Sunday Long Run: The Weekend Recap

by Jarrett Felix

After spending the period after the longest run of my life laying on my couch in the fetal position I may finally be ready to attack this weekend recap. Plus the Mid Penn results are up so I like that.

Midwestern Athletic Conference
What an exciting team battle! Three very dangerous teams in the AA WPIAL qualifying picture dueled it out with Mars Area beating Quaker Valley and my personal pick to win Beaver Area. They took 10-11-12-15-20 to eek out the win over QV who had two top 10 finishers including 2nd place overall finisher Zach Skolnekovich. Beaver had THREE guys in the top 10 but Mars was able to catch them as well thanks to the strength of their 4-5. The Pittner's for Beaver ran the same time at Pitts CC, but at this meet they were 20 places apart (Jake was 9th, Luke was 29th). If that changes in a couple weeks, than Beaver Area could potentially jump these squads at the district meet. But it's also worth noting that Mars #1 man last year, Nathan Mrdjenovich, was a top 10 guy in the WPIAL last fall and was their #3 today hanging right next to a stud frosh John Zervos and on the rise sophomore Caleb Keys. If Mars pack can rise up the individual standings (and it tentatively appears they have the potential to do so) they become an even better team. Should be fun to see how things shake out at districts.

Individually, this was an eagerly awaited showdown between XC stand out Zach Skolnekovich and new Penn State commit Domenic Peretta. Skol got the better of Peretta here a year ago, but this time Dom turned the tables on him and earned a 4 second victory. That's a big win for Peretta over a proven stud who won the small school section at RWB. Peretta seems really focused on XC this year and I honestly think he could end up the state champion as a result at Hershey. I have been impressed with what I've seen.

Really great run from Sean Rendar for 3rd. That's a huge breakthrough against some big names in the WPIAL. And of course great run from Jarrett Boyd to take 6th in a pretty strong field. Jarretts united.

Indiana Count Championships
Indiana Area gets the individual and team crowns in this one thanks to a big run from Sam Lenze (one of the top 10 or so finishers at last year's AA WPIAL Championships). Lenze is an excellent runner and should be a factor at the top of the AA WPIAL field again this year (although it's quite crowded there). Also worth noting, his Indiana squad has a top four that will all return next year and their 6-7 are a frosh and a soph. They don't have the depth (to me at least) to hang with the AA state qualifying field as of right now, but things are really looking up for this team in the future.

Real nice race by Sam Cunkleman from Homer Center. He took second and was really the only challenger to Lenze. He's just a sophomore and should be a serious factor in the District 6 title picture (I believe he is "A"? So he may be able to win that district title, I haven't dived in enough there to say for sure).

Mingo Classic
Nick Wolk reasserts himself as D7 title favorite for those who forgot. He's really been completely unchallenged this season with the exception of his run against Brophy at Pre States (a run that I think Brophy was pretty impressed with). I'm interesting to see if Wolk will get some push from the NA boys at WPIALs (I really think they can give him a challenge) but if he handles them the way he has handled everybody else, it's time to start thinking about penciling the guy in for a top 4 spot at states.

Great run by Ben Bumgarner to grab second and another strong showing by Joseph Westrick of Chartiers Valley, who took 3rd. That Chartiers Valley squad got a nice win over a few teams that have shown some nice promise this year and years past, most notably last year's surprise state qualifiers Canon McMillan. CV was really boosted by Micah Culson (who's name I forgot on the podcast) who is having an excellent season. He grabbed 10th in the race. All in all the team had 5 in the top 21 with a 6 and 7 immediately following, a fact that I really like.

South Fayette has two of the best runners in AA D7. Pfiel was already a top 10 guy last year and now Snodgrass has drawn even with him and maybe even passed him in his sophomore season. The pair could and arguably should be in the top 10 at districts and that gives them a huge leg up on some other squads in the D7 qualifying race. When you add Knoch and the team's I've already discussed from the MAC you already looking at at least 5 teams with realistic state hopes. I take my popcorn with butter please, so if you could have that ready I'd appreciate it.

Westmoreland
Mark Provenzo continues his breakout season with perhaps his best race of the year, a dominating 15:38 to beat Ben Bickerton of Southmoreland (5th at AA WPIALs last year) by roughly 20 seconds. That's a big win hot on the heels of a really great run at Slippery Rock. Provenzo tentatively looks like a top 5 guy in the WPIAL and is rapidly ascending into medal contention from Franklin Regional. Meanwhile, behind the front runners, Norwin was piling in the pack, taking spots 3-5 including a really great race from Dylan Colcombe. I believe I completely overlooked Norwin in the most recent podcast as well, but they made a big statement at this race and thrust themselves into the state qualifying picture as well. It's very, very crowded in the WPIAL.

