AAA State Meet Recap

by Jarrett Felix

Recap

One Mile
I won’t say that 4:47 is a slow first mile, in fact it’s pretty quick, but Brophy looked incredibly comfortable at that pace out front. It was very crowded out front with both CB West boys putting themselves in the mix out front as well O’Hara’s Ryan James and expected favorites like the Hoeys and Nick Wolk. Henderson, the D3 champ, was a bit farther back in the pack as was DTW’s #3 Henry Sappey. Overall, everyone seemed pretty in control and I actually just assumed it was closer to a 4:50 type effort based on what I was seeing in front of me. After watching Hock and Mackey pull away from everyone so quickly, this was a pleasant change of pack

The North Allegheny boys took a conservative approach to the first mile, as has traditionally been their strategy on the course, and as a result they were actually sitting in 4^th place overall in the team standings. DT West had a fairly commanding lead with just 56 points. LaSalle, at 84 points, went out strong and had a very impressive pack through the mile, putting them in a surprise 2^nd place position. O’Hara, their PCL rivals, were in 5^th place overall, another early race surprise.

Two Mile

Here is where things actually began to slow down. The leaders hit the 2 mile mark at 10:00, 8 seconds slower than Marston and co hit the mark the previous year when the course record was set (by three different runners). From where I was standing, it seemed pretty apparent that Brophy wanted no part of the lead. He was looking around, running smooth and hoping for some help out front, but obviously no one was going to do the defending champ any favors if they could help it. The general consensus seemed to be that everyone was watching Brophy and either out of fear or strategy, was happy to defer to him for how the race would be run.

As Sappey moved up, DT West took control with 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th overall (which also happened to be 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th in the team standings). That was an intimidating pack at the front of the race. However, the NA duo of Stupak and Migliozzi was making a strong charge and Stupak looked great rolling up the second Aloha hill. They were in 14^th and 16^th at this stage, but making up ground. Overall there were 21 runners under 10:10, meaning that nearly all the medal spots were separated by just 10 seconds. Last year at this point the gap from 1 to 21 was 23 seconds (over double) and 21^st was 10:15 rather than 10:09. Considering the tightness of the pack, it was unsurprising that basically all the big names were still up in the front, setting things up for an exciting finish.

In the team standings, DT West was still in a dominate position, holding a 40 point advantage over CB West and a 54 point advantage of the defending champion North Allegheny Tigers. LaSalle sat in 4^th behind those two squads, still within striking distance of silver team medals, 6 points back from NA and 20 from CB West. O’Hara was in 5^th and moving up surprisingly on the 2^nd mile was CR North who jumped to 6^th.

Finish

Anyone who was in attendance, would likely love to recount the final 200m of this race. Coming off the final hill it was Hoey and Brophy side by side with Jaxson clearly rallying himself for a final kick to the finish. He went hard around the turn and, with Brophy on his inside, pinned him a bit so Brophy would have to swing around or hope for an opening if he was going to pass back. It was clear that Brophy had been waiting for this move to happen, but it didn’t necessarily mean he would be able to match the final surge. However, sprinting down the final straight, Brophy found that now famous second gear and sprinted away to his second straight title in a fairly similar run to his district gold the previous week. Brophy has now broke 16 on the course on three separate occasions and run under 15:40 twice. I believe he is the only guy to clock those type of numbers.

Jaxson finished with a well-deserved 2^nd and his brother Josh came through next in 15:49, the first sophomore to break 16 minutes on this course. Jaxson and Josh also had the fastest debuts on the Hershey course in its brief history. West’s #3 Henry Sappey was right in the mix to make it a second straight 2-3-4 as he finished essentially dead even with Nick Wolk and Nathan Henderson to round out the top 6, all in blazing times of 15:53.

But the sub 16s were not finished! Three more runners cracked the infamous 16 minute barrier, including North Allegheny’s Jacob Stupak who had a fantastic day chasing Sappey for 7^th. Jake Susalla of Plum, after a very quiet season, came back in a huge way to run 15:56 and finish 8^th and Jeff Kirshenbaum from Methacton excelled once again on the Hershey hills with a 15:58.

