The Report Card: PA Collegiate XC in Review

By: Garrett Zatlin and Dylan Jaklitsch

Well the first trimester of the running calendar is over which means it's time for the evaluation portion! Dylan and I have researched PA guys from this season and we will try to cover everything we can. Bare with me here if you're a reader from outside of the state.

Keep in mind that...
1. The grades are based solely off of this cross country season.
2. Teams and individual grades are based on how competitive they were on the national level of their respective divisions (D1, D2, D3)
3. Trying to explain every individual would be impossible. I give some commentary on the one's I actually have knowledge on.
4. A lot of my knowledge is based on D1 so I apologize to the D2 and D3 runners but I'll try my best.
5. I left out some individuals simply for that the fact that they didn't race enough or they didn't race enough as a varsity scorer for me to give them a solid grade.

TEAMS
Penn Quakers: A-
-When the season started, I said that the Penn Quakers would be a threat on the national level (yes, I am extremely proud of calling that). They were led by Tommy Awad supported by plenty of depth that had enough experience to have an impact against some of the best teams in the nation. Sure enough, that was the case when the Quakers started off their season at the Mainline Invite. Nick Tuck led men in red and blue to a team victory and defeated a Villanova squad that clearly wasn't stacked. Later, the men would race at Notre Dame where they were shut down by a field of talented teams from the west. Awad's sub-par day and gaps in the top five resulted in an 11th place team finish. Even after being shut down, Coach Dolan rallied his team and got them ready to race at the Princeton Invite where Villanova would have a full team that was hungry for a win. Instead, the Quakers pulled out a nine point win to shock the Wildcats and make themselves "the real deal". With momentum on their side, Penn entered Heps eager to take the title. Unfortunately, Columbia halted those dreams with a four point win and left Penn on the sidelines settling for second. With so many ups and downs, it was hard to see if Penn could actually get to nationals or not. Yet, on November 3rd, we found out that they could. Awad's fourth place finish catapulted the Quakers to the runner-up spot in the Mid-Atlantic region (once again ahead of Villanova). It would be the first time in 40 years since Penn had gone to nationals. The season would end with Penn taking a respectable 24th overall and Tommy Awad placing 14th overall. The Quakers showed that they were for real and did something that no other PA team could do this season (make nationals). They had their weak points, but when you consider how far this program has come in such a short span of time, this season was nothing short of unbelievable.

Penn State Nittany Lions: B-
-Penn State entered this season with high expectations from yours truly. I believed in their depth, their front-runner Glen Burkhardt (formerly of Unionville), and a young recruit named Colin Abert (formerly of Easton). Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Burkhardt was MIA the entire season (my assumption was that he was injured). His absence left a massive hole in a team that was now left with no solidifying front-runner. The results showed at meets like the Greater Louisville Classic (8th) and Wisconsin (33rd) where Wade Endress (formerly of Altoona) and Connor Quinn (formerly of Hatboro Horsham) switched off being the number one guy. The duo did all they could to fill the position, but the spot required more than they could give. BIG 10's continued to show very few signs of improvement as the team finished 6th overall behind a solid 16th place by Endress. Regionals would be easier with competition that was far below the standard of a power-five program. The result was a 5th place finish for the team. Connor Quinn would finish 11th that day and claim the infamous title of "the first man out" for national qualifying. While the Nittany Lions did struggle, their overall talent level was simply too high to put them at anything lower than a B-. They worked with what they had and concluded their season with a respectable finish at regionals. Credit where credit is due.