Also worth noting, Greensburg Salem (AA) took 3 of the top 11 spots and looked very strong overall yet again this season. Can they get themselves into the mix for a state qualifying spot of their own?

Rocky Grove
This is a meet I missed the first time through, but oh my was it fun to discover. Connor Walsh, who is having a fantastic season, won the race (he's District 10 A) in a stacked field of most of the top names in his district. It was a big time statement headed into the championships. He also beat the Cranberry boys who ran excellent at Foundation so that speaks to his medalist potential in AA. His teammate Steele Henderson (great name) also had a strong showing, taking 13th.

Also having a big, much needed, breakthrough for Grove City was freshman Jonah Powell who finished 2nd overall in the field and showed big signs of improvement to give the team a front running presence. As a result, Grove City finished 2nd overall and tops of the AA teams in the race, beating out Knoch and their strong top three who all cracked the top 11. Pittsburgh Central Catholic got the overall W, once again showcasing an excellent pack and placing four in the top 12 (with a drop off to 5 at 27th). I think this pack is great, but they will have to find front running if they want to crack the top 3 in the loaded district (did I say that enough for you yet?) that is the WPIAL. I think they can get it from Dan Young, a state qualifier last year and maybe surprise some people if their #5 has a big day.

Worth noting Cranberry continues to make noise as a A team contender, beating Seneca, an excellent squad at this meet by 33 points.Jared Dailey had another strong showing for Cranberry at the 3 spot.

Central League
For those of you who have been reading me for extended period of time, you know that I sometimes like to use abbreviations on long names (or even short names when it comes to Kevin "KJ" James). One of my old favs was Julian Degroot-Lutzner, who I donned JDL. Well I think Jonah Gillespie-Sickman has earned JGS status after a huge win at the Central League Championships to return the individual crown to Harriton for the first time since Max Norris held it. He also ran one of the fastest times since the Kazanjian brothers who ran 15:20s at districts that year if memory serves. He also beat out Abrahams and D'Aquila who were sub 16 in sloppy conditions at Paul Short.

I'll be interested to see how he handles the Lehigh course this year at districts (he was the 2nd to last state qualifier in 2014), but assuming he handles the craziness at District One and punches a ticket to states, he has proven he can really excel at Hershey. He finished 39th at states last year! After finishing 37th at districts! Be on the look out for JGS down the homestretch if he keeps this up.

JGS's run was not enough to lift an inspired run from Harriton past their "big brothers" Lower Merion, but they put up a great fight for 2nd. With D'Aquila leading the charge in 3rd, Lower Merion grabbed the gold and got a big lift from their #2 and #3 who beat out Ebby and Herriot to help seal it. Lower Merion's top 3 is all coming back in 2016 to defend the title.

Really excellent runs by sophomores Zack Forney of Ridley (5th) and Avery Lederer of Penncrest (7th). I think both could potentially make it to states out of district one if they continue like this, especially Forney who was really impressive the past two weeks at DELCOs and now Central Leagues.

Neshaminy Invitational
It looks like a few teams rested some of their top runners which opened the door for an absolutely dominate run from Cheltenham. The favorites to win the SOL American conference put down a strong preview for leagues behind Will Griffen's victory and placed 6 in the top 11.

NTL Invitational
Northeast Bradford took care of business against some in district competition, solidifying themselves as lurking contenders in A thanks to a strong pack run with emerging star Casey Ellis running behind Upham at the #2 spot. Their top five had a solid 20 second spread in the smaller meet and their #6 Sam Beers is no slouch of a runner either. I'm not sure if I'm ready to put them in the top tier contenders for a podium spot right now (WT and Camp Hill at full strength look to be the clear cut top 2), but maybe NEB can sneak back into the top five for yet another season.

In other news, Keegan Beard's 15 second win over Levi Upham catapults him among the competitors for the D4 A title in a couple weeks. Beard was outside the top 10 at last year's meet but beating NEB's top 3 puts him right in the mix for a potential gold if he can get by Hunter Crawley (excellent race at Paul Short, my early pick for district champion).

Mid Penn
Ah yes, the wait for results is finally over. Correct me if I'm wrong here Train Station, but I believe Matt Wisner just pulled off something that teammate Zach Brehm never did by winning the Mid Penn individual title this weekend in an impressive sprint finish over Kyler Shea. Shea beat Wisner by over a minute at Carlisle's Invite just a few weeks back but now Wisner suddenly has emerged as a district championship contender (especially off a slow pace it seems) after beating many of the top names in the district (and many of the top names in district 6). I mentioned in my preview that no Seiger could mean a slower pace and that might play to Wisner's strengths, but if I'm being honest I was talking like top 10 not 1st overall. This is a huge run for Wisner and I'm really impressed with his running the last 12 months.

