XC Top 50 Rankings: Week Three

by Jarrett Felix

Here's the latest edition of the list!

PS if you are doing the fantasy league please click here for an important message

1 Jake Brophy, Senior CB East (1 AAA)

2 Jaxson Hoey, Senior DT West (1 AAA)

3 Dominic Hockenbury, Senior Lake Lehman (2 AA)

4 Nathan Henderson, Junior JP McCaskey (3 AAA)

5 Nick Dahl, Junior GFS (Indepedent)

6 Zach Seiger, Senior Red Land (3 AAA)

7 Nick Wolk, Senior Peters Township (7 AAA)

8 Henry Sappey, Senior DT West (1 AAA)

9 Domenic Peretta, Senior Beaver Falls (7 A)

10 Griffin Mackey, Junior Sewickley Academy (7 A)

11 Josh Hoey, Sophomore DT West (1 AAA)

12 Zach Skolnekovich, Junior Quaker Valley (7 AA)

13 Will Kachman, Senior Bedford (5 AA)

14 Kevin Lapsansky, Senior Easton (11 AAA)

15 Alex Milligan, Senior State College (6 AAA)

16 Mike Kolor, Senior Seneca Valley (7 AAA)

17 Ryan James, Junior O'Hara (12 AAA)

18 Kent Hall, Senior Unionville (1 AAA)

19 Rock Fortna, Senior CB West (1 AAA)

20 Spencer Smucker, Sophomore WC Henderson (1 AAA)

21 Zach Lefever, Junior Ephrata (3 AAA)

22 Matt Kravitz, Senior North Pocono (2 AA)

23 Jeff Kirshenbaum, Senior Methacton (1 AAA)

24 Marc Migliozzi, Senior North Allegheny (7 AAA)

25 Rob Morro, Senior O'Hara (12 AAA)

26 Eric Kennedy, Junior Kiski Area (7 AAA)

27 Jacob Stupak, Senior North Allegheny (7 AAA)

28 Dan Filler, Senior Gettysburg (3 AA)

29 Bryce Descavisch, Senior Central Cambria (6 AA)

30 Connor McMenamin, Junior Souderton (1 AAA)

31 Lukas Marcelis, Senior Wissahickon (1 AAA)

32 Brian Mass, Junior CB West (1 AAA)

33 Tucker Desko, Senior Pennridge (1 AAA)

34 Ben Clouse, Junior Sewickley Academy (7 A)

35 Casey Conboy, Junior Baldwin (7 AAA)

36 Seth Slavin, Junior Pleasant Valley (11 AAA)

37 Kyler Shea, Junior Lower Dauphin (3 AAA)

38 Patrick Grant, Senior LaSalle (12 AAA)

39 Jack DiCintio, Senior Wyomissing (3 AA)

40 Jacob Toczko, Senior Tunkhannock (2 AA)

41 Joe Previdi, Senior Masterman (12 A)

42 Liam Galligan, Junior Springfield DELCO (1 AAA)

43 Shaun Hay, Junior Winchester Thurston (7 A)

44 Quincy Amabile, Senior Mifflinburg (4 AA)

45 Grayson Hepp, Senior GFS (Indepedent)

46 Joseph Westrick, Senior Chartier's Valley (7 AAA)

47 Ryan Barton, Junior DT West (1 AAA)

48 Brian Delaney, Senior Manheim Township (3 AAA)

49 Joe Maguire, Senior CR South (1 AAA)

50 Nate Becker, Senior Ephrata (3 AAA)

Honorable Mention: Matt Wisner, Nick Feffer, Sam Signor, Justin Yurchak, Donovan Mears, Patrick Donahue, Ben Bickerton, Gabriel Allgayer, Logan Caruso, Matt D'Aquila

Here's some quick thoughts on the list ...

1. I am starting to realize why I expanded this list to 101 last year. There are a ton of strong names that don't even fit on the honorable mention section and the group in the 30-60 range is all so tightly packed it basically comes down to a who raced and who didn't type scenario in a typical weekend. But take a look at some of those honorable mention names, especially the AA kids, because those are serious medal contenders in that division. Patrick Donahue stands out as a guy who was particularly impressive (to me anyway) this weekend.

2. I said it in a comment, but I'll repeat it for emphasis here: Nate Henderson's performance at Big Spring is the season's most impressive run. I'm not saying Nate is the best (he's slotted at #4 and you can make a great case for Dahl and Wolk to overtake him), but that Big Spring time is very impressive. Although Brophy and Hock are running fast and dominating stacked fields, they haven't felt the desire to throw down the same quality of time that Henderson uncorked for us this weekend (maybe it's a Senior-Junior thing). Before this weekend I had Brophy, Hoey, Hock and Dahl as a clear top 4 in some order than the second tier. Now that's been shifted.

3. I'm still trying to figure out the WPIAL. You could probably tell by my drastic changes in the rankings last week and there are a few more jumps this week, mainly led by Wolk and Ben Clouse. Nick Wolk is off to a phenomenal start and has some nice scalps to his name. Susalla is MIA for now opening the door for Wolk to be the favorite for the WPIAL title. I wish we could have seen Wolk take on Skolnekovich and Mackey head to head because I feel those are maybe his best challengers (they are at least more seasoned XC runners than Peretta). Miggs has surprised me as his squad's #1 over Stupak and, despite Mackey's fast runs out of state, Clouse is the real breakout performer in 2015. Winchester Thurston looks killer and has a flurry of revolving pieces in their top 4 as well. And I can't help but feel this may just be the beginning.

4. Teams with two or more runners in the top 50: DT West, CB West, North Allegheny, GFS, Sewickely Academy, O'Hara, and Ephrata. I just found that interesting.

5. Zach Lefever and Kent Hall are team captains of the "Bet you didn't see that one coming" squad so far. Honorable mention to Migliozzi, Clouse and Westrick. Only Hall would have remotely been in consideration for my preseason top 75-100 and now all these guys are in the Top 50 after Week 3. 

6. Small shout to Kirshenbaum and Marcelis. Just felt like they needed a shout.

7. I've seen a couple dudes named Jarrett unleashing some solid performances on the XC courses. They aren't on my Top 50 and maybe never will be, but just know Jarretts (and maybe Jareds who are a bit closer and also killing it) that if it's close, I will be tempted to violate my journalistic integrity and jump you to the list.