Checking In Elsewhere

Central League

After a DELCO Championship, the Penncrest boys did it again at Rose Tree Park, rolling to the team title over Haverford and defending champions Lower Merion. The big three of Penncrest was on display yet again as Avery Lederer picked up the individual title, followed by two more top six finishes from Patrick Theveny and Justin Senackerib. Their 4-5 punch of sophomores were both in the low 20s to round out the scoring.

 

A year ago, Lower Merion scored 58 points with a 16:56 average to win the title. That set them up for a state qualifying run a few weeks later at Lehigh. This year, Penncrest scored 56 points and averaged 16:52 on the course. In theory, that positions them for a big run in a week. Add this school to the long list of contenders in District One.

 

Individually, I think you can add Zack Forney to the list of D1 contenders as well. The Ridley senior hung tough against Avery Lederer for a second straight week and earned the silver. His time of 16:25 indicates to me that he could potentially make a push for sub 16 at Lehigh. Haverford’s Mike Donnelly bounced back from DELCOs to round out the top 3, barely edging out his fellow sophomore in Theveny. Big shout out to Lower Merion who got a nice lift from Danny Gabor at #5 overall. I think any of Lower Merion’s top 3 guys could make a push for an individual state qualifying mark at districts. A year ago, the top 6 from Central Leagues were all within the state qualifying window. The #11 and #13 guys also advanced to states individually. This is a historically strong league that doesn’t always get a ton of love, but deserves a good look, even after suburban one and the ches-mont have had their day.

 

Mid-Penn

The always loaded Mid Penn Championships were contested at Big Spring this past weekend and many of the big names came to play. Morgan Cupp of Mechanicsburg picked up the win with a sub 16 clocking at 15:58, defeating a very capable Mitchell Etter of State College. Meanwhile, pre-race favorites Carlisle stormed through the course with 4 top 14 finishers and post 76 points for the win. Those things held reasonably well with the script to start the day (although Carlisle scoring just 5 points less than they did last year as the #2 team in the state is notable), the real action happened behind those big dogs.

 

Individually, Mechanicsburg had the #3 and #7 finishers overall. Brandan Knepper continues to build momentum after his sub 16 at Carlisle. The junior had another terrific race, finishing just 5 seconds behind Mitchell Etter, a top 5 guy from Foundation and a top 15 guy on my rankings. For Vigliano, this is a big improvement on his last run at Big Spring and he tops a slew of guys who bested him at Carlisle a few weeks back.

 

In the team battle, the big winners were Palymra and, you may have guessed it, Mechanicsburg. I never completely counted out Mechanicsburg. They were state qualifiers last year and I really liked their top 3. They clicked big time on race day, helped by Shay Rounsville delivering a solid #5 mark. Enoch Marzano has also made big leaps during his sophomore season. If they run like this again at Districts, they shouldn’t have a problem getting to states. They were 3^rd in the team standings behind two perennial top 10 teams in the state in Carlisle and State College.

 

Palmyra, on the other hand, is a different story. This school was a relative throw in during my District 3 rankings as I opted to focus instead on Cumberland Valley, Chambersburg and others. Palmyra topped both CV and Chambersburg as well as the always formidable Hershey en route to a 4^th place finish. Sophomore Matt Carroll finished tops in his class with a 6^th place overall run, turning a lot of heads on race day. Palmyra’s 2-3 was a pair of freshman who nearly broke 17 minutes on this difficult course and their 4-5 were in 10^th and 9^th grade respectively. Wow, what a day for these youngsters. It’s going to be interesting to see if they can duplicate this success at districts. Despite their efforts, Cumberland Valley wasn’t too far behind them in the standings and you have to like CV’s depth they showed. Palmyra isn’t in my top 4 for districts just yet, but they did make a big statement at Big Spring.

 

A few other notable events to hit: Lower Dauphin had a nice 1-2 punch even without Mark Walsh who was their #1 guy in meet one. If they add him back in, they aren’t necessarily state qualifying contenders, but they are much more formidable. Mifflin County’s Chayce Macknair had a second straight strong race and seems to be catching fire just in time for the post season. His rivalry with Owen Isham seems to be back as those two finished side by side yet again. Milton Hershey was the #1 team in AA without much competition. Caeden Smith of East Pennsboro and Ishmael Kirkwood of Big Spring were the top two individually.

 

Neshaminy

Cheltenham’s Jason Cornelison picked up right where he left off at Tennent, clocking a 16:33 at Neshaminy’s invite to topple Wissahickon standout Ben Hoyer. This should get Cornelison onto the top 50 list and makes him an interesting sleeper pick for a state medal. Both of these two runners have had strong seasons, proving themselves on a variety of course types. I like both of their upside on hills come states.

