Week One Recap

by Jarrett Felix

LXV+ Results Link: Week One

We are back at it now here in the PA Cross Country world, which means my weekends will now officially become a serious of events alternating between looking at results, emailing meet directors about results, contemplating the implications of the results, attempting to add them to our results site and, ultimately, being socially isolated and typing away at my computer to bring to you a recap of the events that I have been working on. Before reading up on the next week's events and starting over ...

Anyway, I'll probably either update this post as more results come in or I will make a new post to talk about whatever I miss this first time around. Either way, I encourage you to check back in throughout the weekend. And of course share your thoughts on what you think the updated Top 50 should look like later this week.

But for now let's begin ....

Oakbourne Relays

For those of you who have not been vigilantly keeping up with the comment section, here's the format of this race courtesy of one of our readers: "Format for Varsity Race-You will have 4 two member teams. The 1st person will run a mile and then tag off to the 2nd person. That person will run a mile and then tag the 1st person who will run a mile then tag the 2nd person. The 2nd person runs a mile back to the finish. The times of all four teams will be added together."

So when reading the results, for example: the first of GFS's 4 member teams had Plass do his first mile in 5:20, handed off to Dahl who went 4:50 and handed back to Plass who went 5:38 who gave it back to Dahl for a 4:51.

Hopefully this helps when you are taking a look at the results. I also decided to add up the two mile splits for each runner and create a list of fastest total times for reference. That's available on our results page as well. However, keep in mind that's unofficial as sometimes the order listed was different than the order actually used in the race (so the splits would be reversed). 

Taking a look at that list may tell a better story. For example, Nick Dahl's times are really impressive. He ran a blazing 9:41 total time (over 10 seconds faster than the next best time) and did it incredibly even with regards to his splits which is also encouraging as many guys had a solid positive split. We suspected Dahl would be strong this year after his spring season, but it's always encouraging to see him produce on the trails where he has had a bit more of a struggle overall. He's one of the top names in the state right now in terms of national qualifying potential, that much is certain,

Assuming my calculations were correct, I had the second fastest time coming from Unionville's Nick Lopapa with teammate Mike DelVecchio also in the top five. That's huge considering this field had three of the best teams in the state in attendance. Lopapa could potentially be a breakout star in waiting for a team that had two sub 4:27/9:45 guys last year who are both back (DelVecchio and Kent Hall). They didn't showcase killer depth in week one, but they have some intriguing pieces. 

I also really like what I saw from Del Vierling of Emmaus. He clocked a total time of 10:12, just ahead of guys like Jack Carmody and Grayson Hepp who both are excellent runners (each made the Pre Season Top 50). If they could get Ryan Paradise out for XC (great track runner sub 2 and sub 4:30) they could have a nice little squad of their own. 

But the real story of this meet is naturally the compelling match up between West Chester Henderson and Downingtown West. Henderson won the meet based on their top 4 relay squads (8 total runners) which I was definitely surprised to see, considering DTW's well known depth. That being said, neither of the High School Hoey's ran (Jonah did) after some very long track seasons so if you swap out the 7-8 for West in exchange for the Hoey's that swings the meet big time. 

Sappey looked really strong, throwing down an impressive negative split as part of a relay team that dominated (he was joined by Ryherd) and West put their top 3 teams (i.e. top 6 runners) in the top 6 overall. They only score 5 in XC so this is quite the nice start for one of the state title favorites any way you slice it.

Despite this fact, you still have to be really impressed with Henderson. Smucker is obviously off to a great start with one of the few sub 10 marks of the group. You also have to appreciate the development of some of last year's varsity guys. They returned a decent chunk of runners from their district runner-up squad, but those guys were back a bit in the pack, especially compared to West (both CB And DT) and Conestoga's deep 7. But Ben Berkman started out the year fantastically with a top 7 time at the meet overall. Then the rest of their pack helped load up 4 teams in the top 9. I still think they have some work to do to catch up to both West teams this year (have to prove they have the front running), but Henderson is already looking very deep. Hard to think they aren't prepared to take another crack at qualifying for states.

Viking Invitational

In their first run of the season, the CB West boys made their case for being the top team in the state, while CB East's Jake Brophy did the same individually. Both were ranked #2 in my preseason rankings, but both looked excellent in their debuts.

West boasted a pack of 5 in the top 13, with their six and seven also joining the top 25. Add in a dominant showing in the JV race, led by Teagan Fortna and it's clear the depth is there.

