2017 Regional Recaps

Footlocker Northeast

Rusty Kujdych was PA’s best hope for a national qualifier this weekend and the Neshaminy senior delivered. Kujdych clocked a 15:51 to take the 8^th of 10 qualifying spots out at Footlocker Northeast. I believe this was Kujdych’s first time at the regional meet and he acquitted himself well. Personally, I think Rusty may have even more to give come Nationals. As our 24^th qualifier over the past 12 seasons, Rusty will need a top 25 finish to be in the top half of PA qualifiers during that span. I think that is very possible. We’ve had only 6 top 20 finishers so that may be a bit more of a longshot. Congrats to Rusty on coming through in a high pressure situation. Now he gets to go to California, enjoy himself and just have fun. That could produce a big result.

Josh Hoey finished as the #2 PA athlete in the meet, posting a 15^th place finish overall. The Shanahan senior ran a solid race and defeated a few runners that had bested him previously at states. Overall, Hoey put together a fantastic senior year. He placed top 20 at Footlocker, earned a top 10 finish in the state, nearly stole a district title and produced multiple sub 15:20 marks. He’s certainly got more momentum heading into track season than he did a year ago which is scary to think about.

Tyler Wirth and Morgan Cupp rounded out PA’s top 25 finishers. Wirth caps off a strong first XC season with a 22^nd place finish in the regional. He is currently the #8 returner for a bid to nationals next year. Hard to believe this guy was basically off the radar at season’s end, unclear if he would even run XC. And remember he might be better at track …

As for Cupp, he caps off his season well in his own right with a 25^th place run. Maybe he was looking for more, but Cupp has had a lot to be proud of. When he first got to Mechanicsburg, the team was a non-factor at the District level. Now, after 4 straight trips to states and 2 straight medal winning performances, Mechanicsburg has become a powerhouse. They have qualified for states two years in a row, defying long shot odds and battling tough challengers. He’ll be missed next year.

Interesting results from farther down the list- Zach Leachman joins sleeper guys like Matt D’Aquila and Matt O’Neill from the past as a top 40 finisher at regionals after finishing outside the top 50 at states. Leachman, just a sophomore, ran to 38^th overall in this field and really showed up for the western part of the state. He was PA’s #5 high schooler when the dust settled. Jack Miller of Jenkintown topped the standings for non-AAA runners just ahead of Peter Borger of Malvern Prep and the familiar foe of Andrew Healey of Holy Cross. The three runners all finished within a second of one another. Miller and Healey return next year in a battle for #1 in PA’s A class.

But perhaps the performance of the day came from Mifflin County freshman Brayden Harris. The 9^th grader dropped a 16:37 to win the frosh-soph race by an astounding 19 seconds over sophomore Owen Johnson. That time would have been within the top 40 overall in the championship race and, in theory, he could have run faster with additional competition. Harris’s teammate, Chayce Macknair, ended the season as a AAA state medalist and will return next season along with Harris. That could be a monster 1-2 punch for a sleeper pick from Mifflin County.

Antonio Burkhart of Bethel Park doubled down on his terrific championship season with a 5^th place finish in the frosh/soph race while Max Lessans of Hempfield led the way for PA in the junior/senior race clocking a strong 17:03 for 2^nd overall. That caps off a really underrated two year stretch for Lessans who spent some time in the shadows of fast teammates, but was a very consistent performer who was a big reason Hempfield won a district championship and added a top 10 team finish for the first time in recent memory.

Nike Northeast

The top 10 runners from the 2016 edition graduated, opening the door for some surprises. I suspected that these surprises would come from some of the less-known parts of the state, but in the end the always strong District One Pennsylvania showed up in a big way. PA put 3 runners in the top 10 overall for the fourth time in recent years (2012, 2013, 2015) and also owned the 18^th and 24^th overall positions courtesy of the 1-2 punch from DT West of Sewall and Rollins. I thought both of those guys had terrific days that me end up overshadowed in the final tally as we focus on the big three who led the way. Not exactly breaking news here, but Sewall is just a junior and will be back next year to maybe sneak into the national qualifying conversation. His finish this year is comparable (in terms of place) to Ryan Campbell, Ryan James, Brent Kennedy and Kevin James the year before they were top 10 finishers at their respective regional championships.

But let’s focus up on the big three. Liam Conway, Spencer Smucker and Ryan Campbell finished in the exact same order they did in their last race in Hershey. For Ryan Campbell, he put together a strong race, finishing better at regionals than he did at states. Campbell will end up just a few spots away from national qualifying, but put together a terrific senior season that ends on a pretty high note in Bowdoin Park.

While I predicted Campbell’s place reasonably well, I didn’t see Smucker or Conway getting to nationals. As I mentioned in the preview, I was pleasantly surprised that Conway even decided to extend his season and the decision pays off big time with a 2^nd place finish at the regional championship. He joins a pretty elite club of PA finishers and will now see if he can double down on that performance in Portland. We have had just 6 top 50 finishers at NXN since the move to allow individuals and teams in 2008. Our most recent is Kent Hall from 2015 (32^nd) who was another surprise national qualifier with some momentum on his side. Only Tony Russell has won the NXN regional (Russell was the #1 guy in my all decade team a few years back) so Conway’s 2^nd place finish puts him up there with the best.

Smucker was the biggest surprise for me personally and adds his name to the long list of Henderson runs to qualify for this meet. Smucker was 5^th overall in this meet, a drastic improvement over his finish one year previously. He exceeded his state finish and probably a lot of readers expectations, but how will he handle NXN? Henderson runners in the past have had success at Nats. In the mud bowl of 2012, Reiny Barchet took 21^st overall. Tony Russell was 11^th in 2013. Those two are the best ever finishes for a PA athlete at NXN. Henderson has also had top 100 finishes from Alex Knapp (86^th) and Bobby Rimkis (99^th).

As pointed out by one of our commenters, Conway and Smucker were the top 2 finishers from the Henderson 3200. That little meet has very quietly prepared many of our top runners for regional success. Our two national qualifiers from NXN this season ran at that meet. In 2016, the top two finishers at Henderson’s invite were also the top 2 finishers at Footlocker Northeast. Nate Henderson, another Footlocker Finalist, competed at Henderson’s 3200, while Ryan James, the top runner at NXNE, was there too.

There have been other success stories too (the 2012 O’Hara v. Henderson battle also featured NXN qualifier Sami Aziz). I’m not sure if it’s just selection bias (the best runners are naturally going to look for a meet to test themselves, plus Henderson and the Ches-mont have housed a lot of those best runners) or something more (you need a little mid-training race to keep the spark going). Definitely something to keep an eye on as we look ahead.