Weekend Recap Part 1: Carlisle and Pre States

By Jarrett Felix

No time to waste on a crappy introduction. Let’s get to the action …

Foundation: White Race

Winchester Thurston won the “A” state championship last year. As you may have heard me mention, I was big on the bandwagon for this team to take another step forward. I was basically half way to handing them the state championship in August. And RWB didn’t shake my confidence one bit. But after this weekend, suddenly things look a bit more interesting.

I still think if WT hits the stretch run like they did in 2014, they will get four guys in the medals and all but assure themselves a second straight state title; however, this past weekend their margin of victory was just 36 points over Camp Hill and 47 over district rival Sewickley Academy. Camp Hill’s finish in the #2 spot was particularly impressive, because their top 4 (especially the top 3) held their own with WT’s Top 4 (which is the team’s greatest strength). In fact, the 36 point margin of victory was in part the 13 point difference between each’s team’s 5^th men, with WT getting the edge here thanks to a nice race from Gordon Pollock. I’ve thought that to beat WT you would have to beat them through that 5^th man slot, but Pollock was the 2^nd best 5^th man in the entire field (only Elk Lake’s 5 was better, but WT had 4 in front of their 5). WT also freshman at the 6-7 spots who could potentially see big growth at season’s end. Kian Delaney (possibly related to graduated WPIAL champ Landin Delaney) could be an X factor.

Sewickley’s no joke either. Mackey is the easy favorite for the “A” state title considering the success he has had at Hershey in the past and his clear XC ability. And Ben Clouse has quietly become a monster on the trails. He’s one of the breakout stars of the year and many people were probably not surprised to see these guys take 1-2 this weekend as a result. The pack is coming together pretty well as Hanlon and freshman Henry Meakem both cracked the top 50 in this meet, but the 3-4 spot will need to continue to improve to put this team on level with Camp Hill and Winchester Thurston.

Fun fact: Winchester Thurston and Sewickely both return basically everyone. Only Will Loevner (running in the 4 spot for his WT squad thus far this year) is set to graduate in June.

Cranberry had a fantastic day for 4^th over Elk Lake, led by top 10 team scoring finishes from Harrison Kennan and Sam Lander. That’s a big statement to make against Elk County Catholic and sets this squad up as the favorites out of District 9. Elk Lake looks to once again have a strong pack, but needs a breakthrough out front to really contend. Their #5 was best in the field, but their #1 didn’t crack the top 20. As the meets shrink a bit at the state meet (but the front running gets better) I’m curious to see what direction this team moves.

Individually, as mentioned, Mackey and Clouse ran to a 1-2 finish, setting up a discussion on whether or not they can repeat the feat at WPIALs/States. Mackey looks like a beast, running away from the field over the second half of the race. We could see a Griffin win the state title in “A” for a third straight year. Joe Previdi continues a strong start, finishing close on Clouse’s heels in 3^rd (3 seconds back). Then sophomore Tristan Forsythe made a huge statement, taking 4^th overall as Winchester Thurston’s #1. I thought Forsythe would be in for a big year after his freshman track campaign, but he didn’t shine among the loaded RWB field. Today, he went out hard with the leaders and held on valiantly on a very difficult course. Isaac Wilson, a very strong runner from District 9 put together a strong second half and nearly beat Forsythe, finishing 1 second behind in 5^th. Cooper Leslie got some revenge against William Greene from Delone Catholic as the Camp Hill boys had very impressive second halves of the race. They went out on the conservative side and then mowed people down through the hills. Over the second half of the race alone, I’d bet they won the team title, but of course that’s not how we score the meets.

For those District One fans, New Hope-Solebury asserts themselves as favorites in the D1 “A” race, beating Christopher Dock and Jenkintown behind a 18^th place finish from Chris Cammarata. They also got a big race from Jake Dupont in the JV Race. His time would have made him a scorer for New Hope and inched them closer to Elk Lake in the overall standings. Michael Gunden and Tim Kennel had big days for Christopher Dock, both cracking the Top 20 with Gunden just outside the top 10.

Foundation: Blue Race

York Suburban reminded everyone last week they were a great team. This weekend, against what may be the four other best teams in the state (possible more than four), they put down a dominate win. They are now clear favorites to repeat after taking down Dallas by 48 points and Grove City by 85. YS put four runners in before Grove City’s #1 and Dallas’s #2. Donovan Mears led the way with a 5^th place finish and youngsters Bryce Ohl (8^th) and Jarrett Raudensky (10^th) cracked the top 10 as just a sophomore and a freshman. Peter Wagner, who finished 14^th, finished the excellent top four. It is worth noting that York Suburban had nearly a full minute between their #4 and #5 (sophomore Josh Kerr) which could make them a bit vulnerable in the right race. However, Kerr was still the best #5 in the entire field. Much like Pollack in the “A” race, the pack ahead of him is just so strong that what is actually a strength seems like a point of vulnerability.