Mike Kolor had a bounce back run of his own from WPIALs and finished a career best 13^th while Easton’s Kevin Lapsansky threw down one of the fastest final miles of the field to move all the way up to 14^th overall. Todd Gunzenhauser of Mount Lebanon ran a lifetime best on the Hershey hills, running a very impressive 16:12 for 18^th place overall. Matt Wisner went from well back at the mile to 24^th overall in this race to notch another medal for Carlisle.

Behind Josh Hoey, Spencer Smucker finished as the #2 soph in 15^th with a 16:11, followed by Neshaminy’s Rusty Kujdych who took 19^th to cap off a truly impressive stretch run to his season. He could be very interesting on the track considering his success as a freshman. Liam Conway, Noah Beveridge, Morgan Cupp and CRN’s Ryan Campbell added top 50 finishes for the sophomore class as well. It looks like the top freshman finisher in the race was Jack Wisner of Carlisle, taking 110^th. Hershey’s Mike Morris and CB East’s heir to the throne David Endres were the next two frosh to cross the line.

After their top three came through, DT West was obviously in a strong position, but when I watched Jake O’Neil and Ben Ryherd came through near the top fifty of the field, I knew that DT West had it won, and had it won big. O’Neil had a huge finish to clock a second straight clutch run at the state meet. He took 40^th overall and Ryherd added 54^th, helping the team post the best winning score since Coatesville: 57 points.

North Allegheny ran an incredibly strong race for 2^nd. Stupak and Migz placed in the top 10 finishers and Blechman finished (agonizingly so) just outside the medals in 26^th (marking two straight years where the Tigers have placed someone 26^th and 11^th runner they placed between 19^th and 29^th since 2005). With five guys under 17 and an average time of 16:25, this squad was not far from the team that dominated states in 2014, however they ran into a strong DT West squad and had to settle for the silver. However, NA keeps an impressive streak dating back to 2006 of placing in the top five at states (and a streak of placing in the top 4 every year starting in 2007).

In the battle for third CB West held off a strong pack from LaSalle to grab 3^rd place honors, marking the first time the PCL did not place a team in the top three. CB West held their own with two medalists and a strong pack that included five runners of their own sub 17 (only one team had 5 sub 17 last year and that was the state champion). Meanwhile, LaSalle had 7 runners under 17 minutes and an absurd 15 second spread 1-5 and a 19 second spread 1-7. Unfortunately, without any runners in the top 35 or so of the race, the pack was not far enough up the field to jump CB West or NA. However to get 7 strong performances on the same day on the state’s most difficult course is no joke.

The final team in the top five was a bit surprise (to me at least) in Council Rock North. North scored 205 points to beat out a slew of solid squads and earn to five honors. They did it with just one top 50 finisher who was just 42^nd overall and a 38 second spread. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team built like this crack the top 5 which is a true testament to how strong this team ran to their strengths. It’s incredible to see CRN make this stretch run finish and end up in a coveted top five spot yet again and, guess what, they return 5 of their 7 including a trio of talented sophomores.

With CB East and Henderson also cracking the top 10, District One once again dominated the team standings and placed all five state qualifying squads in the top 10 of the team standings.

Analysis

What a fantastic meet. You have to really respect the efforts of these athletes. What a fast race, bolstered almost entirely by some herculean final miles from the top dogs. The weather cooperated and the talent was there and the times followed. I also can’t help but get the feeling that PA as a state is starting to figure out Hershey. There is certainly a recent upswing in talent, speed and depth that can’t be completely correlated to things like weather and pace. It took a couple years, but PA is starting to conquer this beast. Just in time for the state course to move locations perhaps ….

I’ve already touched on a lot of the medalists and top finishers, but I’ll highlight a few more things here in the analysis section. There is a ton of talent in this division and that often means some really strong runners are in the shadow of other great performances. Joe Maguire had a fantastic run to grab 32^nd in this race, which might be the highest finish in his school’s history. He did this without training partner Andrew Hanna who had finished in the top 50 at states two years ago as a sophomore. Mark Provenzo capped off a fantastic season for the WPIAL with a 20^th place run at states. The WPIAL in total grabbed 7 medal spots, District One grabbed 12. That left just 6 spots for the rest of the district (2 went to D12, 1 to D11, 2 went to D3 and 1 went to D6). That’s a great run by District 7 considering they only get 15 individual spots. It also points out how the move to three classifications has meant even more dominance for D1 on the medal stand. Accounting for half the medalists is crazy for one district.