Pittsburgh Panthers: C-
-I hate being so critical of Pitt. Despite being from the Philadelphia area, Pittsburgh has always been the easy favorite of the two cities. It also doesn't help that I have multiple friends on the team. However, the Panthers are simply not clicking. They are struggling to stay relevant in a loaded Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC) and have lost Cordon Luoco and Coach Lear who both departed from the team. During the season, they lost to Duquesne and Temple in an early season meet and then fell to 15th overall at a Roy Griak race that wasn't very deep past 10 teams. It would be at the Princeton XC Invite where the Panthers would find a bit of a groove and place 6th overall (convincingly) ahead of teams like Lehigh, Bucknell, Temple, and Duquesne. It was a spectacular performance considering their leader Mike Runco wasn't even running! Unfortunately, Pittsburgh could only do so much at ACC's where they placed 13th out of 15 teams. From there, a tired Pittsburgh team entered regionals and finished far back in 14th place, one spot ahead of Temple. When we look at Pittsburgh on the state and national scale, they simply can't match the front running or time-spreads that other teams have. However, in my mind, Pittsburgh is one of the most biggest "on the rise" teams in the nation. Why? For a couple reasons... First off, they have a new coach right now that many of the athletes seem to like. Coach and athlete chemistry is huge. Secondly, the team is extremely young and surviving off of sophomores and freshmen who were mainly track recruits. Aaron Lauer (formerly of Red Land), Billy Caldwell (formerly of Downingtown East), and Ryan Hughes have all shown promise and will continue to improve as scorers as they mature. It also doesn't hurt that that they just picked up a big recruit in Nick Wolk from Peters. However, what might be the biggest piece of the puzzle could be from a potential transfer by the name of, yes you guessed it, Tony Russell (formerly of Henderson). I have multiple reliable sources that have said Russell took an official visit to Pittsburgh. Could he end up going there and give this Pitt team a boost that it desperately needs? The visit doesn't prove much and nothing is set in stone, but the possibility is now there.

Temple Owls: C-
-What an interesting program Temple is. In the spring of 2014, Temple University announced that it would be cutting a heavy portion of their athletic programs which included the cross country and track teams. Now, at the end of 2015, the Owls are still running...how? I have no idea. Regardless, it's been a bumpy ride. Temple was never a notable program but they've done enough recently to get into the conversation with teams like Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Bucknell, Lehigh and St. Joe's. That said, they still weren't all that impressive. They were 16th at Paul Short and 9th at Princeton which didn't warrant much attention nationally, but brought them into honorable mentions when discussing PA teams. What really caught my interest was their 4th place finish at AAC's which included teams like Tulsa, Connecticut, Houston, Cincinnati, and more. They finished up their season placing 15th at regionals (Mid-Atlantic). Clearly, there are still a lot of things for this Temple program to fix. They need to improve their depth as well as prepare to lose a heavy portion of their scorers to graduation. However, there is plenty of good for this team in the future. They have a young coach who has the potential to be a great recruiter and a team that is showing improvement by pulling out victories over teams like Duquesne and LaSalle this season.

Duquesne Dukes: C-
-It was a rough fall for the Dukes who simply couldn't put together any notable finishes. They were 10th at the Princeton Interregional (beating out only Wake Forest and Monmouth) and then 10th at the Princeton Invite (behind Pittsburgh, Bucknell, Lehigh, and Temple). PA alums and team leaders, Rico Galassi (formerly of Holy Cross) and Aaron Wilkinson (formerly of Valley View) failed to stay consistent or towards the top. The Dukes went on to finish 6th at a very uncompetitive A10 conference and then 12th at Mid-Atlantic regionals. At both Princeton meets and regionals, Duquesne only had ONE top-40 individual (Aaron Wilkinson). Duquesne certainly wasn't at their best this year and they probably know that. However, watch out for the young talent that is sure to make this team a threat for years to come.

Villanova Wildcats: B
-Throughout the season, Villanova had been one of the most interesting teams to talk about. The usually dominant Wildcats were extremely talented...but didn't seem to have their typical spark. One of their first meets would be at the Mainline Invite where Penn would defeat the Wildcats. Not to worry though. It was only the first meet of the season and Nova wasn't even running stacked. Villanova had time. The next stop was Paul Short were they finished second overall behind Georgetown. No matter, the 4th and 5th scorers would be ready to step up by the postseason. Villanova had time. The Wildcats then took a drive to Princeton where they were once again upset by a sneaky-good Penn team. Of course, that wouldn't happen during the postseason where Villanova was more experienced. Villanova had time. Then it was the BIG East championships where Georgetown took the title by one point. Villanova was entering regionals with multiple losses to Georgetown and Penn. Villanova's time was running out. Finally, regionals came around and what many saw coming finally happened. The once top-ranked Villanova Wildcats finished third overall in their region and were dismissed from nationals. It had to be a brutal hit for the squad that had one of the best trio's in the nation. Tiernan, Denault, and Jordy would qualify and run at nationals (where Tiernan finished second overall). Still, the sting from the team not qualifying must've hurt. They were very competitive throughout the entire season and consistently relevant on the national scale, but the issues with their fourth and fifth men proved to be too great and led to them staying home.

