Weekend 3 Recap

by Jarrett Felix
The usual schedule applies. Recap today (and possibly tomorrow) throughout the day. Careful analysis of the results on my Monday so that I can release my Top 50 early Tuesday. Not much else to say for now. Fantasy draft people we will talk soon.

Briarwood Invitational
Championship
It appears conditions were reasonable, but the competition from a year ago (Kevin James and Jaxson Hoey) were not around to push Brophy to a jaw-dropping time this weekend at Belmont Plateau. Although, it's not like a 20+ second of margin of victory over a pair of rare talents in Fortna and Ryan James is anything at which to shake your head. Brophy has been easing away from great runners all year and who knows when he will see someone who can push him back towards a few of the marks he put up last year. Of course the list of people who could pull that off is probably very short and contains mostly kids outside of the PA borders.

Behind Brophy, Rock Fortna edged out Ryan James as the pair finished in 16:28, 21 and 16 seconds faster than they finished a year ago against a more competitive top end field. This was a great race for both, especially Fortna who has a bit less of an established XC presence. Ryan may end the season as a top 10 finisher at AAA states (he was 15th last year after all) so if Rock can be in that territory that will be a huge for a team that needs to build front running to challenge the other West in District One (and no I'm not talking about Kanye).

The duo's teammates, Rob Morro from O'Hara and Brian Mass from CB West, took the 4-5 spots in the race, although they were roughly 25 seconds back from 2-3. Mass continues to excel in the #2 spot for CB West, mixing it up with a returning state medalist in Morro. Mass a real x-factor for West as he was not on the Varsity team that ran at states a year ago, despite a fast start in 2014. He's off to another fast start in 2015 and if he can hold on this year, that would be huge.

Unsurprisingly, I was most interested in the team battles, especially considering two of my favorite packs were ready to roll. In LaSalle's invitational debut, they nearly managed to outpack CB West and steal the victory from the state's #2 squad. The final score, in a relatively small meet (5 teams combined for 20 of the top 23), was CB West 54-LaSalle 61 (with CB East scoring 85, O'Hara 96 and CRN 110). CB West took the top two spots against LaSalle, but the explorer's 35 second spread kept things interesting. And top 10 finishes from Patrick Grant and sophomore Evan Addison didn't hurt either. That's a big breakthrough for Addison after a successful freshman campaign. He is a huge piece in LaSalle's hopes for a deep postseason run. LaSalle also added a pair of sub 18 men in the JV race (including the overall winner) bringing their total to a meet best 8 sub 18 (they only ran 6 guys varsity, or at least only 6 finished, not to ramble parenthetically but I feel like this happens to these guys a lot? seems odd).

It's worth noting that although LaSalle had a great run, there was 32 seconds between Fortna and Grant, each team's respective #1. That only accounted for four places this time around, but at a bigger meet (like States) that will be a much bigger difference. The pack for LaSalle once again is hinting at big potential, but they will need to establish some front running to help pull the pack along. I think they can (Grant had a great track season and showed some strong flashes a year ago in XC), but they won't always be able to come back from 1-2-3 sweeps like O'Hara unloaded on them at Districts.

Speaking of O'Hara, the team that placed in the Top 3 at states every year since 2010 was just 4th in this invite despite having the best top two in the field. Donovan, a varsity man last year, and newcomer Gavin Inglis had solid showings in the 3-4 spot, but ultimately the team couldn't match the depth of CB East. I fully expect this team to continue to improve, but it's hard to imagine them recapturing the magic that has allowed them to finish in the top three at states. I will say that I think Justin Jones has the talent to drop some time, especially on some of the faster courses. Pat James would have been the team's #5 and helped them cut some points but he was in the JV race. Also keep an eye on Quentin Francis who I believe used to run for Goretti but now is on O'H's roster. He has also ran in the JV race, but he was a strong 800m runner a year ago and has the talent to maybe sneak up and contribute to varsity. Obviously for Jones and Francis 800m times are far from good indicators of 5k potential, but O'Hara has a good track record of turning their mid-distance guys into contributors (Nick Smart, Jim Belfatto, Jack Nolen, Chris Garrity, etc).

CB East looks like a fun team to watch going forward. Brophy is obviously a great low stick and then behind him they had three freshman in their top six overall. That could be a great sign (freshman tend to really pick up steam as they adjust to the training in the mid to late season), but also could be a cause for concern (younger teams sometimes have trouble with the pressure in the championship races and are more inexperienced). CB East was also likely helped by experiencing the Belmont course last week at 4xXC allowing them to show off one of the most balanced packs in the race behind Jake.

