I'll be on site and maybe sending out some tweets or doing a podcast, but who knows. I may end up a quiet spectator.
In the meantime, feel free to discuss everything here. I won't be making a recap post til Sunday afternoon at the earliest as a fair warning.
Stay classy.
What was the winning time of the alternates race. Just curious because I saw them running.
ReplyDeleteSee you there!
ReplyDeleteJust ran the course, gotta say it's in great shape and weather is just about as perfect as you can hope. It was mag e a tiny bit hot for me personally but I like it cold.
ReplyDeleteWeather update, feels colder now than when I was running earlier (big surprise), light wind but nothing crazy, occasional sprinkling of rain but it's super late ... Close races so far for girls so hopefully guys follows suit
ReplyDeleteQuestion 21: Is Etrain ready to concede Dwest is an all-time great team? Winning with 57 points is the 2nd lowest only to Coatesville. It seems like RJJL was the only one willing to go out on a limb and predict a big win and put them in that company of all time greats. And they did it without Barton, their #4 guy. Very impressive indeed.
ReplyDeleteHas DTW even lost a meet this year? So many doubted them but they've dominated all year.
DeleteWhat websites have you been reading? I don't think anyone doubted them. A year ago when the hoey family transferred to dwest, it was accepted wisdom that they were bringing the 2015 state xc state championship with them. Good for them. Don't turn this into a "nobody believed in us" story. It worked out the way it should have.
Deleteposter above^, it looks like the discussion isn't a "nobody believed in us" story, but that nobody believed they would win by such a large margin. Even Etrain pointed out DTW was getting more doubters after Districts. This site also had a lot of skeptics earlier in the season about that team falling apart and choking, especially when their top guys were skipping so many meets and there was talk of many parents overly involved. With hindsight whatever the plan was worked, and worked big time. They were on top of their game yesterday with only Brophy (and Sargent on the girls side) blocking an epic result for the school.
DeleteDwest hasn't lost all year, not sure any PA team ever went undefeated.
DeleteElite athletes deliver., plain and simple. They also come with their own baggage, demands, yada, yada...I have been following this sport in PA for many years and when I heard the Hoeys were transferring to DWest, I knew a state championship was in the bag. I don't see the controversy here. Why are some still trying to create drama where there is none? While there are many excellent individual runners out there,from a team perspective, it was a pretty light year talent-wise and they were definitely able to capitalize on that. Congratulations to them.
Delete^^great team victory. DWest was never the underdog. Not sure why some are trying to turn this into a "Rocky" tale.
DeleteThe bigger story would have been if they didn't win.
^^^ I believe Coatesville may have gone undefeated in 2006
Deletehenderson in '96 won with 46 pts.
Delete2007 north penn went undefeated until the nike northeast regional where they placed 3rd
DeleteWho is Rusty Kujdych? Dude got a medal.
ReplyDeleteHe ran something like 9:37 as a freshman last year
DeleteSophomore from Neshaminy who had a really good districts race, I believe he came in 11th for D1 and broke 16.
Delete^Rusty came in 12th and ran 15:55
DeleteI have video of the Brophy/Hoey sprint followed by the Wolk/Henderson/Sappey sprint. Fantastic. Chills.
ReplyDeletewe should have a place where everyone can upload their pics/vids of the races
DeleteIf etrain starts uploading photos and videos more people will come here. There’s already better content, discussions and predictions going on here. Then those guys at the official site might stop being so arrogant.
DeletePost your video on youtube or somewhere so we can see it!
DeleteHope to later this week.
DeleteThat video is on you tube. put in 2015 PIAA AAA XC Championship finish.
DeleteIt should be on penntracxc site by tomorrow hopefuly. Top 6 AAA is pretty close to Trains predictions.
ReplyDeletethere should be a female contributor talking about the girls races. (just a thought for next season/track)
ReplyDeleteIf you know somebody, tell them to shoot me an email. I've tried before, but never had someone stick.
DeleteIt seems the boys from the WPIAL were running well. 7 medalists and 3 more not too far off.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sewickley was destined to win Single A after leading after 2 miles by 25 points, then Clouse the second runner goes down with an injury. It's a shame the better team didn't win.
DeleteClouse's injury killed Sewickley yesterday. He is in my mind the most of the underrated runner in the state(because he sits in Mackey's shadow until he can beat him). He's a 40 point difference. Not only that but everyone other than Mackey had to run past him which must have been so demoralizing to do. Not trying to lessen Camp Hill's win but if that didn't happen Sewickley would have won decisevley In individual and team for A.
DeleteWhen did Clouse get hurt during the race?