Kyler Shea still had a fantastic run in this field and is learning some valuable big race lessons. I still think this guy has the tools to be a district champion one day (of course Lefever and Henderson are in his grade which is a big problem) and he could definitely contend for a state medal in Hershey. Also have to give major props to Jared Kearns from Northern. He had a disappointing finish here last year but he earned some big time redemption with a top 5 finish this time around and a killer 16:13.

State College grabbed the team title, but it was far from easy. Nick Feffer has asserted himself as the #1 in SC with yet another excellent performance on the big stage. After a breakthrough at Foundation, he continues to impress with a 3rd place finish in a loaded field. Alex Milligan also helped SC's team standings with his 5th place finish overall.

But then Hershey started to come hard. Freshman sensation Mike Morris dropped a seriously impressive run with his 9th place finish overall in the meet to establish Hershey out front in the race standings like they had to establish themselves in either of their big invitiationals before (PS and PTXC). That set the tone as Hershey also took 16th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd, and 29th. This is the second straight year Hershey has made a big statement at Mid Penns, but can they rebound well enough to survive District 3's championships? On paper, they seem like a logical #2 team who is perhaps gaining on Hempfield, but anything can happen.

Although Hershey's pack put a bit of a scare in SC, they really responded very well and got some big step up races at 3-4-5 to pull it out. Wing at 14th was big and Daubenspeck at 24th came up extremely huge at the 4 spot. Rounding it out in 32nd was Matt Balogh to clinch the title. I think SC has potentially two medalists and some other serious contenders, a resume that could set them up to be a top 5 team at states. But there are lots of squads gunning for that position right now behind the big three.

Lower Dauphin placed a fantastic three runners in the top 12 in this one as Cassell and Giannascoli took 10th and 12th in the deep field. However, their 4-5 were 51st and 65th and that allowed some other squads like Carlisle, Cumberland Valley and Chambersburg to climb back towards them in teh team standings. Their 5 (another Cassell) has been on the rise and Gingrich is pretty experienced, but LD had this level of talent in the top 3 spots last year and still couldn't survive districts and advance.

Carlisle, a team that has navigated the murky D3 waters just as well as anyone, seems poised to potentially jump in and steal a state qualifying spot yet again, although it will be far from easy. Wisner's huge 1st place finish gave them a bonafide low stick and Kole also jumped well up the standings. Then Jack Wisner made it a banner day for the family, cracking the top 40 and the team's 4-5 were not far behind. There was a bit of a gap to #6 so maybe that is a vulnerable zone (especially with a freshman at #3), but we have seen lots of clutch runs from freshmen already this year so who knows.

I'm not ready to count out Cumberland Valley or even Chambersburg at this point. Both teams have a ton of talent and I think there is room for improvement on both squads. Chambersburg has fought really well all season with the other top squads and is always right in the mix when the points are added up. Move Wurtz up a couple spots and they are right there in the pack standings wise. There are also a slew of other programs like Cedar Crest, Wilson and others that will be gunning for that spot. And hey, Mechanicsburg hung really tough (huge day for Cupp who apparently ran gutsy and went for the lead mid race) and if somehow Nicewicz jumps in at districts (unlikely, but I would bet we saw some fresh, previously injured faces in a lot of places during district week) maybe the tide turns for them.

Camp Hill hung pretty tough with the big boys, including Cooper Leslie who placed in the top 10 despite a reported 3 soccer games. Hopefully he can continue to balance those two sports heading into states because he could be a top 5-10 contender in the state at the A level with the way he has been improving. The good news, Matt Little had a really great day the 5 spot and almost beat Dan Shank (who I think can improve on this finish as well), which means the Camp Hill pack is starting to come together a bit more. If I'm Winchester Thurston, I do not look past this team one bit at states. Camp Hill is very good.

For those of you keeping track of the AA scramble, Milton Hershey got the best of their opposition today and Trinity was next to follow, neither team had a serious low stick, but both didn't have many weaknesses to exploit and it paid off. East Pennsboro and Boiling Springs were just behind, chomping at the bit to catch up (and both of those squads did have excellent low sticks). These teams were not incredibly far apart so at Districts (2 spots available behind York Suburban) we could be on for some fireworks.

Things are getting fun, folks.