October is Here: Another Round of Recaps

William Tennent Invitational

For a brief period of time the William Tennent Invite seemed to be lacking its spark as a marquee invitational. But now the magic is back as the top 3 team’s from last year’s D1 championships all showed up to race hard across this quick course.

A year ago at this meet, I think CRN really found their stride. After a big that included 4 sub 16s, I think CRN became confident in their ability and, after that race, they were near untouchable. Well, a year later, the team looks like they are clicking again. North scored just 50 points to take down DT West and CB West, their top D1 challengers a year ago, as well as D3’s Twin Valley (who ran awesome with 95 points in second). CRN had 4 guys in the top 8 overall, helped by Kevin Ehrgott’s huge improvement over last year (he was outside the top 40 in 2016 and now takes 8^th in 2017). And, hey, let’s give a shout out to Matt Mullen. The man under the spotlight for North in the early weeks dropped a 17 flat to take 31^st overall. That was the best #5 runner in the entire field, even better than the loaded DT West.

As mentioned, DT West took 3^rd overall in this race, but may have left some of their best work in the JV race. West took 1-5 in JV and a few potential scorers based on finishing time were in that event. Ben Datte led the way with a sub 17 clocking followed closely by Ryan Straub at 17 flat. Regardless, West still had a strong showing. Joseph Chamoun had a great race in 22^nd overall while Payton Sewall proved his sub 16 at Lehigh was fluke with a 6^th place overall finish (the #1 man on his squad). Amazing, DT West is almost too deep. It’s going to be tricky for them to guess which 7 guys are going to have their best day on race day. I suppose that’s not the worst problem to have.

I’m going to get to Twin Valley in a sec (I promise), but just want to knock out some more D1 stuff real quick. CB West, who also had a big, momentum building run at WT last year, had an interesting day. Fresh of a dual meet victory over CB East, the West boys took 4^th overall in this meet, just 20 some points behind DT West. They had 4 guys in the top 20 overall and have good rotation behind #1 runner Michael Samson (who was 4^th overall) meaning any (or all) of their guys could breakthrough on the right day. West is officially just one step up performance at the #5 spot from being a party crasher at Districts.

OK, now let’s talk about Twin Valley. This team is coming on strong as well in recent weeks. They didn’t manage to topple Carlisle at the school’s home invite, so they will be a bit of an underdog against the defending district champions at Big Spring. However, this team should take a lot of confidence from the silvers at this meet. The top 4 is looking awesome, led by Dylan Servis who had another top 10 run this weekend. Griff Schlegel, who took 14^th, had one of his best races in recent weeks as the team’s #2. He’s the real x-factor for this team to succeed. The Knorr boys have upside (16:07 at Carlisle for Chase) and Nick Mandis has come on like a rocket in the #5 spot. We harped a bit on TV’s #5 spot in the early season, but now look. They had the second best #5 in the entire meet this weekend, just 1 place away from being the best.

Individually, what a win for Wallenpaupack junior Tyler Wirth. After a solid run at Paul Short, Wirth dropped a big close against Ryan Campbell to take the victory at William Tennent. With a third big time invitational result to his name, I think we can safely say Wirth is legit. If he finishes as the top junior in states, history says he will be a top 5 guy in AAA. Over the past 6 seasons, the top junior has been 5^th, 5^th, 1^st, 2^nd, 1^st, and 1^st. As for Campbell, he’s still hanging around at the front of fields, looking legit. He’s run his best race at Hershey each of the past two seasons and it’s not like he’s running poorly right now. He’s eclipsed his mark from this race last season and posted an all-time type mark at Carlisle a week ago.