I’m looking forward to seeing which runners end up on the entry list for Footlocker (and NXN). Personally, I feel like the top five individuals in this race need to be continuing their season. Easy for me to say because I don’t have to actually do the extra month of running, but if we want to best represent our state we need these guys. Honestly, I’m a huge proponent of taking an advantage of the regional meets if you are healthy. You take a little down time as a mental and physical break and then come back to get a great experience. The extra practice on the regional course in a regional style race could pay dividends down the line for younger runners with talent and future goals. But it’s not for everyone, don’t do it because you feel like you have to. Do it because you want to.

I talked to a few people about these final recaps and I liked to point that after states, there is not much left for me to analyze. My general analysis is geared towards states, the most important meet of the season, so after states what is there left to predict or speculate about? Ironically, the top three runners in this race and the first place team, all are really just beginning the most important part of their seasons. Yes, Jake Brophy wanted to defend his title, but he also has a bigger goal: an undefeated season. To stay undefeated, he has to win Footlocker Regionals and Footlocker Nationals, a very tall order. At this point, we already know Brophy is one of the best individual cross country runners to ever roll through PA. He has two state titles, two district titles and a Footlocker Nationals berth to go with two of the three fastest times ever on Hershey and an absurd amount of low 15 minute clockings at Lehigh (I think 5 times under 15:20). But to truly become one of the best or the best, he now has to take one more step to the national spotlight. Last year, I’m convinced he was not even considering Footlocker and competed there more as something of an obligation after seeing how well he finished out his season. This year that is definitely not the case. I’m not sure who is currently the greatest PA XC runner (I haven’t done close to the amount of research needed but Vandegrift, Connelly, Miller and Russell come to mind), but if Brophy can finish off his last two meets in a big way, he could graduate with the GOAT title.

There is a similar storyline brewing for Downingtown West. After a dominant state performance, they now have to be in the discussion with the all-time great squads. 57 points is less than Henderson scored at either championship and they got the state title that O’Hara couldn’t quite get. Obviously, much has been made about this top three. I’ve known all year that this was an unreal top three, but watching the guys progress over the last few meets, particularly Sappey, I can now officially say this is the best top three I’ve ever encountered. Even better than Coatesville’s top 3 that took 3-6-8 at states en route to a national championship season. And this wasn’t 2-3-6 in just any field, that was a loaded field out front where it took times of 15:40, 15:49 and 15:53 on this course to get the job done.

But DTW’s depth does not get enough credit. Everyone wants to talk about the top three and, they should because they are great, but lost in the shuffle is a very capable pack that runs eight-ten deep. Between Bullock, Ryherd, Barton and O’Neil, this team has gotten quality performances from the 4-5 spot all year. Jake O’Neil was 40^th at states this past weekend in 16:37, a time that would have made him the #4 man on Henderson’s legendary 2013 state championship squad (but to be fair, Ricky Waltz finished 30^th at states in that spot). Keep in mind this year’s team averaged 16:09 at states through their top five. That’s mind blowing to me. Yes, it was a very fast year, but this average is the fastest we have seen by a long shot.

It’s natural to want to compare DTW to the Henderson teams that won state championships in 2013 and 2012, but I don’t think they are quite built the same. They remind me much more of the 2012 O’Hara team that went on to place 5^th at Nationals behind a really strong top 3 and an improving 4-5 (especially Belfatto down the stretch). If they can match that 5^th place (and that’s a big if) or better it, this team enters a unique zone in history. But for now, although they have cemented themselves among PA’s best ever, we will not know just how strong they rank until their full regional resume is complete.

Of course, I also really like what Ryan Barton said post race. Terms like “potential” and “statistics” get thrown around a lot (especially by me), but they don’t mean much until you go out there and make it happen. That’s not about numbers or math, that’s about heart, determination and will.