Remember Dallas is a very young team (top 6 included two frosh, three soph and a junior) and those young teams can struggle on this course. So every extra bit of experience will help this team as they try and shrink the gap before states. Meanwhile, Grove City (also had 0 seniors compete this weekend for the Varsity squad) also should benefit from the experience. But, as mentioned in the past, the loss of front running from last year likely went underrated in the preseason milesplit coach’s rankings. This team still has big potential going forward (Jonah Powell killed it as a frosh in this race) and they are a very well coached program. They had an off day at states last year with a couple falls, otherwise they may have been able to compete for state gold again. This team is far from finished.

Strong runs from Pottsgrove and Knoch. Pottsgrove wins on the tiebreaker, making up some ground in the 5-6 spot. Pottsgrove knows it will have it’s work cut out for them in the loaded D1 fight so a bit of positive momentum at Hershey is important. Knoch’s top three all placed in the top 20, but they will need to see a narrowed gap back to 4-5 to make the jump into the state’s elite tier. If they do, they should be in the discussion as a sleeper podium team. Very impressive race by Holy Redeemer as well, with four freshman in their top 6 runners.

Individually, AA remains the Dominic Hockenbury show. He was leading by 9 seconds at the halfway point, coming through in a blistering 7:50, before cruising in for yet another victory. Hockenbury hasn’t been challenged by AA competition in a very long time. That’s track and XC. If somebody can put a little bit of pressure on him, I’m interested to see how he reacts, but for now he’s extremely fit and ready to pursue another state gold.

Matt Kravitz, Hock’s district foe, took an impressive step forward in my eyes during this race. Kravitz looked very strong on this course, proving his ability to navigate the grass emphatically. He finished 14 seconds behind Hockenbury and ran essentially the same time for the second half of the race. Kravitz has great speed and could potentially put on an impressive close in a close race at states. I really like the upside I saw from him this weekend and think he’s ascending. Also have to give props to his teammate David Haines who was impressive in 6^th.When you add in the excellent run by Dallas super soph Jack Zardecki, District Two grabbed 3 of the top six spots overall.

Bryce Descavish continued a strong season with a 3^rd place finish in 16:49. He struggled a bit over the second half of the race after being gapped by Hockenbury, but he did a good job hanging on for third. Sean Sullivan of Bonner took 4^th and was likely closing well based on his 1:55 speed. Sullivan has had a very nice stretch of races on the Hills at Belmont and Hershey and seems like a serious medal contender in AA this year. However, his Bonner team had just three finishers this weekend and that makes the D12 team race a bit more interesting/up in the air. Fantastic run by Joe Malafronte who took home 8^th place overall for Danville.

For my District 11 fans, Allentown Central Catholic just barely held of North Schuylkill in a potential championship preview, edging them out by just 2 points. Chris McCormick of North Schuylkill led the way in 29^th but the pack of Gribb, Miller and Vaughn helped the ACC grab the edge. Also wroth noting, Notre Dame ES (a “A” squad last year) appeared to have run their varsity squad in the JV race with Mike Sheptuk taking 13^th in that race at 17:56.

Foundation: Gold Race

For those of you keeping score at home, North Allegheny made 3/3. The defending state champions in each classification won the invitational championship for each classification. Kinda cool. North Allegheny took control of the race behind an impressive top three, who all placed in the top 10 of the team standings. They added a 4^th runner under 17 minutes to essentially seal it. The front running was huge for the Tigers as the 2^nd and 3^rd place teams (LaSalle and Lebo) could not place any runners in the top 15 overall despite strong runs from Todd Gunzenhauser and Brendan Price, who both finished as their team’s #1 runners for the first time in an invitational this season. LaSalle ended up ultimately finishing a clear 2^nd place over Lebo, behind a 24 second spread, while the Hatton’s had a gap of 41 seconds from #4 to #5. LaSalle’s pack was even more impressive when you consider the team’s #2 runner from Briarwood, Evan Addison, ended up finishing as the team’s #7 (I believe this was his first time running the Hershey course, and it’s abilities are well documented). As I’ve probably drummed to death, LaSalle has a fantastic pack and that will be crucial in big meets, but they will need the front running to flip the script on the top teams. DT West and North Allegheny certainly have the front running. State College took 5^th in the team standings, led by a particularly impressive performance by Junior Nick Feffer who took 6^th overall in 16:33. He beat out fellow top 12 finisher Alex Milligan in the process as well as a few other past state medalists.

