The Conductor Speaks: Week Six

By Jarrett Felix

We are heading quickly into the league season, so just to note for those viewing this post a little later on in the week, this covers the action from this Saturday October 8^th through the Ches-mont championships on October 10^th. Also, this is long, but I didn’t feel like doing two parts for this week. Didn’t seem necessary. Use the section headers to skip around as you see fit.

Manhattan Invitational

In a battle of what many consider PA’s best three teams, the invitational did not disappoint as Carlisle, DT West and LaSalle finished 7^th, 8^th and 12^th in the Eastern States Race with 283, 287 and 314 points respectively. It’s the second straight tight battle between Carlisle and the defending state champs and LaSalle’s first shot at the pair after winning Foundation a few weeks back.

I don’t want to step too much on my first podcast (which I’m planning to use to discuss some of the team title drama), but Carlisle was able to sneak by West again in large part due to their tremendous front-running. Noah Affolder and Sam Affolder were the top 2 runners from PA in the field by a long shot, despite the fact that the group included Josh Hoey, Spencer Smucker and Nick Dahl who have been ranked high on the Top 50 Rankings this season. Noah finished 1^st, successfully defending his title in a PA record 12:10.6 while Sam finished 10^th in 12:37.0, another top time in PA history. Isaac Kole also ran well, taking 35^th overall. And although their pack has received a bit of criticism, the Carlisle 4-5-6 delivered a tight enough spread to best West again (and LaSalle for the first time). Jack Wisner was 101^st in team scoring as the #4, which put him ahead of LaSalle’s #5. Tyler Hallman and Max Fiorentino pushed each other very well at the 5-6 spot and drove their score down to finish as PA’s top squad.

DT West continues to look strong. They have a great pack and, even only running six guys, they nearly used a tight spread to take down Carlisle. O’Neill and Bullock both timed their times from this meet a year ago. That being said, Carlisle’s top 3 outscored West’s 46 to 131 which opened the door for the loss. As things stand, while Carlisle doesn’t look invincible, no one seems to have figured out the right formula to beat them. However, the gap is just 4 points right now. That’s way too close to crown anyone champion.

LaSalle had a strong showing as their #1 and #2 runners held their own in this one with a 25^th and 32^nd place finish in team scoring from Evan Addison and Stephen Paul. With Brendan Price’s 58^th place finish, LaSalle edged out West’s top 3 115 to 131. Greg Galbreath ran a strong race as the team’s #4, but there was an 11 second gap between himself and #5 runner Quinn O’Neill. In that gap, 27 runners crossed the line showing just how important every second is in the teeth of the race. Considering O’Neill and #6 runner Jack Galbreath have shown they can run up with Greg, LaSalle could potentially get back some of those 27 spots in their next race. Ironically, the difference between West and LaSalle in the team standings was just 27 points.

Individually, Spencer Smucker ran an awesome race for Henderson, taking 21^st overall and finishing as PA’s #3 runner behind only the Affolder boys. Evan Addison, who was just a second back from Smucker, was PA’s #4 followed by Josh Hoey of Shanahan and Stephen Paul of LaSalle. Looks like Henderson is taking a careful approach with Smucker who may have had some injury problems this year, but he’s showing flashes of the stuff that helped him get on the medal stand each of the past two years. And remember, he knows how to peak at the right time. LaSalle has a great chance at a state medalist as Addison and Paul are showing big potential in the early season and have improved each race, particularly Addison who is right in the middle of his junior jump.

Interesting side note, in his interview post-race, I believe Noah Affolder mentioned he’s going to be getting his wisdom teeth out later this fall during the championship season. Hopefully that has no big effect on training or racing as it will be during a week off in between meets. Even a less than 100% Noah is probably the state title favorite, but District 3 has plenty of guys hungry to take a shot at him.