Michael Samson and Jason Cornelison rounded out the top 5. The D1 boys ran 16 flat and 16:01 to turn heads at the top of the leaderboard. For Samson, he’s already gotten some love on this site as a strong runner. He was just outside the top 50 at states last year and leads a strong program. For Cornelison, he’s been on my radar (kid had a great day at Briarwood), but needed a performance like this to really shine. Taking 5^th in this field speaks volumes about the jumps he’s made since last year. He likely learned a lot by watching Will Griffen roll last year and will look to follow in his footsteps. Cornelison, Hoyer, and Brugger are all in the same league, the often overlooked SOL American. That could be a fun match up, especially because Hoyer is already a top 25ish guy in the state. Shout out to the Cheltenham program for their continued distance success. Really like the strides they’ve made as of late.

TSTCA Championships

Some of the top WPIAL teams traveled to the very difficult California course for this championship style meet with some of the best runners from each classification in the west taking center stage. At the front of the field was the familiar face of Sam Snodgrass of South Fayette. The AA runner rolled to a victory, defeating two of his chief class rivals in Mark Brown and Cameron Binda (3^rd and 4^th). Behind him, his South Fayette teammates had arguably their best run of the season. Colin Dunn and Silas Mays both contributed top 20 finishes to bolster their top 3. Greensburg Salem toppled this squad again, but South Fayette (who was 3^rd at districts and states last fall) is lurking as the calendar turns deeper into October.

It’s worth noting that GS produced a strong showing of their own at this meet. The top 3 continues to be excellent, but the 4-5 is also making big strides. The young guns Calisti and Gatons were joined by the winner of the AA JV section in Ethan Kelley as the soph and two freshman should combine to be scoring threats looking ahead. As of now, no seniors are projected to be scorers on this team although Nick Leo could be a factor if one of the young guys falters.

The top overall team was a surprise. USC rolled through the competition to knock off the always dangerous Pittsburgh Central Catholic thanks to a tight pack of athletes. USC started off their scorers with Rob O’Brien (6^th place) and put the rest of their scorers in the top 17 overall finishers. It’s going to be hard for this team to really dent the top of the WPIAL standings, but this should be a big, confidence building win for this program. For Pitts CC, they fought hard and earned a valiant silver. Their top 2 guys are running awesome right now. Max Steffey impressed with a 2^nd place overall finish ahead of a deep field. Sam Gatti didn’t have his best day, but still finished 7^th overall. Both of these guys have the potential to place top 10 in the WPIAL and are intriguing sleepers for states.

DELCO Championships

It was apparently a brutal day at Rose Tree for the DELCO Championships, but Penncrest’s Avery Lederer still managed to pull away for a 20 second victory. Lederer continues an impressive season and, after some close calls last season, will look to get the DELCO-Central belt back in Penncrest’s hands. His teammates behind him helped roll to a 45-70 win over Haverford for the league title. Sophomore Patrick Theveny was 4^th overall and the top non-senior. He and last year’s state qualifier Justin Senackerib both bolstered Lederer with top 5 finishes. Penncrest’s 4-5 were also sophomores and took 17^th and 18^th overall. Those two, along with senior Billy Angelina and JV winner Jalen Chin will ultimately determine how far this team goes at Lehigh. Their top 3 could all be state qualifiers, it just comes down to the back half of the pack’s ability to bring it home.

Ridley’s Zack Forney and Bonner’s Anthony Harper both ran strong races to take 2^nd and 3^rd overall in this meet. Forney is coming off a 16:07 run at Paul Short and looks like a state qualifier out of D1 this season (although the competition is loaded) while Harper is a returning AA state medalist gaining steam. Haverford had 3 top 11 finishers and 5 in the top 22. All five guys are back next season including a 1-2 punch of sophomores. Mike Donnelly was their early star at Briarwood but Josh Fingerhut was the big dog on this day with a 6^th place finish.

O’Hara, after yet another year of key graduations, didn’t keep the DELCO title in house, but did put on a nice pack running display. The boys had a top 3 within 4 seconds of one another and a 1-5 spread at 23. I think that top group could be even tighter looking ahead and I’d bet that O’Hara gets back to the state meet yet again in 2017 out of District 12. Keep an eye on juniors Thomas Haas and Josh Hayes. They are gaining momentum at the right time.

