What A Weekend: Paul Short Recap

After a Thursday filled with bold predictions, the runners at Paul Short and Carlisle set to the course to turn dreams into reality. Let’s move through these in chronological order.

Paul Short Brown Race

Spring Ford, after finishing outside the top 3 in Hershey, pulled off an impressive two week double with a statement victory at Paul Short. The Rams not only bested league rivals Boyertown and Owen J Roberts, but also defeated highly touted Ches-mont programs Downingtown West and Bishop Shanahan. As was the case in Hershey, Jacob McKenna stepped with a big finish, dropping a 15:48. But the big performer was Zach Smith who ran 15:57 for a sub 16 finish just a week after being the team’s #7 runner. Smith, who has been producing fast times on this course since his freshman season, stepped up big time with perhaps a bit more conservative race start paying dividends in the second half of the race. Spring Ford also had the #1 frosh in the race as John Zawislak proved his Hershey run was no fluke with a very quick 16:03.

Boyertown entered this race with a target on their back and, although they may have been disappointed with a 4^th place finish, I thought there was a good amount to be proud of. The front running was quite there the way it was at Foundation, but Endy and sophomore Christian McComb both produced sub 16:10 marks with Dominic Derafelo right behind. At districts, those three could all be state qualifiers (regardless of team finish) and considering the spread isn’t large, they should punch a team ticket to Hershey if they hold this form. I personally still think their 6-7 can step up and push the scorers, but even without them they still had a better #5 than everyone outside Spring Ford. I’ve said before having a great race the week after killing it on the Hershey course is close to impossible. I don’t think people should be burying Boyertown just yet.

Coming into this race, I thought DT West would look similar to Spring Ford or maybe even Boyertown, a solid pack, but not anybody faster than 15:50ish. Well Tyler Rollins quickly set the record straight. In the best performance West has seen on this course since the Hoey-Sappey era, Tyler dropped a 15:37 and reminded us why he was on a lot of sleeper lists heading into the season. Rollins, the only returner from last year’s varsity squad, ran in the 9:20s on the track and has consistently improved each season. I think he’s a threat for top 10 in AAA this year and that really ups what West can do in the team standings.

Ultimately, DT West finished 3^rd, 40 points back from Spring Ford and 33 points ahead of Boyertown (out of state Salesianum was 2^nd). Payton Sewall had a terrific day with a sub 16 and I think Evan Kaiser, who had been leading the team in some early, shorter meets, could potentially be a 16:0x or faster guy at districts. This team had 8 guys under 16:50 which is really impressive. Plus, West was actually leading at the 1 mile mark without Rollins even being included in the scoring. Now a 1 mile split shouldn’t be much of a gauge in a 5k, but I think it does speak to the fact that this team doesn’t have much big meet 5k experience. Unsurprisingly, we can expect DT West to peak at the right time and make a run at a state championship.

In the final standings, District One teams accounted for the top 5 PA teams in the race. As you probably know, just 5 teams can make states out of District One. Missing from Paul Short were recent state qualifiers in CR North, CB West, Henderson and CB East. So yeah, it’s crowded at the top. That being said, I love what I saw from Owen J Roberts. This team had a solid day at Foundation, but, as a I commented on the blog, I thought they needed a #3 to step up if they wanted to look like a state qualifying team. Well that didn’t take long. Linus Blatz had a huge day with a top 50 finish in the team standings, dropping a 16:19. If he holds this form (or improves) that OJR top 3 are going to be potent. This team goes 9 deep and will have plenty of competition to boost the #5 spot a little more. Honestly, the formula that OJR had at this meet was the same as recent state qualifiers like CB East with Brophy that I mentioned in that comment. They have the formula. Honestly, the biggest problem might just be the talent around them.

