Long Island and do not yet have WiFi in my house so I'm doing this from a public library guest pass. That's going to slow up the process a bit unfortunately, but I hope you guys can stick with me as I produce these. In the coming week I will be starting work which will diminish my time, but I also should be getting access to WiFi in the near future which will allow me to work from home.

Alright now, let's get down to business here. The numbers in parentheses indicate their rank on the All-Time list in each event. State championships are also listed. There 5 will get us started as we work from 75 on backwards.

75.      Sam Luff, Emmaus- 9:10.14 (51^st), 4:16.24 (154th)

Sam Luff ran out of District 11, not one of the typical powerhouse districts, however with help from Tyler McCandless, Rich Ryan and Steve Finley the district competed well against the best from the state in the window from 2003-2005. Luff was 28^th at States in Cross Country as just a sophomore after he finished 2^nd at the District 11 Championships at Desales in 16:23. As a Junior on the trials, he struggled a bit to get his footing, finishing 3^rd at Districts and just 40^th at States.

However, the Emmaus harrier would find a way to bounce back big time as a Junior. Luff had a fantastic district meet, winning the 3200m in 9:20, helping his Emmaus squad to states in the 4x8 (they ran 8:02) and then he went toe to toe with Rich Ryan of Easton and ran a PR of 4:16 for 2^nd place. Ryan would go on to finish third the next weekend at states in the 16, but Luff would do him one better. Luff ran a PR of 9:10 to sneak his way to a second place medal behind Ian Fitzgerald (the defending champ).

Luff carried that momentum into the XC season the next year. He won his first District 11 cross country title at Lehigh with a time of 15:43, 19 seconds ahead of second place. The next weekend at states Luff went toe to toe with the defending state champ, Craig Miller. Miller, who would go on to win 3 straight XC state golds, took an early lead, but Luff pursued him and caught him at 2 miles. During the last mile, Luff faded, but he had an impressive 2^nd place finish in 16:04. Luff finished 21^st at Footlocker Regionals the next weekend. Indoors Luff finished 3^rd in the 3000m (8:44) behind Jake Walker, who set the meet record. Luff went on to compete at the Penn Relays in the 3000m where he ran a fantastic 8:33.45 and finished second overall. A few weeks later at 3200m, Luff was 2^nd at the District 11 Championships as a senior, running 9:13 to finish just behind Tyler McCandless. At states, Luff entered as one of the favorites in a fairly wide open field but folded under the pressure and ending up falling to 15^th place. Despite the disappointing finish, Luff still had a fantastic senior season and finished as one of the best District 11 athletes in state history. 

74.       Greg Williams, Henderson- 4:15.49c (124th), XC Team 2002, XC Team 2003, Indoor 3000m 2004

In 2002 West Chester Henderson climbed to the top of the XC mountain when they defeated state legends Council Rock North to claim the title 83-95. CRN had beat Henderson by 5 points the week before at Districts where Henderson was led by it’s exciting one-two punch of Ian Gottesfield (1^st in 15:25) and Greg Williams (3^rd in 15:34). Both men were Juniors. Henderson had been second as a team the previous year behind Cedar Cliff (Williams finished 50^th as a sophomore) and they were hungry to finally get a title at states in ’02. But disaster nearly struck the Warriors of Henderson. Williams, who was out front with Gottesfield early in the race, went down hard just steps from the finish. He was headed towards a sure top 5 finish before his body started to break down. Amazingly, Williams was able to find it in him to crawl across the finish line, giving his team another 50^th place finish and helping them edge out CRN for the team title. The team’s 6^th man finished 213^th overall, which meant if Williams didn’t finish, Henderson would not only have lost the title, but likely finished out of the top 4. On the track in 2003, Williams finished 3^rd at Districts and 6^th at states in the 1600m.

As a Senior, Williams and Henderson faced another threat at the District One Cross Country Championships: Coatesville. The Coatesville squad used a tight pack to finish within two points of Henderson, but a 1-2 finish of Gottesfield and Williams (both in a time of 15:27) got Henderson the nod. The next weekend at states, Gottesfield and Williams seemed poised for another 1-2 punch, but again Williams suffered on the difficult Hershey course. Gottesfield and Williams were 1-2 at 2 miles, but Williams couldn’t hang on the final mile. He finished a strong 15^th at the state meet despite his issues. Henderson won the race as a team, giving them a rare back to back championship.

During the 2004 indoor season, Greg ran some excellent races, qualifying him for the state championships in both the mile and the 3k. In the mile, he went toe to toe with state legend Chris Spooner. Spooner’s speed proved to be too much to handle as Williams was beat out by about a second 4:15-4:16. But Williams was not done yet. He doubled back the 3k and, in a difficult and impressive double, was able to snag the indoor 3k state title. His 8:43 was a dominating victory of Steve Hallinan (8:49). Outdoors both Williams and Gottesfield were off the radar, likely due to injury. William’s achievements in XC and his final season of indoor as well as his excellent work in the classroom earned him a spot on the Stanford Cardinals squad.  

