Week 2 Recaps

by Jarrett Felix

I will continue to update throughout the night and tomorrow. It's been a busy weekend traveling down to PA for a half marathon race (you may have seen it on Odds Makers). So I haven't had the time to sit down and type so much as sit down and ... well ... do nothing besides try and stay awake. So here's what I've got so far and stay tuned for more.

Teams and Individual Rankings to come later this week.

Spiked Shoe
In a surprise (to me at least) defending district 3 champs Hempfield toed the line at Spiked Shoe, battling with District 6 champs, State College. Hempfield had a solid pack, but State College matched them almost man for man, including better front running from Milligan and Nick Feffer. The clincher was a huge run from Owen Wing, who finished 12th overall to cement the victory. Coming into the season, I thought Milligan and Feffer could be top 35 guys at states, but I wasn't sure what type of pack SC would file in behind them. Thus far, Wing and Degleris have really impressed (Degleris has done a great job transitioning from a breakout track season to XC) and Balogh nicely rounds out the top five.

Hempfield didn't really hit their stride until leagues and districts last year, so I won't be incredibly surprised if they make some big improvements over the final few weeks. Justin Yurchak looks like he is in great shape and hopefully the pack (especially Norton and White) can return to their district form of the past. Groff looks like he will be taking a nice step forward as well this year as a sophomore.

Individually, Eric Kennedy came out the gates strong, with only Milligan beating him from PA. Kennedy was excellent at WPIALs last year in XC after a quiet (possibly injury ridden?) XC season in the early going. Eric also had a strong track season and now he's off to a faster start than ever before this year, making the sophomore to junior jump. This could be a big season. Jacob Toczko also did indeed follow in former teammate Tidball's shoes, coming out with a huge run for 4th overall. He's a strong contender in AA. Smiley and McGinnis from Phoenixville (are they AA or AAA in XC?) both also ran strong races. I didn't see that coming from Smiley for sure. District One AA (if these guys are in that mix too) is absolutely, absurdly loaded. One team and just five individuals is not nearly enough.

PTXC
White Clay Creek
In one of many split meets (split specifically by grade in this case), the White Creek race in Delaware featured performances from North Penn, Kennett and Governor Mifflin. North Penn had some solid showings from their freshman, taking 2-3 in that race. They also added three more sophomores in the top 10 to further prove their young crop of talent. In the Junior race, Austin Maxwell of Kennett barely edged out Josiah Mansell from Governor Mifflin in a battle of a couple up and coming talents. Brandon Hontz from Rustin rounded out that top three overall and Zach Thomas from North Penn helped represent PA by adding a top five finish of his own. But in the end Rustin's Jack Carmody ended up the fastest PA runner of the day, dropping a 16:42 to finish third in the 12th grade race.

Red White and Blue Invitational
Lackawanna County
Two words: Matt Kravitz. The man ran a blazing 15:44, even faster than a year ago, and he once again won by a large margin. Kravitz was fantastic during track and showed flashes of brilliance in the past during XC (especially noteworthy is 2014 Paul Short). This was a very strong race, but I'll be keeping an eye on how he handles the hills and other top dogs in "AA". I think it's hard to deny he is a serious top five threat in 2015 and maybe an ideal foil for defending champion Hockenbury.

Big Red
Connor Walsh grabbed victory after a runner up finish at McDowell, behind only Isaac Wilson. He looks like he is in great shape thus far and has the potential to really surprise as a breakout star. In the team title competition, Cranberry took an impressive win. They look like they can build off their strong team showing last year.

Bull Dog
Bishop Shanahan grabbed the top spot in each of their three races at this meet, emerging as potent challengers to Pottsgrove and Holy Ghost Prep in the loaded District 1 AA race. They had a 34 second spread in the race, led by Chris Kolimago (4th in the small race). They also had a sub 17 run from freshman Jack Ettien (he finished 6th). Joe Previdi won the small race in 16:02 over Liam Galligan (16:04) keeping the title in Masterman's gym. Strong race by Ian Reid from Strath Haven who took down 3rd.

