Weekend #3 Recap: Part Two

by Jarrett Felix
Let's do some more recaps ....

P.S. There is some solid discussion going on right now on the first recap post, so be sure to check that out. I don't mean to cut it off by making this second post, I just want to get these recaps in as well since these were big meets and the first post is already pretty long.

Moving right along ...

Big Spring
AAA
Districts will be at Big Spring this year and we got a nice preview of those three races this weekend on the course. In AAA, Nathan Henderson made an emphatic statement about who is the favorite for district gold. Zach Seiger is a beast in XC, but Henderson just uncorked an impressive 15:50 this weekend. To give you an idea, Seiger ran 16:02 to win Mid-Penns last year over Dan Green and Zach Brehm. And that was a month later in the season. Seiger's 16:02 wasn't exactly soft either, by my check it was a course record. Henderson looks really strong in his debut and, without the back to back weekends at Hershey, he may be in store for the best finish by a District 3 runner at states since Chuck Lockwood in 2010 cracked the top five.

In second was one of the year's most surprising breakout stars in Zach Lefever. The Ephrata Junior had an impressive showing at PTXC and follows it up with an impressive 16:08 for second. Lefever was joined by teammate's Nate Becker (4th) and Rhett Hart (11th) in the top 12, but didn't have the 4-5 to mix it up with the leaders in the team standings. Those team standings were led by Hempfield, who were led once again by Justin Yurchak in 6th, and they added 16th, 18th, 28th and 31st to seal it, giving themselves the best pack in the meet. Hempfield has some nice depth and looks pretty sharp in the early season, a luxury they did not have last fall. They are the clear front-runners in District 3, especially considering the team most thought would beat them (Cumberland Valley) has gotten out the gates slowly.

The team battle for 2nd behind Hempfield was impressive to say looked to be a thrilling one. Teams 2-5 finished within 17 points of one another (with 6th being the aforementioned Ephrata squad). Cedar Crest ended up coming out of the pile first, winning behind a strong run by Jesse Cruise in first and 56 second spread behind him. Separated by one point for third were Chambersburg and Lower Dauphin. Chambersburg used a tight pack place wise to pick up the spots against Lower Dauphin who will have an imposing top three for the third straight season. Kyler Shea will be the #1 man (he finished 3rd) and then Jared Giannascol (8th) and Colton Cassell (13th) rounded out the trio. All three are underclassmen with Giannascol just a sophomore. Giannascol's emergence is a surprise to say the least and he has some serious upside to go along with Shea, a top fifty finisher at states last year, and Cassell, a top 10 or so guy at districts in 2014. If they can rally the troops at 4-5 this team could find itself in the state race.

However, they (and all these times) have some work to do still to catch Carlisle, Cumberland Valley and the PTXC Invitational Champions Hershey.

AA
The AA times were pretty quick as well as Dan Filler of Gettysburg led the charge with a 16:14 for the gold. Quincy Amabile from District 4 Mifflinburg was 2nd with Sam Signor and Donovan Mears rounded out the top four who were all under 16:30. Filler has looked very strong thus far this season and, as the top returner from the D3 Championships, seems like a serious contender for a district title in AA (and maybe a top five finish at the state championships). His main competitor, Jack DiCintio, did not race at this meet with the rest of Wyomissing (or at least isn't in the results). That shows just how vulnerable Wyomissing's state spot may be currently in the district. Without DiCintio, the team finished 11th in the standings (and even if you add him in the team would still be some 50 points back of Milton Hershey, East Pennsboro and Boiling Springs).

York Suburban, the defending AA state champions, put forth a dominant debut at Big Spring, foreshadowing a likely repeat district title in 2014 and possibly a repeat state title. Remember, this team was fantastic a year ago. They were the top PA team at Carlisle over some really good squads and would have been a fun variable at the Meet of Champions. Even after losing team leader Brady Wilt, YS looks killer again. Donovan Mears was impressive in 4th and then a pack of three finished 8th, 9th and 10th including sophomore Bryce Ohl and newcomer Jarrett Raudensk (as well as Pete Wagner who led them in 8th). Josh Kerr rounded out the team in 24th overall. He was, admittedly, 40 seconds pack of his teammate's top 10 pack so that could leave this team vulnerable, but only against the best teams in the state. This team should be the favorites for the AA Championship in 2015.