DeleteRight after the 2nd mile I believe. Takes a ton of courage for him to still finish that race
DeleteI was wondering that with the winter looming crosstrain would come back with some lifting advice. Also having a place where people could upload videos and pictures on this site could be absolutely huge
ReplyDeleteEven though Brophy won, the Hoeys truly put themselves out there. I remember like a year ago, there was a big argument regarding how good they were. Many doubted them. Many made assumptions not knowing what was truly happening behind the scenes in their personal lives. Many said that they would be cancerous to DTW or any other team they join for that matter. And yet, a year later, they really proved themselves to be some the greatest runners in a group of elites this weekend, all while carrying their team to become state champions as well. Running with heart through adversity can carry and inspire a team to perform better. So cheers to them. They exemplify what makes xc one of the greatest sports.
ReplyDeleteNobody here really questioned the Hoey boys ability, commitment or character. There was more a question of overzealous handlers and power plays while they looked after them. But whatever happened in the past, it's working where they're at now.
DeleteBut Brophy is the man. I'd feel totally comfortable with him taking the controls of a multi million dollar F-22 with the Navy some day.
Here we go again with the poor beleaguered Hoey boys. Nobody ever questioned their talent or dedication. They consistently deliver.
DeleteI assumed that nonsense about the nightmare at DWest was generated by disgruntled kids or parents not thrilled with the new kids stealing all the limelight. They seem to have gotten over it.
Brophy is a beast though. Why would anyone doubt his speed/kick?
The Navy doesn't even fly F-22's bro.
DeleteNevertheless the beauty of a cross country race is that it doesn't matter whats happening with the athletes' personal lives or any other private matters... All that matters is the race and who wants it most. Every athlete gave their all and the top came out on top, its as simple as that.
Deletethrow back (the comment trend) http://therealtrain.blogspot.com/2014/12/final-xc-rankings.html
DeleteThe Navy should fly the F-22, it's a great plane. Maybe he can straighten that out for them!
DeleteI think the Hoey brothers are amazing runners. Josh will more than likely end up proving to be the better of the two. With the times he's running as a sophomore he's got to be the favorite going into the next two years. From my limited experience with them, all 3 are nice kids. Most parents would be proud to have their children turn out as well.
ReplyDeleteAll that being said, there was definitely some sort of drama at Malvern last year that was severe enough to require them leaving in the middle of a school year. This drama appears to be diminished at Dwest.
One thing is undeniable, the Dwest team would have been watching from the sidelines at Hershey instead of competing without the Hoey's .
Great job by Brophy and DTW. They should make a video game that matches up the all-time best teams in PA History. Coatesville-'06, Henderson-'96, DTW-'15, Henderson-'13 and O'Hara-12. And then, put those 5 teams in a DMR.
DeleteTo Cindermiller-DTW without the Hoeys were one of the favorites to win States. With them, they were dominate. If you think they wouldn't have made it to States, you don't know the sport. Adding the Hoeys, changed the team dynamic. We'll never know what they would have done without them. It would have been interesting.
That team is built to do well at NXN. 3 front runners and a solid pack. There are no great teams out there. If they can get Barton back healthy, they could win the meet.
No, I can simply do math. DWEST'S district score with the Hoey's was 84. Without the Hoey's it would have been circa 360, which wou,d have put them in 6th place, with Sappy running by himself at state.
Delete2 3 4 34 41 (71)(214) = 84
That math is misleading. If you take out the Hoeys, you have to insert a new 6 and 7. Blair and Alsansky are both very solid and in all likelihood one of them would have delivered the 130th place or whatever it is that they needed to get a qualifying spot.
DeleteDowningtown would have probably been 5th at districts without the Hoey's. Very vulnerable to getting knocked out by a bad day by any of the other runners.
DeleteIt would be interesting to do the math to determine how many other teams would have won state if the Hoey brothers appeared on their school's doorstep. I would guess easily a dozen or so.
As e-train said, it's not just simple math. Alansky ran 16:35 and Blair 16:44 in the Unseeded race at Districts. Inserting them, DTW scores 191. Without the Hoeys, they would probably not have gone to Manhattan and Barton would have been healthy enough to run well at Districts and be inside the top 20. No one has any idea how the dynamic of the team was affected by the addition of the Hoeys. And, the Hoeys are at DTW for the next 5 years so you can't say, if the Hoeys were on the sidelines, this or that would have happened.
DeleteLook you can play this "What if?" game with basically any state champion/good team of the past decade. Coatesville had the Dawson twins, Henderson has Russell/Sam Haugh, NA had Logan Steiner there's always going to be this sort of thing. It's not professional sports, it's high school let's not make this into a bigger deal than it is (yes, I know that is ironic for me to say considering this site). Let's move on. This topic has been done to death over the years.
DeleteI agree, however the unique situation here is that its not every year that 2 of the top 3 runners in the state transfer in to a school. I would guess nothing like this has every happened.
DeleteYes DWest probably would have made states without them, however all these proclamations that Dwest would have been favored to win states without them is just silly. Without the Hoey's DWest is maybe 7th at best.
Does anyone know what happened to Barton from DWest? He ran well at Chesmonts, but struggled at districts and ended up running in the alternate race at Hershey. Etrain projected him a medalist, at the beginning of the season, to not even being varsity by seasons end. What happened?
ReplyDelete