In the Large School race, the top two times were far and away the fastest in the field with Jeff Kirshenbaum running 15:45 to beat out Lukas Marcelis, who ran 15:57. It was a rematch of the two breakout stars from the Viking Invitational and neither man disappointed. Kirshenbaum continues to look like a man on a mission this year and Marcelis, who was in the top 20 or so at districts last year, looks like he has taken another significant leap forward. Kirshenbaum ended up with double gold, thanks to a Methacton team win, largely due to strong runs from Nck DeFilippis and Josh Brycki.

Centaur
Liam Conway pulled out the victory in his first major race as a sophomore, taking the win over Parkland's Hailemichael Geiger. Those two also led the 1st and 2nd place overall teams, but in this one Geiger's Parkland squad was able to take gold while Conway's Owen J Roberts team left with the silver. This was a great win for Conway, but I was much more surprised with Owen J Roberts who gave Parkland (a team in the Coach's Poll Top 10) a serious run for their money. Abe Van Helmond, who finished 8th in the race, was a big part of that and so too was Sean Barone (12th). However a strong run by Dan Kyvelos (4th) helped keep Owen J at bay.

HG Prep took third at the meet with a pair of top 7 finishers in Callahan Lennon and Patrick Donahue. William Tennent was 4th as a team thanks to their killer top three. They looked great at Viking and now, with Sean Rahill impressively taking 3rd overall, just two seconds back from Geiger.

Hurricane
Dylan Bucior from Jim Thorpe had an impressive victory, running 17:01 to take a 49 second gold. Bucior is hoping to follow Condloy as a AA state medalist. However, Jim Thorpe was not able to defend their title as Tulpehocken ended up taking the victory, utilizing a 3-4 finish by Jacob Cox and Mason Klopp. They may be a "A" team (I'd have to check), in which case they are an interesting team to consider as a state contender (and if they are in D3 and "A" that's interesting to consider against the up and coming Camp Hill squad).

Abington Invite
In my preview, I probably should have taken the time to double check if Jake Good was a Junior last year (turns out he was). He edged out James Abrahms and Jake Ilgenfritz in a tight battle for the top three spots on his home course and after a great track season in the mid-distances, Good looks like a potential state qualifier out of District One this year (something that, amazingly, Abington hasn't really had in the past). Abrahams and Ilgenfritz are also in that individual qualifying mix, Abrahams is particularly interesting given the fact that he is just a junior and showed strong speed at 800m.

Meanwhile, West Chester East grabbed a dominate team title behind Robert Moser (off to a very ncie start, finished 5th in this meet). The Chesmont is loaded with talent this year so that will make things tricky for East to make a dent, even within their league, but you have to be impressed by the strong start they have had thus far.

Cherokee Challenge
Forest Hills Invitational
Mansfield Invitational
Quad XC
With their home meet cancelled, CB East was forced to find another meet to attend and settled on the Quad XC Invite. Here, their depth was on full display, even in the JV race where they took five of the top six spots overall behind Dylan McKeever's strong 11:35. They then added the first and fourth place overall relays, therefore winning the team title. It looks like Brophy may have split a 10:17 for his two mile leg, which has to be one of the fastest I've ever seen at this course. But again, not a huge surprise, seeing as we know Brophy is one of the best ever on hills. The key is, the team looks like it's making nice strides since Viking and their depth seems strong to say the least. I really like this squad long term and I think, after a strong start last year, they are more prepared to peak at the right time this go round.

Spring Ford looks solid and balanced. Smith seems like a strong front man and the team had its fair share of impressive moments last year as a young squad. With an extra year of maturity and a nice set of talent (I think their A team was winning this race before Brophy got the whatever they use as a baton at this meet), they could potentially be party crashers at districts. Although that district is very crowded at the top as things stand.

Nice run by Pennsbury. Looks like Kersten will be on the squad this spring and (if he led off this relay like he led of the 4x8) it looks like he may have had a phenomenal lead off leg and handed off at the front. They also have Wick and Bortman back, a pair of solid XC guys. After a string of top 8 finishes at districts, hard to imagine this team fading away.

Wyalusing Invitational
Northeast Bradford had a huge performance this weekend at Wyalusing, taking control from the get go with 1-3-5-6-10, led by Levi Upham and Garret Smith, a pair of medal contenders in "A" division. Winchester Thurston and Sewickley Academy both looked strong at RWB so Northeast Bradford will have to continue to remain in the state title conversation, but this was certainly a strong showing and encouraging step.

Somers Big Red**
West Seneca Invitational**
Windsor Invitational**