Bishop Shanahan went all in here at Paul Short and was actually just 1 point off the lead at the mile mark. Josh Hoey proved his XC fitness is well ahead of where it was this time last year with a 15:16 and they got an extra sub 16 performance from Joseph Schubert. I think that Schubert and sophomore Jonah Hoey may have switched chips or something as Jonah was not in the final results but was expected to be racing. Shanahan didn’t have quite enough to hang on to their fast start, but they’ve got guts and they run hard. Yoquinto delivered a very strong performance as he dropped a 16:37. If that was their #5 guy (which I think was the case at Abington), this team’s score looks pretty darn good.

So I’ve already done a page and a half on teams and we’ve barely even cracked the surface in this meet. I’ll try to move quickly through the rest here. In District 11, Easton was the top squad in a three team battle between themselves Parkland and Stroudsburg. Easton got out super quick in this one as well and Joseph Ozgar (sub 16 at Northampton) ended up fading to their #4 runner. All the same, Easton had five guys under 17, a nice top 3 with the potential to improve with Ozgar and they took care of business against their district rivals. Parkland’s big three looked excellent (especially Riley Williamson, holy moly 15:39!) while Stroudsburg just 2 points back of the district powerhouse. Put Matt Bodon up a couple spots with Landvik-Larsen and this squad is in good shape to finish with or ahead of Parkland at districts and knock the powers out of the state championship picture.

Wyomissing finished as the top AA squad beating Dallas at their own game. The big three for Wyomissing that featured two emerging stars in Ben Kuhn and Matt Driben knocked off the D2 stars 332 to 476 and took 9^th overall. Wyomissing has to get buzz in the state championship conversation for AA, but that race is completely up for grabs as things currently stand. They have 6 guys under 17 minutes on this fast course which is a nice place to be, but they will need to show up in Hershey this year at a much higher level than they did a year ago if they want to be champions. Dallas still looks strong, especially at the front of the pack where they had two sub 16 guys. Hard to count out this program, but there are a lot of teams gunning for them at the moment.

Hempfield was easily the #1 PA team, led by a 15:40 from Christian Groff in his second straight sub 16 on this course. Wallenpaupack topped Abington Heights, outdoing their signature 1-2 with one of their own. Holy Redeemer was the next best AA team behind Dallas, but finished in 35^th in the standings compared to Dallas’s 15^th.

Alright, let’s jump now to the individuals. I made the “bold” prediction of picking 30 guys under 16 at this race and I came within about a second of that statement becoming reality. 31 guys ran 16 flat on the course including 27 sub 16. If you ran 16:20, that got you just 54^th in the standings. If you didn’t go out under 5 minutes, you weren’t in the top 40 at that point in the race. It was madness.

At the front of the field, that madness really showcased itself. We had 6 finishers under 15:30, led by out of stater Dalton Hengst, who clocked 14:57. Right behind him, putting down a performance that should get him some well-deserved national attention, was PA #1 Rusty Kujdych who clocked a 15:01. Last three weeks for Rusty include sub 16 at Briarwood, win at Foundation against elite field, and now 15:01 at Lehigh! By the way, 15:01 puts him at #6 in the past 12 years for PA guys on the course behind only Springer, Weller, Abert, Dawson and Russell. That’s super elite company. Rusty is racing a lot right now and has more big meets to come (he mentioned Manhattan was on his schedule). That may seem like too much, but sometimes it helps runners to race against consistently elite competition. Kujdych’s strategy reminds me a lot of Wade Endress in 2010. Endress traveled all over to race the best PA had to offer and, although he picked up some early season Ls to Campbell, Hebda, Kush and Silenieks, he beat all those guys at states and finished off his year qualifying for nationals at NXN.

Although I was pleasantly surprised by Kujdych’s mark, Liam Conway’s 15:08 was mind-blowing. Conway is now tied with Jake Brophy and Ben Furcht on the PA Lehigh All-Time list with this mark. Yes, Jake Brophy, two time state champ and old course record holder, never clocked a faster mark than Conway. The Owen J Roberts senior put himself back in the state championship conversation after he ran solid but not extraordinary at Foundation. From 2007 to 2016, every runner from PA who has clocked sub 15:10 on Lehigh’s course has made it to a National Championship. Are Kujdych and Conway going to join them?

