Week One: XC Top 50

by etrain11

1. Jaxson Hoey, Downingtown West (1 AAA)
2. Jake Brophy, CB East (1 AAA)
3. Dominic Hockenbury, Lake Lehman (2 AA)

4. Nick Dahl, Germantown Friend's School (Independent)

5. Nate Henderson, JP McCaskey (3 AAA)

6. Domenic Peretta, Beaver Falls (7 A)

7. Mike Kolor, Seneca Valley (7 AAA)

8. Zach Seiger, Red Land (3 AAA)

9. Griffin Mackey, Sewickley Academy (7 A)

10. Josh Hoey, Downingtown West (1 AAA)

11. Henry Sappey, Downingtown West (1 AAA)

12. Spencer Smucker, West Chester Henderson (1 AAA)

13. Will Kachman, Bedford (5 AA)

14. Ryan James, O'Hara (12 AAA)

15. Rob Morro, O'Hara (12 AAA)

16. Alex Milligan, State College (6 AAA)

17. Jack DiCintio, Wyomissing (3 AA)

18. Jacob Stupak, North Allegheny (7 AAA)

19. Will Loevner, Winchester Thurston (7 A)

20. Kevin Lapsansky, Easton (11 AAA)

21. Connor McMenamin, Souderton (1 AAA)

22. Rock Fortna, CB West (1 AAA)

23. Matt Kravitz, North Pocono (2 AA)

24. Bryce Descavisch, Central Cambria (6 AA)

25. Jake Susalla, Plum (7 AAA)

26. Ryan Barton, Downingtown West (1 AAA)

27. Matt Wisner, Carlisle (3 AAA)

28. Jeff Kirshenbaum, Methacton (1 AAA)

29. Brian Delaney, Manheim Township (3 AAA)

30. Cody DiVecchio, Burgettstown (7 A)

31. Kyler Shea, Lower Dauphin (3 AAA)

32. Josh Higgins, Cumberland Valley (3 AAA)

33. Nick Wolk, Peters Township (7 AAA)

34. Lukas Marcelis, Wissahickon (1 AAA)

35. Joe Maguire, CR South (1 AAA)

36. Dan Filler, Gettysburg (3 AA)

37. Colin Wills, Malvern Prep (Independent)

38. Brian Mass, CB West (1 AAA)

39. Todd Gunzenhauser, Mount Lebanon (7 AAA)

40. Casey Conboy, Baldwin (7 AAA)

41. Will Alpaugh, Freedom (11 AAA)

42. Eric Kennedy, Kiski (7 AAA)

43. Patrick Grant, LaSalle (12 AAA)

44. Nick Feffer, State College (6 AAA)

45. Zach Skolnekovich, Quaker Valley (7 AA)

46. Kent Hall, Unionville (1 AAA)

47. Tucker Desko, Pennridge (1 AAA)

48. Isaac Wilson, North Clarion (9 A)

49. Matt Murray, Dunmore (2 A)

50. Sam Signor, East Pennsboro (3 AA)

Honorable Mention (no particular order): Ian Harris, Joe Piscano, Michael DelVecchio, Ben Berkman, Josh Goetz, Grayson Hepp, PJ Murray, Jack Carmody, Isaac Kole

5 Quick Thoughts

1- To move up the list, you have to race

There are a few new guys on the list this week who made the jump on because they raced hard and performed well. I try to reward the week's competitors over the guys who were inactive in cases where it's close. This is especially true during this opening week where I still have very little idea just how sharp everyone is and who is ready to make a big jump. At this stage in the game, any data point is a good data point.

2- How much stock do we put in one race? 

It's hard to make any dramatic changes to the list after just one week of racing (where many top athletes did not compete). I'd imagine next weekend will be a bigger one for movers and shakers because there should be some more big meets to analyze and a lot more head to head events (which is the real money maker when it comes to the list)

3- How much stock do we put in a 4xMile Relay?

We can't put too much in the Oakbourne relay results (I think it's a really fun meet, but it's far from a true simulation of a 5k race), but I still used the meet to feel out some of the names at the top. After all, it did feature many of the state's best teams, especially here on the eastern side.

I thought Dahl's performance was really impressive. The more I look at it the more impressed I am. My gut says he could be the next big thing in PA XC and maybe the #1 guy on the list at the end of the year. That's all just gut feeling, however, so he stays in the #4 spot. I also thought Sappey did a great job, seemed like a very in control performance. I forgot just how good at XC he was last year, but this was a nice reminder. Berkman looked good and he has the potential to rise in the Henderson system and Kent Hall's 9:52 total time was pretty awesome as well. Considering the strength of this group, if his time was the #2 total, that should say something big about his fitness.

4- What to do at #1?

Jaxson not racing this weekend and Brophy looking fantastic as always would, in theory, switch the two in the rankings. However, I'm not sure that the top spot on the list should swing simply because of a non-race at the beginning of September. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see both men race hard this coming weekend and Brophy would have a strong shot to take the #1 spot for his own with another statement run.

5- What is happening outside of my view?

I'm positive there have been some great dual meet performances or other meet results I'm completely overlooking thus far. Who should we be looking out for as sleepers? Who is ready to take a quantum leap in the coming weeks?

As always, I need to hear your thoughts ....