Of course the big story of the team standings is Owen J. Roberts. The District One sleeper team followed up a strong run at Centaur with a fantastic performance out at Hershey, beating out other top D1 programs CB East, Spring Ford and Pennsbury. Liam Conway gave the team a low stick with his 9^th place finish and then the pack filed in nicely behind. Really, they ended up grabbing 4^th because they had no weak links in the top five, everyone cracked the top 50 in the team standings. Their 6^th man, Conor Murray, ended up displacing State College’s #5 and that gave them the one point victory. Their run certainly makes my “clear cut top five” a bit more hazy. And of course Spring Ford shouldn’t be counted out.

I still see CB East as the best of the D1 teams in this group. As I mentioned in the preview, this is a long stretch of hard racing for this squad. On some hilly courses. With a  team made up of three freshman in the top five. They shouldn’t feel comfortable at all with their position in the district, but I still think they are in the drivers seat.

Speaking of being in the driver’s seat, how about Jake Brophy? A year ago, a 15:53 at Hershey for this meet would have blown my mind. But now that’s not even a meet record and it’s some 30 seconds away from the course record. But you know what? This was a really, really impressive run by Brophy. By all accounts, he looked smooth, powerful and in control. He ran faster than last year and he took care of business from the front of the pack, pushing the pace and beating out a very talented runner in Nick Wolk. The key takeaway for me: Brophy knows how to run this course. He’s confident here and he’s experienced here. He’s had his best race of the season here at States each of the last three years and he looks like he will be ready to defend his title.

Nick Wolk continues a strong season with a second place finish and a strong PR for the state course. In third place was Jeff Kirshenbaum of Methacton who continues a blazing hot start to the 2015 season with a 16:11 for 3^rd. While the fast early pace cost many top runners a top spot, Kirshenbaum was able to hold on quite well from a quick 7:48 opening half. Couple this with Viking and a strong win at Bull Dog and Jeff has showcased nice range and an ability to hang close to Brophy (relatively speaking I suppose). Awesome start to the year for him.

Migliozzi of North Allegheny proved once again, he’s for real, running 16:20 on the lay out. At States last year he ran 17:06. 16:20 would have been good enough for 21^st last year at States. He was joined by Stupak and Blechman in the top 10, both of whom took a bit more conservative of a start and really brought it home in the second half. For Blechman, this was an impressive race as he jumped from leading the 3-4-5 to joining a powerful top 3.

Rob Morro and Ryan James took 5-7 at this meet with Morro bouncing back emphatically from Belmont and beating out his training partner. As mentioned, Nick Feffer had a strong day, taking 6^th with teammate Milligan taking 12^th. I was very impressed with Rahi Shah of Bensalem who had an excellent race, finishing 14^th. Bensalem’s Mays finished in the Top 50 at states last year and Shah is a sleeper to do the same. John Conner from Spring Ford had a big breakthrough of his own, climbing to 15^th overall in this meet and leading a solid showing by the Power Rangers. Also have to give credit to the Phoenixville duo of Sean McGinnis (11^th) and Dylan Smiley (19^th) who have been really good thus far. They had a great day at Slippery Rock and now add an impressive finish on the difficult state course. McGinnis is coming off a killer track season where he ran 1:55 and made it to states and has a ton of momentum. I think Eric Kersten is still a sleeper to watch from Pennsbury. It seems he went out a bit over his head in his debut on the Hershey course, but he has the talent to make noise later on with a little extra experience. Especially on a course like Lehigh where he can utilize that speed. Liam Conway, finished 9^th, could be very dangerous at the D1 Championships this year. Remember, his first big race on the scene was 2014 Paul Short when he nearly cracked 16 minutes as a freshman.

Lastly, you have to give some credit to a few JV performances. The big one is TJ Robinson, who’s 17:18 won the race by 15 seconds for North Allegheny. In the preseason, I was very high on Robinson’s upside and potential considering his freshman campaign. Now as a sophomore, he seems to be rounding back into the shape that earned him a varsity spot on the state champions team. Freshman Owen Isham from State College had a fantastic Hershey Debut, taking 3^rd in the JV race in 17:36. That mark would have been a top five varsity time for the Little Lions and could have potentially swung them up the standings over Owen J. towards Mt Lebabnon. Sophomore Jack Becker from Cardinal O’Hara also had a strong performance, breaking the 18 minute mark for 14^th.

Carlisle: Champions Race

Sam Signor from East Pennsboro backed up my predictions, breaking the tape first in an impressive 16:24. Signor’s win was big because it allowed East Pennsboro, a possible state qualifier out of D3 AA, to make a move in the team standings. Tyler Brighton and Scott Mundis added top 20 finishes in the team standings and ultimately those finishes helped catapult the team to 3^rd overall and Top PA team (just 1 point ahead of  D3 rivals Palmyra and 35 ahead of Trinity). Milton Hershey took the 4^th spot in D3 AA but it appears they were missing at least one key contributor in Nate Frierson.