Division I and Division II
Connor McMenamin was the only PA runner to crack 17 minutes outside of the championship race, finishing in the runner-up position in a strong time of 16:50. That would have put him right in the mix with Morro and Mass if you are comparing strictly based on times (which I always am very hesitant to do because each race is different, even on the same course). It was a very solid race with just a one second margin of victory to the leader. A close loss should keep him hungry as his season continues.

A huge day was had by Lower Merion's Matt D'Aquila who ran 17:05 to finish 3rd in the D1 race. D'Aquila was one of my deep sleepers for 2015 (I hope I mentioned him in a comment somewhere along the way so there is a trail of proof) and he comes through in a big way at this race. That's a pretty solid time relative to the championship racers and he is still learning what it is like to race at a top level. He's looking to follow in the footsteps of some other very successful guys within that program who mainly all made their big jump from sophomore to junior year (Furcht, Berman, McGowan). Remember this guys name.

Rusty Kujdych and Jake Good continued their strong starts with top five finishes, while Josh Faber from Twin Valley had a very nice showing in 8th. It's worth noting that Twin Valley graduated a ton of seniors last year, but Faber has clearly learned a lot from their tutelage and developed into a nice leader for the squad. Team wise, PA's top team was William Tennent, who is quietly having a strong season. I'm not sure they can break into the loaded top five in District One, but after their killer top three at Viking, it looks like they have expanded things out to a killer top four. I also believe they beat CR North in a dual meet earlier this week (not positive, but I thought I read that) and Sean Rahill, the very talented sophomore on the roster, was only their #4 this meet after finishing third overall at Centaur. Be on the look out for Tennent as a sleeper, especially if a #5 steps up big (Colin Cicchitti, brother of sub 16 man and multi state qualifier Alex may be a nice piece?). Props to Harriton as well for a strong team showing that I did not see coming.

In Division II, Bonner's Sean Sullivan clocked a very nice 17:13 to finish as the Top PA runner in the race. Sullivan, who became a 1:55 man last spring, has some big upside in 2015 after running some phenomenal track relay legs indoors and out. This performance goes a long way towards showing his potential to translate his speed to the grass. However, it is worth noting that Bonner only had four finishers in the race. Hopefully, they can regroup and sort out their top five, because they are the defending district champs (and my pick to win again in 2015). Colin Wills returned to action with a solid 6th place showing after not racing in Malvern Prep's opener.

Oberod Invitational
First of all, big thanks to Bryan for sending over these results to us to post! Really appreciated the hook-up.

Based on the early feedback, it was apparently a fun meet. West Chester Henderson made their invitational 5k debut and really excelled, taking a 29-41 win over Delaware power Tatnall. They had their entire top five in the top ten overall and, on what was apparently a difficult course, they had all five men under 17:30. The gap between Smucker (2nd overall) and Carson Reuther (having a very nice year as the team's early #2) was 45 seconds, so that will certainly have to shrink to take them to the next level. That being said, it's hard to deny they are not at least lining up well against a similarly structured CB East team who is among the favorites to make it out of Lehigh.

Individually, Kent Hall earned a statement victory over last year's freshman sensation Spencer Smucker, out-dueling him 16:27 to 16:33 (the two were 20+ seconds ahead of the rest of the field). Hall, the Unionville stand out, has been fantastic on the trails after a breakout track season last spring and now solidifies himself as a top runner in the state. Hall was the top finisher for PA behind Sappey last week and had the second best combined time at Oakbourne (behind only Dahl) during Week One. Unionville is no stranger to churning out talent and Hall looks a very talented next in line. This is a great run for him.

Smucker also seems very sharp this year compared to this point a year ago. He didn't really hit his stride in 2014 until leagues-districts and then of course he hit another level with his unthinkable freshman medalist performance. He's right on pace for another big year.

George School
Germantown Friends, another historic program, had a big win this weekend, going to work at the George School Invitational. Nick Dahl took 1st place overall with an impressive 16:02 and was followed by teammate Grayson Hepp in 2nd (16:13). They added 8th, 9th and 18th to complete the victory over the upstart squad from West Chester East. Hard to deny that GFS looks like the clear favorites in the independent league, but the real question will be how well they will stack up against the PIAA teams. We may get to see at Paul Short, but if not we certainly will see at NXN. However, since their season really revolves around NXN more so than any other team (besides perhaps DT West), they still have a long season ahead of them so who knows what training cycle they will be on at Paul Short. Regardless, this is a strong, developing team with potential to mix it up with many of the state's best. They are a still a little bit away from that top tier in my opinion, but they are a very good team.