73.       Keith Capecci, CRN- 8:27.22 3k, 9:15.20 (103^rd)

Keith Capecci is one of the strongest runners in Council Rock North history. And that’s saying something.  In 2005 Keith Capecci gave Craig Miller what was perhaps his toughest ever battle for a state championship. But both runners came from different paths. While Miller was a 2x defending state champion, Capecci was coming off a 38^th place finish at the previous year’s state championship. While Miller had won back to back state titles in the 1600m, Capecci was 4^th at Districts and 2^nd at States in the 3200m. Capecci ran 9:15 to finish second behind Curtis Bixler in one of the craziest state finals in history (9:14.80-9:15.20). Capecci also ran a 1:59 leg to help his Council Rock North team finish 4^th at the Penn Relays in the DMR (10:15).

But Capecci had a lot of positive momentum going into the state championship race. He was coming off a 15:07 at Lehigh, one of the fastest times in course history, that gave him his first district title. After Miller took out the pace hard, Capecci ran a hard second mile to get within striking distance of the Manheim Township star. Over the final mile, the strength of Miller was just too much to overcome but Capecci pushed him all the way to the finish. The boys ran 15:30 and 15:34, two of the fastest times ever on that state course lay out. After Miller suffered a collapsed lung, Capecci became the poster boy of PA post season XC. He qualified for Foot Locker Nationals with a 9^th place finish at the regional meet and followed it with a 21^st place finish at Nationals.

Capecci went outdoors that Spring and ran an 8:27.22 3k at Penn Relays, finishing fourth behind a field that included Matt Centrowitz and Craig Forys as the top two finishers. Capecci’s 3k converts to a 9:04.5 3200m that would put him in the top 25 for so all time. Unfortunately Capecci’s season ended early and he didn’t get a chance to compete at the state meets outdoors that season. He went on to attend Villanova post collegiately. 

72.       Josh Izewski, CB East- 8:30.78, 9:16.03c (115^th), Indoor 3000m 2008

Josh Izewski was an excellent distance runner in both cross country and track and field. As a Junior in 2006, Izewski ran 15:39 at the District One Championships earning a 13^th place finish. The next week he finished 15^th at the state championships. After a disappointing spring season, Izewski was back for XC with a vengeance. He ran a blistering 15:18 at the Viking Course to start off his season. Izewski finished 7^th at the District meet in 15:31 and then finished an impressive 3^rd at the State meet the next weekend behind future Footlocker finalists Mark Dennin and Chris Aldrich. He capped off his XC season finishing 31^st at the Footlocker Regional meet.

Izewski’s 2008 indoor season was likely his best season of work. He usually swam in the winter, but switched his focus his senior year. It paid off as Izewski had a dominate run at 3k, ending with an impressive 8:30.78 state victory over guys like Mark Dennin, Chris Aldrich and Max Kaulbach. Izewski also doubled back to run the 4x800m and anchored his team to 2^nd place overall behind a state record performance by North Penn. CB East ran 7:56.93. Izewski went to the National Scholastic Indoor Championship and finished an impressive 5^th place. Outdoors Izewski finished 7^th at Districts and 15^th at States, running a 9:30 3200m at Districts a few minutes after anchoring the CB East 4x8.

Izewski went on to have a very successful career at the University of Florida. He ran 3:53 for 1500m, 8:11 for 3k, 14:02 for 5k and 29:21 for 10k. He qualified for Nationals in the 10k in 2010. 

71.       Andrew Lobb, West Chester East- 1:51.99 (29^th), XC Team 2005, Outdoor AAA 800m 2006

At the 2005 XC State Champs, the boys from West Chester East pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent state history. After a disappointing 3^rd place finish at Districts, West Chester East beat out Craig Miller’s Manheim Township squad by 1 point for the state title a week later. Lobb was the team’s 4^th man at states and finished 44^th overall (23^rd in team scoring) to help East grab the team gold. He had been 45^th the year before. But Lobb’s real value to the East squad was as an 800m runner. After running just 1:59 in 2005 as a sophomore, Lobb ran 1:55.17 to place second at Districts. His seed going into the meet was just 1:58.82. Lobb qualified for the finals at states and stuck his nose in the race. Over the final 100m, he put on a huge kick to slip by Andrew Rotz on the inside and hold off a late charge from Jared Weaver to win the state title in an incredible new PR of 1:51.99.

As a Senior, Lobb had another strong XC season for an 800m specialist. He ran 15:41 at Lehigh and also added a 38^th place finish at the state championships. East finished 4^th as a team. The following indoors, Lobb finished 5^th at states with a 1:54.97 indoor PR. He also ran a key leg on East’s 6^th place DMR team (10:41.68). Outdoors Lobb struggled with injuries as he tried to defend his title. He won the District One 800m title (beating future state medalists Matt Wilker, Steve Franks, and Chris Ferry) while also running a key leg on East’s 7:56 state qualifying 4x8. The next weekend at states, he got his squad to the finals of the 4x8 (7:52.22) but nagging injuries kept him out of the 800m individual final.

Lobb had an impressive career that included a signature individual championship, range from 15:41 down to 49.54 and a willingness to sacrifice for his team. His work earned him a spot at the University of Virginia.