Lehigh Mountain Hawks: C+
-Lehigh has gone through a rebuilding phase throughout the past two years. This season, they were 9th at their own Paul Short meet and 8th at the Princeton Invite. At the Patriot League meet, they were able to surprise with a 4th place finish which was led by PA alum and sophomore, Patrick Reilly (formerly of Dallastown). They lost some pieces (including national contender, Tyler Mueller), but this is a team that will continue to improve with the young talent they have now. When we compare them to teams on the national scale though, they simply can't be competitive. Of course, I was a little easier on them considering they aren't in a power five conference. They've got two guys that are solid front runners (Evan Hardy and Patrick Reilly) and I feel that they'll be able to get more guys up there in the future. For now, I give them a C+.

Saint Joseph's Hawks: C+
-The Hawks didn't do too much throughout the season. They were 8th at Paul Short and then 12th at the Princeton Invite. They did place 3rd at Iona behind Wisconsin and Arkansas, but the rest of the field wasn't too impressive to say the least. Despite the unexciting finishes, they rallied to win the A10 conference by a comfortable 21 point margin. The Hawks took their momentum to regionals and placed 7th in the Mid-Atlantic region against some very underrated teams. David Dorsey and Jimmy Daniels led the squad that day by placing 33rd and 35th respectively. St. Joe's certainly peaked at the right time last season and showed up when it counted. Maybe I'm not putting enough value into their conference and regional races, but their unimpressive regular season keeps them at a C+.

Bucknell Bison: C+
-Bucknell was a very up and down team this season. They struggled at Paul Short where they were 12th overall (towards the weaker part of the field) and continued to underperform at the Greater Louisville Classic where despite competitive teams, they still fell towards the bottom end. However, things did turn around for them during the later part of the season when they placed 8th at the Princeton Invite ahead of Lehigh, Duquesne, Temple, and St. Joe's. Their top four were very tight with their fifth man was not far out. Unfortunately, they weren't able to transfer that success at Patriot's where they finished in the middle of the pack (6th out of 10 teams). While the rest of their season hadn't gone quite as planned, the Bison ended up finishing a commendable 10th place at Mid-Atlantic regionals with only one man in the top 50 (Luke Giugliano, 47th). They did well in the postseason but there were too many down performances during the season to give them anything higher than a C. However, watch out for them on the track where they typically do much better.

LaSalle Explorers: C+
-LaSalle joins the rest of the C+ group for their up and down season. The season began with a 3rd place finish at the Mainline Invite only nine points behind the Wildcats. After running some non-varsity guys at Paul Short, LaSalle finished an unexciting 11th (out of 21 teams) at the Greater Louisville Classic. The Princeton XC Invite turned out to be a different story at the Explorers domianted many of the PA teams there and ended up in 4th place overall with three in the top-30 and five in the top-40. Unfortunately, the magic wouldn't stay as LaSalle finished 4th in A10 conference. The season would end with the Explorers avenging themselves at Mid-Atlantic's and finishing 8th overall. In retrospect, they were probably the best PA team that wasn't Penn, Villanova, or Penn State.

INDIVIDUALS
Penn State
Connor Quinn (Hatboro Horsham): B
-He was on pace with the rest of his teammates throughout the season. However, his 11th place at Mid-Atlantic's gives him a bump to a B.
Wade Endress (Altoona): B-
Ean Disilvio (Tayler Allderdice):B-
Colin Abert (Easton): B-
-He had a bit of a tough time adjusting, but he ran was able to gather himself and run well in the post-season.

Penn
Brenden Shearn (North Schuylkill): B
Ross Wilson (Council Rock North): B-
-Shearn was much more consistent throughout the season and his experience typically got him a couple places lower than Wilson. Still, they both played tremendous roles in Penn's ability to get to nationals.