DELCO Championships

LaSalle’s district rivals, O’Hara got a chance to refuel for the much anticipated PCL rubber match between the two teams at the DELCO championships. Working hard to keep the championship in house, O’Hara ran away with the victory, scoring just 27 points and taking the title over Penncrest and Haverford by 60 points. Ryan James ran away with the title, dropping a 15:44, some 18 seconds faster than a year ago. It’s the fastest time since Kevin James ran 15:22 in 2014 and puts him just ahead of Dan Savage who ran 15:47 to win as a senior in 2012.

But it was perhaps Patrick James who stole the show, dropping an impressive 16:09 to finish a tight third just behind Penncrest’s Avery Lederer. He defeated and couple of top 50 guys in James Abrahams and Gavin Inglis (his teammate) while also bouncing back well from the Foundation meet. If Patrick has a day like this at states, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in the medals. That would be huge for the team title implications. With Jack Becker (16:51) and Billy Donovan (16:55) placed 8^th and 10^th, O’Hara put their entire top 5 in the top 10 and under 17 minutes yet again. Becker ran 17:43 at this meet last year meaning this year’s race was a 52 second improvement.

Individually, Avery Lederer continues a fantastic season. He finishes 2^nd yet again in a major invitational, but he beats out guys like James Abrahams who have defeated him in head to head match ups before. Abrahams (4^th) had a fantastic race in his own right to grab that spot. Both guys are having fantastic seasons and made up a top 5 that was well ahead of the next group of runners in this race. That 5 is a crop of state medal contenders, but I’m not sure they can all end up on the podium. It will be interesting to see how gets there.

Slippery Rock

Can we get some District 7 up in this post? Out west, we headed back to Coopers Lake for a match-up between the WPIAL’s top 2 AAA individuals this season in Mark Provenzo and Casey Conboy. Provenzo took things out hard and did not disappoint, running away with the invite title in a blazing fast time of 15:55. Provenzo, who was 3^rd in the loaded district a year ago, is getting better each week and has even brought along a teammate with state qualifying potential as Matt Busche finished 4^th in this one. Conboy is also having a terrific XC season and 16:11 is nothing to be ashamed about. He put up a strong battle against a top 10 caliber guy in AAA.

Those two ran away individually with Conboy ahead of 3^rd place by 36 seconds. However, that 3^rd place finisher was an important one. Freshman Christian Fitch ran 16:47 for Fox Chapel to earn that third place mark. With his low stick as well as Adam Cook’s 8^th place finish, FC was able to squeak out a one point team victory over Pittsburgh Central Catholic in the AAA race. Pitts CC put up a great fight with 4 runners in the top 16 overall including Sam Gatti in 5^th and Tucker Helms in 10^th. Fox Chapel’s top 5 includes two sophomores, a junior and a freshman (Fitch).

In AA, the defending district champs Knoch took on their rivals from South Fayette in a tight battle for the team title. South Fayette’s two all-star front runners Aaron Pfeil and Sam Snodgrass didn’t fail to deliver as the pair took 1-2 with very quick marks of 16:17 and 16:25. However, Knoch was able to place two in just after them with Max Freyermuth and John Ejzak placing 3^rd and 4^th. In the past, South Fayette had been unable to jump Knoch because their pack wasn’t tight enough or deep enough, but in this race, their pack delivered exceptionally well. Mike Cusick placed 8^th overall, just ahead of Knoch’s #3 while SF’s #4 and #5 also placed in the top 16.

And then there was A. After a pair of close team titles, Winchester Thurston rolled through the field and saved everyone some math with a 1-2-3-4-10 finish from their top 10. A top that didn’t include usual #1 runner Tristan Forsythe who raced at Paul Short last weekend. Assuming Forsythe placed up with Littman, they would have dropped a perfect score on the field and finished with 5 runners at 17:23 or faster. And this field was no joke. 5^th place finisher Christopher Kocent was a state medalist at states last year for Sacred Heart. 6^th and 8^th place finishers Brandon Angelmyer and Jarrett Boyd are sub 2 800m runners who are having strong XC seasons. And 7^th place finisher Ben Barnes was in the top 12 at states last year. So overall, this was a dominant showing by Winchester Thurston and sets them up well for a big post season run if health prevails.