The 1-5 spread was about 55 seconds, which is pretty solid, but can probably get a bit stronger. Fortna finished a strong 3rd overall, and his consistently makes him a Rock solid front man. Sorry, couldn't resist. The real wildcard is Brian Mass who finished 5th overall and shined in his debut this season. He's a great talent and, if he can hold this form until season's end that will be a clutch X factor. Smullen jumping up to join McDonald and Iatarola is also big. This whole top 5 has top 50 potential at states. That's usually silver at a minimum. 

As for Brophy, he handled this field and crushed his time from last year (15:48-16:05) but it was clearly better conditions as the whole field was faster than a year ago. Brophy looks good, but he's the defending state champion and course record holder. That makes it hard for him to really surprise us on this sort of small stage. However, it's always a good sign to be healthy, running strong and running faster than last year.

Jeff Kirshenbaum is probably thinking along the same lines. After a strong early season showing here last year, the Methacton standout dropped roughly 50 seconds down to 16:02 for second overall. Kirshenbaum has shown signs of greatness in the past during these early season meets. If he holds it until season's end he will be a top 20 guy at districts at a minimum. Lukas Marcelis of Wissahickon also had a great run, finishing 4th among a group that included Joe Maguire and Tucker Desko who were top 50 guys in the preseason rankings. Marcelis gets off too a similar start as Dillon Farrell did when he went on to finish in the medals at states as a senior.

Sophomore Rusty Kudjych debuted nicely in 9th and Sean Rahill from Tennent (also listed as a sophomore) finished in the top 15. Keep an eye on both of those names looking ahead. Tennents top 3 overall ran really well, if their 4-5 come on late they could make a nice run in D1. 

CB East and CR North could both technically end up in a battle for a state spot this fall (right now they are my 4-5 in D1) and the two dualed to a tie in week one. This was a great start for North who historically comes on best late in the season in time to make a big push for states. Looks like Haas and Heintz will be the team leaders but they also boasted a noteworthy 41 second spread. 

CB East looked pretty solid (Goetz was big with a top 10 finish) but their real potential may lay with their freshman. Check out those freshman results: top 4 spots in the novice meet. That's really interesting looking ahead to year's end.

Big Valley Invitational

 It looks like the Big Valley Invitational (which in the past has at least had results split by division if not races) was run as one big race this year and, ultimately AA stud Will Kachman beat out the State College 1-2 punch of Alex Milligan and Nick Feffer. Kachman edged Milligan by 8 seconds and another 13 separated Feffer from his teammate.

I thought this was an encouraging run for Feffer who beat out a proven XC vet in Sam Signor who earned 4th place honors. I also liked the run by Anthony Degleris who is off to a nice start on the grass after an excellent track season. Perhaps I was bit too harsh in my preseason rankings on SC (the coaching community put them in the top 10 easily in the first poll), and they showed a nice top 5 this weekend. Also glad to see Joey Feffer mixing it up in the top 5 of this squad. I think he has potential to be an X factor.

Keep an eye on Camp Hill in the small schools. The team had a decent showing, but if you add in Cooper Leslie (who I believe splits time with soccer) then their score could potentially be in the neighborhood of 70 points higher. That puts them right with Lewisburg, a very good AA squad who had a solid day.

Awesome run by Isaac Davis from Jersey Shore and sneaky good run from Zane Baker of Bedford who has great raw speed and looks like he will be a key addition for Bedford. Just need to add Harry Bailey to the squad next. But seriously, has no one seen this movie?

Cliff Robbins Invitational

Dominic Hockenbury took care of business at the Cliff Robbins Invitational this weekend, winning with a fantastic 16:11 to take gold by 35 seconds to take gold over Matt Murray , an excellent runner in A who placed top 10 at states last year. Although Dom didn't open the season with the scorcher he did last year (15:51), he still dominated and, most importantly, picked up the win. I'd imagine this year more so than ever he his focused on long term goals.

This is a really nice start for Murray as well. His track season was solid, but not quite as good as his previous XC year so this momentum builder was exciting to me. I feel like he is also a guy who comes on really well late in the season.

My biggest takeaway from this meet, however, was the squad from Dallas. They took the team title comfortably with their army of young guns including the consistently improving Jack Zardecki who finished 3rd. They had a solid pack, especially that top 4, and as I've said many times, the AA competition is pretty wide open at this point. Beware of Dallas.

In an early season match up of A contenders, Elk Lake took care of business against Northeast Bradford, helped by a clutch 9th place finish from Hunter Bedell. That's a tremendous breakthrough for him and big for a team that needs a front runner to make them state title contenders.

Great run by the squad from Montrose as well. Also really respected the race from sophomore Frank Cunningham of Hazleton. He's an early favorite for AAA district champ in D2 with his team hoping to defend their title.