Villanova
Casey Comber (Hatboro Horsham): B-
Andrew Marston (Conestoga): B-
Paul Power (Springford): C+
-Comber and Marston often dominated the open races Villanova attended. Power was a little further off from the pack but still reasonably close. This trio will be very good next season.

Pittsburgh
Aaron Lauer (Red Land): C+
Billy Caldwell (Downingtown East): C+
-Watch out for him in track. He's healthy and his mileage is up.
Matt McGoey (North Allegheny): D+
-What happened to Matt McGoey? I understand that the first year adjustment is hard but he seemed to struggle more than usual. Out of Roy Griak, Princeton Invite, ACC's, and Mid-Atlantic's, not once did he go under 100th. 115th was his best finish.
Sebastian Curtin (Mercyhurst Prep): C
Ethan Linderman (Canon-McMillan): C-

LaSalle
Francis Ferruzzi (Upper Dublin): B-
Ian Barnhill (Downingtown West): C
Nick Libbi (West Chester East): C

Lehigh
Patrick Reilly (Dallastown): B-
-I see a lot of potential in him. Only a sophomore so watch out.
Sean Burke (Abington Heights): C-

St. Joe's
Quinn Davis (Hill School): C
Dan Savage (O'Hara): C

Duquesne
Rico Galassi (Holy Cross): C+
Aaron Wilkinson (Valley View): B-
-Maybe injuries played a role, but they didn't improve all that much.
Joe O'Such (Springford): C
Hunter Wharrey (North Allegheny): C
Chris Kazanjian (Penncrest): C-

Temple
Alex Izewski (CB East): C+
Tyji Mays (Bensalem): D+

Shippensburg
Kieran Sutton (Lake Lehman): A-
Alex Balla (Quakertown): A-
-Balla was a little less dominant than Sutton, but both ran extremely well all season. Nationals could've been better, but I'll cut them some slack.
Calvin Conrad-Kline (Palmyra): B+
Dominic Stroh (Altoona): B
Cole Nissley (Lower Dauphin): B

Slippery Rock
Jeremy Parsons (Maplewood): A-
-Very underrated. He never finished higher than 6th all season and then placed 24th at nationals.

Lock Haven
Dylan Mountain (Altoona): A
-He's in the argument for best non-D1 runner this year. Mountain earned titles at his conference and regional meet which then led to 27th place at nationals.

Allegheny College
Logan Steiner (North Allegheny): A
-His string of second place finishes led to 32nd place at nationals.

Widener
Ernie Pitone (O'Hara): A
-Top three finishes all season was eventually capped by an outstanding 15th place at nationals. He's still got another year left in him. Potential for top five spot next year? Maybe...

Elizabethtown
Zach Trama (West Chester East): A
-I have to give some love to the guy I raced in my first high school cross country meet. He never had killer PR's in high school (although he had a great 2 mile) but he worked his way up to become an All-American. Congrats Zach on finishing your XC career with a 26th place at nationals.

OTHER
Hillsdale
Caleb Gatchell (Red Lion): B-
-Of course we have to give our man Caleb some love! After winning Hillsdale's own meet, he went on to have some steady performances. He was 17th at Michigan Intercollegiate and then 41st Midwest regionals. Not bad for someone that is considered a track guy.

Oregon
Ryan Gil (North Allegheny): B
-Is he the first PA runner to run for Oregon? At least in recent history he is. He was the 7th man on a podium team and grabbed finishes in the 30's at the Washington Invite and PAC 12's. An off day at nationals bumped him from a B+ to a B.

Virginia Tech
Daniel Jaskowak (Grove City): B-

Syracuse
Joe Kush (North Hills): B-
-Kush was very underrated throughout the season even after he finished 17th a Spiked Shoe and 29th at ACC's.

Columbia
Sam Ritz (Germantown Academy): B-
-He wasn't perfect, but he was a scorer on a couple occasions and did well considering it was his first year. I think he's going to prosper more on the track.
Ben Ritz (Germantown Academy): C
Max Norris (Harriton): C+
Dustin Wilson (Chestnut Hill): C+

Princeton
Brett Kelly (Boyertown): B-

Cornell
Dominic Deluca (Dallas): B
-He didn't match last season, but 11th at Heps and 18th at Northeast regionals are still pretty solid marks.