Salesianum

According to our loyal commenters, the large and championship races were ran together at the grueling Delaware course, meaning our top individual in head to head standings was North Penn’s Brendan O’Toole. The senior, who hadn’t had a major invite appearance since Centaur (another hilly course) proved himself with a victory over top ranked runners Jack Wisner and Ben Hoyer. For O’Toole, who was right with now sub 15:40 man Riley Williamson of Parkland, this result was a long time in the making. It will be interesting to see what he can do a flat, fast course considering he has 4:20ish/sub 2 wheels in his arsenal as well. O’Toole was a bubble state qualifier last year, but he is in much better form thus far in 2017.

Now I took the liberty of calculating out the combined team scores because I was curious. By my math, Carlisle would have been PA’s top team with 61 points followed by North Penn (72), Great Valley (102) and Wissahickon (105). Great Valley’s signature tight pack was in action, but North Penn ended up with 3 guys in front of their #1. North Penn was actually pretty close to Carlisle (better through 4 runners) and looks like yet another interesting sleeper in D1. I don’t think they are going to be state qualifiers, but they could be back in the top 10 yet again with maybe a couple state qualifiers (Noah Demis is having an excellent sophomore season and was the #4 PA athlete). Keep in mind Carlisle was one of the top PA teams at their home invite and looks like they may crack the top 10 teams list this coming week.

Speaking of Carlisle, I liked their performance here. Jack Wisner adds his name to the sub 17 list (he’s faster on this course than his brother was when he medaled at states) and Casey Padgett has his best race since Enos with a 10^th place combined finish (#6 PA). That top 4 can all roll on a fast course and Bryce Dunkelberger, an experience, battle tested varsity performer, had an excellent race of his own as the team’s #5. I’m a fan of this team and think they could be top 10 at states, especially once you cut out some of the inevitable misses from D7 and D1.

Grove City

Without their #1 runner and consistent team leader, Grove City was still able to post just 41 points en route to a team title at their home invite. Without Jonah Powell, GC was led by sophomore Toby Jones who stepped up in an excellent performance to take 7^th. The trusty GC pack followed in right behind him as they posted 9^th, 10^th and 11^th overall finishes. Sophomore Mason Murray impressed, stepping into the scoring role when given the opportunity and delivering a 15^th place finish. It wasn’t a loaded meet, but there were strong teams here (including AAA’s Chartiers Valley and some top A squads) so posting a win and showing real pack running prowess is a good sign for this team who has championship aspirations in November.

Individually, Ben Barnes of Riverview took the title in a time of 16:25, defeating the 1-2 punch from Chartiers of Czar Tarr and Mark Golebiewski. For Barnes it’s his second win of the season as he also won at Gateway. This victory was an emphatic 23 second edge and speaks volumes about this guy’s ability to run hills. The senior is one of the top competitors in the A state championship.

His Riverview teammates will be hoping to join him there. Riverview has been among the top 10 A teams in my rankings this season, but they faced a tough test this weekend. Class A Reynolds (District 10) was the top in the division, scoring 119 to Riverview’s 133. And, by the way, Eden Christian posted a strong score of 142. They are in house district rival (who I believe one of my commenters pointed out prior to the season starting as contenders) who have a terrific pack. Now if Michael Komanik comes back for Riverview they should be in a good spot, but there is a little drama right now. The other thing to note is that Riverview actually won the JV race. That’s pretty surprising for a small A school, especially when you look at the fact that it was all freshmen and sophomores. It must be something in the water for this young guns as Riverview also won the Middle School and Elementary School Titles.

Gettysburg Invitational

Just in case you thought the D3 state qualifying race wasn’t jumbled enough already, Chambersburg High School took to the course at Gettysburg ready to make a statement. After finishing out of contention with the top schools at Carlisle, Chambersburg came within just a point of powerhouse Cumberland Valley as the two schools finished at 139 and 140. Also right there in the mix for the title was Mifflin County (D6) who took 3^rd with 143. Chambersburg was behind in the front running category with just 1 top 20 finisher, but their pack and 32 second spread nearly carried them to a team title.