Josh Hoey rounds out the big 3 as he clocked a 15:16 for a career best on the course. The Shanahan senior proves his XC credentials are still there and, at least for now, he’s ready to roll during the XC season. 15:16 matches the time Nick Dahl of GFS ran last year to win this meet so it’s no slouch of a time. The 2015 bronze medalist from states is always going to be a name worth discussing in state level talk.

No PA sophomore has clocked sub 15:20 on the Lehigh course, but Phoenixville’s Carlos Shultz came awfully close this weekend. He ran 15:21, moving from 41^st at the mile to 5^th at the finish and showing he is ready to run with the big boys. Shultz now heads into districts with the chance to make history in another fast race. This kid is legit and showed he was deserving of the top 12 ranking he received in last week’s Top 50 list. Shultz is awesome and perhaps still scratching the surface of greatness. Maybe a bit quicker of a start or a bit less crowded of a meet will make it easier for the youngster to get all the way to the front of the race next time he takes to the course.

Rounding out the sub 15:30 crew was Tyler Wirth of Wallenpauck. Wow, what a run from the District 2 stand out. Wirth is the perhaps the best AAA D2 XC runner we’ve seen since Reece Ayers, a three time top 10 finisher in XC. He’s got incredibly speed which served him well on this course. Wirth is only 2 major invites into his cross career.

Lots of other sub 16s happened. So many that it’s probably not worth cycling through all of them. I’ll point out a couple strong runs worth mentioning. Alex Ermold of Governor Mifflin proved his PTXC breakthrough was no fluke with a 15:45. Jack Zardecki was top’s in AA for Dallas with a 15:43. Quinn Serfass of Loyalsock was the #2 at 15:51. Josh Lewin of WC East threw down an awesome sophomore performance that was a bit overshadowed by Shultz. He clocked 15:48 in a poised bounce run after Foundation. 800 specialist Hudson Delisle showed his range with a 15:56. Andrew Stanley of A ran 16 flat and Charlie Hermann of Lower Merion went from 128^th at the mile to 45^th at the finish in one of the most impressive finishes of the day.

Paul Short White Race

GFS took the title as top PA team with a 4^th place overall finish. The independent leaguers will remain in the favorite position for the Non-PIAA title. Zach Goldberg led the team in 16^th and Alexander Blaylock had a huge day to take 40^th overall. There’s a great pack here for GFS as their top 5 were all in the top 60 and at 17:10 or faster. The GFS dynasty appears alive and well.

Jenkintown of A fame pulled out a 5^th place overall finish against some much larger schools. They were led by Jack Miller who got some revenge on A rival Andrew Healey with a strong 15:48 victory. Jenkintown seems in good form and had a nice #5 performance from Carter Geer. Their top 4 is still the strength of the team as Luke Miller, another frosh, continues to show big improvement. This team would be in the state title conversation most year’s in A, they just have a tough battle ahead in a loaded year. Worth noting, they return 5 of 7 for next year including the Miller’s and #3 man Pat Wagner.

We saw 4 sub 16 performances in this race as well, all coming from PA athletes. As mentioned Miller and Healey (15:54) were under 16, but so too was independent league stand out Peter Borger (15:52) and William Tennent’s Sean Rahill (15:55). This was a big result for Rahill of William Tennent, producing his best invitational mark of the season. He was a top 50 guy a year ago and has nice upside to make a run down the stretch. For Borger, this should give him a ton of confidence. He likely wants the individual independent title and will need every bit of that 15:52 speed to combat Elias Lindgren and Jeffrey Love. Those three are all really strong and probably underrated because they are outside the PIAA. That battle is one to watch as we inch closer to November. By the way, Borger’s freshman teammate Collin Hess was excellent at this meet as well. Hess clocked a 16:20 for 10^th place overall in the race and top frosh honors.