Harbor Creek

District 10 has a ton of talent and it was on full display at this meet. The AA 4x800m state champions, Seneca, took the top 2 spots overall with Donovan Myers breaking away from the field with a 16:18 victory. His brother Phoenix was second. The two twins are entering their final XC season which has included a variety of state medals. And they are leading a team that has won a pair of district championships in A and is hungry for more at the state meet. That team had the 10^th and 11^th place finishers as well as the 21^st, 23^rd and 24^th place finishers (plus the winner of the JV race Nick Post). That proved to be enough depth to get them the win over AA Harbor Creek by just 6 points.

Harbor Creek is one of my favorite teams to watch this season and they nearly stole the individual title at their home invite. They took 3-4-6-8 but their #5 runner was just a bit too far back to earn gold in 30^th. Their two star sophomores, Ryan Stravaggi and Aiden Weber have been fantastic this year and their #3 runner Christian Babo (6^th) is a proven state medalist. Could all three of these guys be medalists in AA? And if they can get a little extra something from the #5 spot, could they make big noise at states in the team title race? They get to race Grove City at districts and see where they stack up.

Jake Lehotsky, a consistent performer from District 10, was 5^th overall and freshman Patrick Stevens of Meadville continues to make noise this year, taking 7^th place overall.

Ridgway Invitational

While Winchester Thurston has been dominating the headlines, Elk County Catholic has been preparing their counter attack. They placed 5 in the top 10 at the loaded Ridgway Invite that featured a ton of talent from District 9 including Foundation’s 3^rd place finisher Ryan Thrush who won the race in 16:27. Thrush defeated Zachary Wortman of Elk County for the title. ECC two freshman, Ben Hoffman and Isaac Wortman, took 8^th and 9^th overall in this field, just behind Darion Gregory of Smethport who was a borderline top 50 finisher in the state a year ago.

Keep an eye on Peter Foradora of Dubois. I believe the junior will run in AAA this year out of District 10 qualifying and is a very talented up and comer from outside the major districts. He placed 3^rd in this race behind Thrush and Wortman and just ahead of sophomore Christian Tanner and 2015 state medalist Harrison Keenan.

William Tennent

While teams have made a ton of noise the past three weekends at big meets like Foundation, Paul Short and Carlisle, CR North has chosen to steer clear of those events. So far it looks like that decision might be paying off as North rolled to a 32-96 point victory at William Tennent with 4 men under 16 on the lay out and their #5 at 16:08. Ryan Campbell led the way with a second place overall finish in 15:40, defeated Sean Rahill and Evan Hutton on their home course, shortly after they broke 16 at Paul Short. Bryan Keller, Sam Early and Tim Haas finished next, just ahead of Matt Coakley of Twin Valley who was the runner up in the White Race at Paul Short by just a second.

It’s worth noting that there was a 44 second gap between North’s #5 and #6, so they will need to make sure they are firing on all cylinders come championship season. That being said, that top 5 is very, very good and I think it’s hard to deny this team could be championship contenders. I’m interested to see how their front running stacks up against DT West, but considering how they matched up with some top names in this field, things are looking good for the Trees.

CB West, who has shown a ton of promise in dual meets, has a very nice pack and seems to be a team on the rise. Remember, those District One qualifying spots are fairly wide open. Brian Mass finished 10^th in 16:03 to lead the way for West who had a spread under 40 seconds. They had a bit of a gap from #4 to #5 this weekend, but if they close that down, they will have a chance to quickly climb the standings in a bigger meet.

Sean Rahill is doing some inspired running right now. He dropped a sub 16 mark at Paul Short in a complete surprise to me and now doubles down on that run finishing side by side with Evan Hutton, who has been at the front of each major invite he’s contested this year. Both these guys have been fantastic this year and I’m excited to watch them compete at Districts in a return to Lehigh.