That being said, Cumberland Valley still has lots to be proud of and should feel confident about their state chances. Andrew Brown posted a second straight strong finish with an 8^th place mark. That was good for 4^th among PA runners. CV also took 1-2-3 in the JV race, led by Nick Arnold’s 17:30 clocking for the win. That time would have made Arnold a scorer for CV in the varsity race, helping to bolster their advantage in the final standings.

Individually, Mifflin County had plenty to smile about as they had the top 2 finishers form PA. Chayce Macknair led the way for the first time this season, taking 3^rd overall in 16:20. His teammate, superstar freshman Brayden Harris, was 6^th overall, just one spot ahead of Hershey’s Andrew Sullivan. This is a huge race for Macknair who I picked before the season as a breakthrough candidate. He’s been running behind Harris most of the year (not a bad place to be considering the frosh nearly broke 16 at Carlisle) and should benefit from having someone that talented to push him consistently.

Harbor Creek Invite

My concerns about HC’s health melted away pretty quickly this weekend. The Harbor Creek top 3 looked better than ever as they rolled to a 1-2-3 finish at their home invite. Their #4 and #5 finishers also cracked the top 12 giving the D10 AA champs a runaway victory. They actually lost to Seneca a year ago so this has to be confidence building for this program. Grove City may be the #1 ranked team in AA right now, but Harbor Creek won’t back down. They should have 3 in before GC’s #2. Then it just comes down to the pack running from Mandel, Weber and Dougan.

In other team news, those Seneca boys put together a strong race to finish as the top A team over West Middlesex (78-91). For Seneca, they added back in Nick Post who delivered as a top 5 scorer. They also got strong days from all of their top 3 runners, including sophomore Brock Smith who continues to shine as a #1 guy. West Middlesex looked pretty strong in my opinion. They surprised me with their state qualifying run a year ago and I hope to not be surprised this time around. The Chlpka’s had a nice day with top 15 finishes. D10 A will be no joke when you add in Cochranton, North East, Reynolds and more.

Ridgway Invitational

Elk County Catholic, the runner-ups from states in 2016, pulled out a tight victory at this invite against AA Bradford. Elk CC was missing one of their usual top 5 (Logan Hoffman) and so, despite 4 guys in the top 11 including individual champ Ben Hoffman, the Elks had to sweat this one out. Hopefully Hoffman is back in action soon as this squad will need him to stay within the top 2 in A. For Bradford, this is a nice result and a confidence building one heading into districts against Punxsutawney, their rivals for the state qualifying spot. Logan Caruso took 2^nd overall, ahead of Smethport’s standout Darion Gregory. That’s one of Caruso’s best performances of the year as he settles back into the form that helped him win multiple district titles in his younger, healthier years. Bradford’s Tyler Kraft and Vinnie Bizzarro also contributed strong top 20 finishes to bolster the pack.

Individually, Nico Herderos of host Ridgway put together a strong run. He took 4^th overall, coming from completely off my radar to beat a host of A talent including Carter Kauffman (6^th), Nathaniel Lerch (7^th) and Christian Tanner (9^th). Nico is a sophomore this season, the same as Kauffman and Lerch.

Legends Meet

It’s always tricky judging performances against out of state competition as I’m not too familiar with the competition. But I think Mount Lebanon had a pretty strong showing out in Ohio. They earned the silvers in a close fight with St. Ignatius, one of the top teams from Boardman. Ignatius was a good amount ahead of both Butler (without Beveridge) and North Allegheny at Boardman so see Lebo run right with them is good for their stat qualifying stock. The Anderson-Cosentino 1-2 punch was back in form as this pair led the team with 11^th and 13^th place finishes. They were just a few steps back from Tristan Forsythe of Winchester Thurston who took 10^th. Anderson, the sophomore for Lebo, was 0.2 seconds away from pulling the upset. Bryce Brandenstein, Cameron Potts and Alex Brokaw rounded out the scorers for Lebo with top 30 finishes.