West Chester East beat out Holy Ghost Prep for 2nd thanks to a solid pack and the consistently evolving front runner Rob Moser who clocked 16:33 for 4th. West Chester East added an impressive dual meet victory over another a top AA state contender in Bishop Shanahan this week so it's clear this team is on the rise (historically the top AA team in D1 runs times comparable to the top 8ish in AAA). The pack couldn't quite hang with Henderson's in their dual meet, but I'd be interested to see how they line up with someone like CR North or Pennsbury (and Tennent's top 4). Meanwhile HG Prep still ran a solid day after a good Bicentennial Meet. Patrick Donahue is a name on the rise. He ran 16:19 to compete very well in 3rd (just 6 seconds back from Hepp and 11 back from Dahl). That's a really strong race and he's tentatively the favorite for the individual title in D1 AA.

Boardman Invitational
I won't pretend I know anything about Ohio Cross Country, but it was encouraging to see another one of the state's best programs competing very well and continuing to improve. I'm talking of course of the North Allegheny Tigers who, as one poster pointed out, are quietly developing into title contenders in the AAA race. I was curious how this year's team stacked up at this meet vs. the squad a year ago so I did a rough comparison of times.
2014
McGoey 15:41, Wharrey 15:44, Seel 16:37, Savchik 16:57, Midgley 17:00, Stupak 17:02, Migliozzi 17:11
2015
Migliolzzi 16:07, Stupak 16:19, Blechman 16:45, Greco 16:53, Lutz 17:04, Deible 17:13, Hartigan 17:16, Robinson 17:21
It looks like the 2014 race may have been slightly faster overall (especially for the leaders) so that could play a small role in the adjustment. Overall, it looks like the 2015 Tigers aren't far from their 2014 form. Migs and Stupak aren't quite at a McGoey-Wharrey level (a pair of guys that broke 16 at states), but they are also running very strong (and about a minute faster than a year ago at this time). It's also worth remembering that a pair of varsity members from last year's state qualifying team, Deible and Robinson, are not even in the top five on this year's team (but they also weren't at this time last year).

In the D2 race, Hampton's Zach Case had a strong third place finish. Also in the top five was Amadou Diallo of Allerdice. Case ran 16:45 while Diallo ran 16:47.

Mercersburg Invitational
Gabriel Allgayer returns to action and gets an impressive victory, running 16:50 to overtake Caleb McCurdy of Virginia's Nova AC. Allgayer is one of the top independent league individual contenders and he helped pull his team to the invitational victory as well at this meet. Allgayer broke 16 at Paul Short in the White Race last year so keep an eye out for him and his team in this meet for 2015, especially if he ends up in the more competitive Brown Race.

Altoona Mt Invitational
Will Kachman continues to roll as he takes care of business in this field with a 16:27 victory. Teammate Zane Baker continues to shine as his running mate, adding a 2nd place finish overall to cement the low sticks for Bedford. As a result of the 1-2 finish, Bedford ended the meet as the second place team overall, tops behind AAA Altoona and ahead of defending District 6 (and 5) champions Somerset, who they will likely be battling for a return bid. That 1-2 punch is huge, especially in a bigger invitational where AAA Altoona can stack seven or so guys in the top 20-30. Kiski Prep, a private school who is not in the PIAA, had another solid race at 3rd overall. I don't remember them ever running at Independent States (maybe I missed them) so what do they do for the postseason? This is a strong, small school squad and I would love to see them get a chance to shine somewhere.

Bradford Invitational
Logan Caruso, the sophomore from Bradford, really shined at this meet, taking a 24 second victory over Devan Cavanaugh of Coudersport (one of the top runners in A). Caruso has looked quite strong thus far, especially considering he's still just a sophomore. I'm interested to see how he will handle the AA state meet this go around with another year of experience (and possibly a full team there to support him). Elk County Catholic's own pair of talented sophomores, Matt Dippold and Logan Hoffman, took 3-4 in the meet and helped set the squad up for the team title. This is a strong "A" team and they should be the favorites in District 9, despite a strong early season showing from Cranberry.

Keep an eye on the two young freshman from Smethport, Tanner and Gregory. They were 6th and 8th in this race. Overall, the field was loaded with underclassmen, indicating a bright future for District 9.

In other news, Slippery Rock and Big Spring have yet to post results anywhere that I can find. If you've got 'em, feel free to share 'em. Do it for Evan Hatton! It's his birthday!