The Etrain 11: Let's Do Some Shout Outs

by Jarrett Felix

It's hard to cover every impressive performance that I see, but I tried to give some credit to a few more under the radar performances from this year's state championship meet to celebrate a couple other runners who deserve some credit. Feel free to leave your shout outs in the comment section and commend the runners who you think deserve a little love!

Shout out to Manheim Central. This year, I got a lot of “Woah, where did Manheim Central come from?” type comments as this squad continued to climb the rankings and making noise out of district three. They had an intriguing, rotating top four that all had big potential. Junior David Merkey ended up being the guy to step up on the difficult Hershey hills, finishing in a surprising 36^th place overall despite being in 133^rd at the mile and 77^th at the 2.

Shout out to District 3’s Wilson. This Wilson team in general has impressed me as of late. They were surprise state qualifiers in 2015 and nearly doubled down on that surprise with a big day at districts. Their leader at that meet was Senior Evan Royko. Royko stepped up and did his best running when the pressure was at its highest. He had a big day at states to pull out a 40^th place finish out at Hershey.

Shout out to Zach Case. The Hampton senior barely made states this year. He was a late edition when Mars freshman Zach Leachman pulled out. But Case certainly ran like he belonged at the state championship. He climbed steadily through the field to finish 39^th overall in the state.

Shout out to Lower Merion’s ability to come from behind. It’s pretty crazy what they pulled off. They were waayy back at districts and then turned on the jets to qualify for states pretty convincingly. Then at states, they moved from 16^th at the mile and 13^th at the two mile to finish in 10^th overall as a team. The top three really led the way as Matt D’Aquila went from 70^th to 38^th to 20^th. His position at the mile and two mile was the farthest back of any state medal winner. Teddy Neckowitz jumped from 152^nd to 96^th to 52^nd and Evan Hassman went from 149^th to 97^th to 68^th! Neckowitz’s 100 spot jump from the mile to the finish was the biggest net place difference for any runner.

Shout out to Andrew Healey, Josh Wyandt among others. In A, Andrew Healey of Holy Cross, as just a freshman, made a gutsy surge from the mile to the 2 mile, moving from 27^th to 13^th. He faded a bit over the final mile, but he showed a ton of heart and spirit with that surge. Then in AA, Josh Wyandt of state title hopefuls Dallas, after being the team’s #7 man at districts, made a big move on the second mile to push up from 23^rd to 10^th overall. Dallas needed a big day from a #2 runner if they were going to old off their challengers and Wyandt, although he faded a bit on his way to the finish, held on for a very impressive 30^th place finish and delivered as the team’s #2 they needed to clinch the victory.

Shout out to Ben Hoffman. The freshman from Elk County Catholic had his best race on the biggest stage in the most important moment. ECC was in a tough battle with Seneca for the 2^nd set of team medals at Hershey. They had a lead at 2 miles but the Seneca arm was closing fast. Ben Hoffman stepped up and delivery a clutch surge over the final mile, moving from 43^rd to 27^th and moving up from #4 on the team to #2, to help clinch a narrow win over Seneca.  

Shout out to Wayne Reilly. The sophomore was (for me at least) an out of nowhere district 11 champion in A. Then, at states, he ran a smart, balanced race to move up through the field and crack the top 50 overall with a 46^th place finish. Just a sophomore and maybe just starting to scratch the surface of his potential.

Shout out to General McClane. I’m not sure how many people had this school making it out of District 10, especially over a great program like Grove City, but GM pulled it off. Then, at the state meet, they climbed all the way to 6^th in the final standings, edging out top flight teams like HG Prep and Greensburg Salem. What makes the McClane boys’ run more impressive is the fact that they were led by two sophomores, including Erik Andrzejewski who finished the day as District 10’s #1 runner in AA and the district’s 3^rd faster runner overall behind only Noah Curtin and Donavan Myers.

Shout out to State College. So many things could have broken the Little Lion’s season. They proved themselves as a track powerhouse last year with a huge day at states. Sometimes “track guys” can’t translate it to the trails, especially guys who focus on the 800. But Nick Feffer led this team with an awesome 11^th place finish in the state meet as a “800 guy” who proved he can do a lot more than thought. They also got a step up performance from sophomore Owen Isham who finished an impressive 47^th in the state, 5^th among sophomores. Those two led the way for an SC team that climbed all the way to 7^th in the team standings despite a key injury. Thomas Branstetter, Sam Horn and Owen Wing really stepped up in the stretch run of the season to round a very capable top five.