A
In A, Camp Hill put to rest any doubts I had about their ability to take the reigns in the district meet as they dominated against Tulpehocken and Delone Catholic, scoring just 29 points without arguably their best runner in Blake Beheny. Cooper Leslie had a very encouraging return finishing second overall and Ian Gabig took third. Excellent run by William Greene of Delone Catholic for the victory in this one over the Camp Hill boys. His victory helped Delone flip the script on Tulephocken in the battle for 2nd.

Slippery Rock
While Griffin Mackey was in North Carolina running a blazing 15:39 5k (on what I believe is a pretty fast course), teammate Ben Clouse was leading Sewickley Academy at Slippery Rock. Clouse was solid in 2014, but he has taken a big step forward in 2015, finished well at RWB and now following that top three finish with a 2nd place at Slippery Rock behind only Nick Wolk. Clouse's Sewickley squad struggled a bit without Mackey in the "A" team standings, but with Mackey running alongside his teammate they would have bolted up the standings ahead of Avonworth, their WPIAL rivals, who won the competition in a very solid return to action. Avonworth may not have the firepower of a Clouse or Mackey, but they have a strong team once again in 2015 and will look to avenge their bitter defeat at WPIALs last year where they shockingly missed the state championships all together.

Northgate finished 2nd in the team standings while Our Lady of Sacred Heart took 3rd. Northgate was aided by Tyler Wisniewski's 16th place finish (3rd A). Props to Cambridge Springs and breakout star Connor Walsh (enjoyed another top 10 finish at this meet against excellent competition) who finished 4th in the team standings. They are in District 10 A (an absolutely loaded district with teams like Seneca, Saegertown and Mercyhurst Prep) so making it to states is a tough ask, but this was a fantastic first step towards a possible upset.

In the AA team standings, Knoch pulled out the victory of Beaver, one of the top teams from Red White and Blue. Knoch was my preseason pick to win the WPIAL, but Beaver gave them a solid run. Both teams had solid top threes, but Knoch really put the race away with a solid fourth man showing from Aidan Neigh (18th in AA scoring). Knoch's top three is really strong as well with Freyermuth killing it in his debut, taking 17th overall in the combined divisions.

Ben Bickerton was the top AA runner overall, finishing a very strong 5th overall in the race. He asserted himself as an early contender for the AA individual title behind Skolnekovich (who is admittedly a heavy favorite at this point). Right behind him was Brookville's Ryan Thrush. The District 9 stand out finished 6th overall, a pretty big breakthrough on the trails. His best work has arguably come on the track to date, but he's a real talent with huge upside for 2015. Also impressing from District 9 was Peter Foradora from Dubois who finished 8th overall in a surprise performance.

Ticking off a few more AA notes, Mars and South Fayette were teams 4 and 5 in this meet (Harbor Creek was third behind their two stud freshmen and still missing Babo). Both those teams will likely be in on the tight AA battle in the WPIAL and neither was firing on all cylinders at this meet. Pfiel was missing for South Fayette which could have catapulted them right up along side Beaver in the results.

As mentioned earlier, Nick Wolk was the individual champion for the second straight invitational, once again bettering a group of top WPIAL athletes. Wolk won by 10+ seconds against 2nd placer Clouse and a little bit more than that against the runner up in AAA, Casey Conboy. Conboy continues an excellent season for Baldwin with his third place finish and seems like he handles the hills/grind of XC very well (good sign for states). As for Wolk he has now one on a notoriously fast course (that was altered slightly) and a difficult one, both times with comfortable margins for victory. It's a killer start and, with no obvious challenger emerging, he's in a great position to shine this season.

Mount Lebanon had few problems handling this field, rocking a strong pack behind Ian Harris once again with T Gunz taking over the #2 spot this week. That top four is quite strong and nicely packed, even with a small gap to Kalapos at 4 (who I probably jinxed by naming him Team MVP in last week's column). Like many top teams, they are still shrinking the spread (the gap from 4 to 5 was 30 seconds) but all their scorers were 50 for the race across all divisions so clearly they are still loaded. Seneca Valley impressed by holding off some other AAA rivals despite the fact that Kolor did not race. However, Chartiers Valley looked very impressive in their big invitational debut. They return their top four from last year and six of their top seven. Plus Josh Westrick put up a killer front running performance, giving them a low stick in 4th overall, just over 5 seconds back from Conboy. Micah Colson also added a top 15 finish in a very impressive #2 run.

Also worth noting, Cathedral Prep and McDowell provided a preview of what should be an exciting District 10 AAA Championships with Prep edging out McDowell in the standings. Ryan Zimmerman finished 22nd for McDowell, but Cathedral Prep got a great run from Kevin Haight in 26th.