 

CB East hasn’t had much state qualifying buzz lately (it’s hard to get your name out in District One), but they made their case this weekend with a dominant team performance at Neshaminy. Without David Endres, the team still posted 5 top 10 finishers, led by Declan Earles. Their spread was just 19 seconds. I’m intrigued by this team and excited to see how they handle CB West and North Penn at leagues. I’m interested to see if their depth can overcome the powerful front running they will be up against.

 

Rocky Grove

The Zac Tingley-Noah Bernarding rivalry continues in the fight for the #1 spot in District 10 A. This weekend it was the senior Tingley who had the upper hand, winning the Rocky Grove invite by 10 seconds over Bernarding and AA standout Jacob Eshelman. Tingley, the top returner from districts a year ago, is looking to claim that elusive title that he couldn’t quite find with the Curtins and Myerses taking the reins for his prior years. This could be the season, but I’m not ready to crown either of these two just yet.

 

As for Bernarding’s team, they are looking strong. Cochranton’s top four runners placed in the top 14 overall and they picked up the team title as a result. They scored 62 points and defeated Cambridge Springs for the title. Cambridge Springs, who housed Connor Walsh (two time district champ over the aforementioned Curtin and Myerses), is starting to put together a nice front pack. Alec Bidwell was a state qualifier last year as just a freshman, but he has been running as the #3 on his team for much of this year. That speaks to the depth this of top tier talent this school has. I don’t see enough to make a state qualifying run this year, but the core is fairly young looking ahead.

 

Shikellamy

The Loyalsock boys ears must have been ringing after I slotted them outside the state qualifying picture in my most recent District 4 predictions. Loyalsock dropped 3 top 7 finishers at Shikellamy this weekend and posted a total of 91 points to pick up the victory in what was essentially a district preview (perhaps even more so than what we saw at Coopers). Loyalsock’s big three were the key, but their 4-5 held strong enough to topple Warrior Run’s tight 2-5 spread behind their front runner Moser. I still like Warrior Run’s potential to win the district, but Loyalsock proved that they can handle the big invites well as a pack.

 

The wildcard in the team race looks like it will be Milton. They didn’t have Tyler Leeser again this weekend which is cause for concern for the defending champions. With Leeser, they likely score under 100 points at this meet and finish right next to Loyalsock. Without him, they were a tight 4^th and could have potentially slipped more under different circumstances. Hopefully, Leeser is back healthy for championship season as he is a big talent who could make moves at not just districts, but also states.

 

Speaking of making moves at states, Isaac Davis absolutely crushed his run this weekend clocking a career best 15:39 to win by over a minute against the defending district champion in Serfass. This coupled with Davis’s monster run on the Foundation course speak volumes about the kind of shape this kid is in. I suspect he will take the state race out at a crazy fast pace, perhaps faster than either of the two other classifications and challenge everyone to hold on. The way he is going right now, it’s hard to imagine anyone will be able to keep up.

 

A few other quick notes here. Keep an eye on Lewisburg. Their star frosh Calvin Bailey had his best race of the year with a 10^th place finish at this meet. It seems like he is hitting his stride at the right time as he adjusts to high school training. He’s one of three key freshman in the Lewisburg rotation that needs to have a big day for them to make states (and it’s certainly possible). Mount Caramel continues to e the top team in class A as they topple Southern Columbia 190 to 253. SC’s Ethan Knoebel was the top runner from A and should provide a low stick advantage, but Mount Caramel’s depth is going to be tough to overcome. Both schools had just 6 finishers. South Williamsport had two top 20 finishers from A as well. Don’t forget that small school has produced three recent district champs in Molino and Crawley.

 

 

From earlier in the week

At the Indiana County Championships, Indiana Area was dominant with just 28 total points. However, we knew this team was strong. The real story was the battle between the top D6 schools. Marion Center, behind a big day from Hunter Armstrong, took the #1 spot in that class over Purchase Line (one of my early state picks) and United. Purchase Line looked deepest of the punch with the best #5 while also holding the best #1 runner. There was a Sam Cunkelman sighting in this race as well. The former district champ placed 4^th overall in one of his first major invite appearances in recent years. Excited to see him back racing and putting together a strong performance.

 

At Westmoreland, the Norwin boys overcame a 1-2-3 finish from Greensburg Salem to steal the team title. Frosh Alex Jubert led the way for his team in 7^th overall with a pack nipping at his heels. Norwin took spots 7 through 10 en route to the win and got some help from other schools to displace GS’s back two scorers just enough to eke out a win. There were just 3 seniors in the top 22 finishers at this meet. On the flip side, there were 4 freshmen.