XC Top 50 Rankings: Week 4

By Jarrett Felix

Editors note: I have not seen full results from some meets yet, so I chose not to factor those into the rankings and will save them for next week once I can properly review. Sorry for any problems this will cause.

1. Jake Brophy, CB East Senior

2. Jaxson Hoey, DT West Senior

3. Dominic Hockenbury, Lake Lehman Senior

4. Nick Dahl, GFS Junior

5. Nathan Henderson, JP McCaskey Junior

6. Josh Hoey, DT West Sophomore

7. Nick Wolk, Peters Township Senior

8. Griffin Mackey, Sewickley Academy Junior

9. Zach Skolnekovich, Quaker Valley Junior

10. Henry Sappey, DT West Senior

11. Zach Seiger, Red Land Senior

12. Jeff Kirshenbaum, Methacton Senior

13. Domenic Peretta, Beaver Falls Senior

14. Matt Kravitz, North Pocono Senior

15. Kevin Lapsansky, Easton Senior

16. Will Kachman, Bedford Senior

17. Marc Migliozzi, North Allegheny Senior

18. Alex Milligan, State College Senior

19. Zach Lefever, Ephrata Junior

20. Kent Hall, Unionville Senior

21. Kyler Shea, Lower Dauphin Junior

22. Rob Morro, O'Hara Senior

23. Spencer Smucker, Henderson Sophomore

24. Ryan James, O'Hara Junior

25. Rock Fortna, CB West Senior

26. Jacob Stupak, North Allegheny Senior

27. Dan Filler, Gettysburg Senior

28. Connor McMenamin, Souderton Junior

29. Eric Kennedy, Kiski Area Junior

30. Ben Clouse, Sewickley Academy Junior

31. Bryce Descavisch, Central Cambria Senior

32. Mike Kolor, Seneca Valley Senior

33. Brian Mass, CB West Junior

34. Lukas Marcelis, Wissahickon Senior

35. Nick Feffer, State College Junior

36. Casey Conboy, Baldwin Junior

37. Joe Previdi, Masterman Senior

38. Sam Signor, East Pennsboro Senior

39. Joe Maguire, CR South Senior

40. Liam Conway, Owen J Roberts Sophomore

41. Tucker Desko, Pennridge Senior

42. Jacob Toczko, Tunkhannock Senior

43. Seth Slavin, Pleasant Valley Junior

44. Ryan Barton, DT West Junior

45. Sam Blechman, North Allegheny Senior

46. Liam Galligan, Springfield DELCO Junior

47. Jack DiCintio, Wyomissing Senior 

48. Sean McGinnis, Phoenixville Senior

49. Morgan Cupp, Mechanicsburg Sophomore

50. Jake Ilgenfritz, Avon Grove

Honorable Mention: Grayson Hepp, Donovan Mears, Joe Westrick, Nate Becker, Mark Provenzo, Andrew Maxwell, Matt Scarpill, Sean Sullivan, Tristan Forsythe, Quincy Amabile

As usual, my thoughts ...

1. Brophy v Hoey is setting up to be an intense battle at districts/states and odds are they probably end up splitting those meets in some way because of how evenly matched they appear. People are going to point out Hoey's speed advantage over Brophy and I suppose if this was a track race that would have some validity, however it's not like Brophy is slow. He's split around 1:54 and run 8:57 with an absurd last lap. Plus he ran sub 15:10 at Lehigh twice last year. I'd bet these two push each other to sub 15 at districts (weather permitting of course). I still give the edge at states to Brophy just because of experience, but I think this could be one of the most entertaining state finals in history if health is on our side.

2. I was very impressed with Matt Kravitz this past weekend from Mount Pocono and his ranking reflects that I'd imagine. Jeff Kirshenbaum was the other big mover. Both guys really impressed me with their performances at Hershey and if they can just duplicate those times at Hershey they will have impressive career best type finishes at states. If they can drop time? They can do something special.

3. DT West officially has 4 to NA's 3 on this list. The gap between the squads is shrinking, but West is better out front and, in my opinion, deeper. That being said Migliozzi has been legit so far. Pretty sure he ran faster than Wharrey did at Pre States last year. He could potentially be a top 10 piece for AAA states which would be huge (considering as of now DTW is projected to have 3).

4. I've been saying it for years, the Hershey course is very hard, but it also takes a lot out of you. The D3 kids can attest to this from their years of running Hershey back to back. That's why I worry a bit about the guys going back to back with Hershey and Paul Short this weekend. There may be some natural fatigue, even on a fast, flat course like Lehigh. Keep an eye out for that.

5. A few notes, I haven't seen the full AJ Everhart results so I didn't include them in my rankings. They will be factored in next week as a result. But look for Ben Bumgarner to be one of the big movers as a result. If anyone has a link to the meet results, feel free to let me know. Also, it's worth reiterating that, as others have mentioned, Zach Seiger suffered (at least one) fall at Carlisle and it cost him some spots in the results. Seiger has been Mr. Consistency over the past few seasons so this is a bummer, but I'd bet he comes back with a vengeance next time out. I'm excited to see Seiger v Henderson at Districts.