Austin Maxwell put together a strong race, taking home second overall while Jared Kearns of Northern rounded out the top 3 PA finishers. Solid runs also came from Sam Mancuso of Garden Spot and Daniel Wood of Biglerville. Wood is an interesting wildcard in the “A” D3 race. Kearns and Maxwell are both in tough districts, but are returning state qualifiers. It will be fun to see how high they can place within that competition this season.

Carlisle: Challenge Race

Downingtown West made their first full squad appearance of the individual season and did not disappoint. Jaxson and Josh Hoey were the top two PA finishers, with Jaxson taking first overall in 15:28 and Josh taking 4^th in 15:40. Nate Henderson (15:41), Henry Sappey (15:51) and Kyler Shea (15:59) rounded out the top five PA finishers and the PA sub 16s. The Hoey brothers both appear to be in excellent form, considering they both beat out Nate Henderson, a runner I was raving about last week. Jaxson looks like one of the top two in the state and he’s made it a debate between himself and Brophy (I’ll be picking my #1 on Tuesday), while Josh could potentially be a top five finisher at states this fall as well. Remember, Josh Hoey and Spencer Smucker (placed 12^th overall, 8^th PA) were two of the most talented freshmen the state has seen in recent years. As sophomores, those kind of talents usually are knocking on the door for the top five at states.

Henderson had a great performance and finished just two seconds away from 3^rd after a killer run at Big Spring. He’s still a real threat to place well at states and is right in the mix with the top tier of runners in the state. Sappey was a top 10 kind of talent at states in 2014 and has done nothing to indicate he can’t match that kind of effort again in 2015. If he finishes out the year as the team’s #3 runner, it’s hard to imagine DT West not placing three guys in the top 10 at states. That would be the first team to pull it off since Coatesville, the 2006 National Champions.

Fantastic run by Kyler Shea to also crack the 16 minute barrier. He looked a ton better in his second race of the season (and his first race looked pretty darn good). Interesting to see him and Lefever match up again. Will Kachman continues to show his talent with a solid run for 10^th overall and nearly cracking 16 minutes. This was his first big challenge individually and he delivered quite well in the competition. He was the top AA finisher. However, right on his heels was Gettysburg’s Dan Filler who has quietly put together a phenomenal year. He ran excellent at Big Spring and now really impressed with a 16:02 here at Carlisle.

Also impressing were Jake Ilgenfritz (16^th overall from Avon Grove), Zach Bitner (20^th overall from AA Boiling Springs) and Shaun Bullock of DT West (23^rd overall in 16:32). DT West placed 6 in the top 25 with another at 33^rd (Patrick Blair). They also added an impressive JV showing, led by Alansky’s sub 17.

Logically, that meant DT West was the run-away victors in this one with a killer top three and a very strong pack filling in quickly behind. They scored 52 points and beat the next closest PA team by 105 points.

That next closest PA team was West Chester Henderson. The old favorites were back among the leaders yet again, riding a strong finish from Spencer Smucker to a 4^th overall finish. They had four runners who cracked 17 minutes and a solid 65 second spread. I still think this team has room to grow (they had some strong JV performances, including a 17:19 from Jake Dunleavy), but as of now they still have work to do to compete with the top five or so teams in PA. I like the direction they are headed and I really want to see more (obviously they know how to peak). But for now I’m being patient.

The story of this meet may have been the District 3 battle ground. Lower Dauphin, who finished at the back of a tight knit pack at Big Spring, flipped the script this go round thanks in part to an excellent run by Peter Gingrich who ran 17:22 in the 4 spot. Their top three was also much more valuable in such a loaded meet. LD finished 5^th overall with 228 points, Cumberland Valley took 8^th with 283, and Chambersburg and Carlisle both had 289. Mechanicsburg finished in 14^th but they had a freshman who placed third overall in the freshman race, running 17:47. By my calculations, that’s worth about a 50+ point swing in their standings, putting them within striking distance of these other squads. If Nicewciz comes back to the line-up at some point (I believe he is a Senior this year?) they could have all the pieces of a sleeper state qualifier. Ephrata could be in that mix with the addition of one or two pieces.

It’s a loaded battle for the D3 qualifiers and we didn’t even see Hershey or Hempfield this weekend (likely the district’s best two squads). Remember Hempfield got beat down pretty handily by the D3 teams at Carlisle last year, but they quickly turned things around for Districts (which they won). There’s still a lot of time for things to change.

For now CV seems to have the best pack, but is lacking the front running to contend. Chambersburg has a nice mix, but isn’t wowing in either aspect. Lower Dauphin needs to sure up the 5 spot and Carlisle will need to straighten out their consistency. Your guess is as good as mine as of right now for who will make the trip to Hershey.

 

The rest of the week’s action will be updated later on …. Individual and Team Rankings to come soon and then we move into the Paul Short coverage extravaganza. Stay classy.