By the way, Rusty Kujdych continues to roll with a 15:19 victory at WT. That’s 29 seconds than he was at this meet last year and 25 seconds faster than Rock Fortna (5^th at Districts, top 12 at states) was last year. This meet was right around the time Kujdych really started to find himself as a sophomore. He nearly grabbed the league title the next week, placed extremely well at districts and then finished in the top 20 at states as a sophomore. Considering how well he’s run the past few weeks, he’s the favorite for the District One title at this point as far as I can tell. The last three guys to win the District One title as a junior? Jake Brophy, Tony Russell and Ian Gottesfield. They all ended up winning states the next week.

Gettysburg Invitational

Camp Hill’s Ian Gabig finished as PA’s top runner with a second place overall finish in this one. He defeated Patrick Jacobson of Dallastown (5^th) and Chayce Macknair of Mifflin County (6^th) to grab the honor. The small Camp Hill squad placed 14^th overall behind Gabig’s big performance. Shout out to Mifflin County who placed 3^rd overall in this meet and tops for PA. MC has quietly put together a very nice early season run behind a young gun in Chayce Macknair who looks like he has the potential to be a star and another sophomore, Seth Phillips, who placed 15^th in this race. Their top five also included freshman Chase Shaeffer (27^th) and two juniors. This team should make a run at states out of AAA District 6 potentially as early as this season if they can push SC with their 4-5 and keep things tight against the Little Lion’s front running.

Ches-Mont Championships

Just two days after the Manhattan Invitational, Bishop Shanahan, DT West and WC Henderson took the course at Unionville for their league championships. However, West rested all six of the runners who had raced in the championship race at Manhattan and Henderson rested a couple of their own. Still, DT West was one of the favorites for the team title as some on this site and commented West’s JV squad was the #2 team in the league.

DT West nearly was able to pull it off as they led through the early stages of the race and had a tight pack led by junior Evan Kaiser who finished 7^th overall in the championships. But ultimately, it wasn’t enough as West Chester Rustin surprised even themselves with an upset victory in a wild finish. Rustin scored an impressive 71 points, led by 4 runners in the top 20 overall including runner-up Brandon Hontz. Remember, Rustin and DT West’s JV squad met not too long ago when Hontz picked up individual gold, but West picked up the team title. This time, they turned the tables, edging out a five point victory.

West Chester East finished 3^rd overall with 106 points, led by freshman Joshua Lewin followed by Unionville (106) and Avon Grove (130). With the victory, West Chester Rustin adds their name to the ever growing list of contenders for a state qualifying spot out of District 1.

Individually, even without some of the big names, we saw a great battle for gold. Josh Hoey of Bishop Shanahan did just as he did a year ago, doubling back from Manhattan for the league title. Hontz gave him quite the run for his money as the duo was separated by just 2 seconds. Hontz hasn’t raced much this year, but his efforts have been high quality. He’s a real sleeper now with plenty of time to rest up before a district course that should favor his 4:19 speed. On the flip side, based on Hoey’s interview after the race, it sounds like his focus is more on track than XC this year. Considering how many big names appear all in on XC this fall, he could slip a bit at states. However, he’s a huge talent who could turn it on and surprise as exhibited by his victory here over an excellent runner in Hontz.

Andrew Maxwell placed 3^rd overall for Kennett, continuing his own noteworthy season. Maxwell has been a force in the Ches-mont championships for the past three seasons and now turns his attention towards districts and, most likely, states. He’s a great hill runner who shows up in the championship season. Noah Dusseau of Avon Grove finished 4^th to round out the top group of runners at the two mile mark. Dusseau, a junior, will be the  #2 runner for this meet in a year and is one of the best “on the rise” guys in the league. He’s got a real shot at qualifying for states at districts later this month and keeping AG’s streak of state qualifiers alive dating through to Ilgenfritz and Josh Smith who both finished in the top 50 at states.