Pennsylvania ready to make a big splash at Foot Locker and NXN Northeast Regionals!

NXN

Girls

Unionville and Pennsbury girls will look to duplicate their 2013 performance at Bowdoin Park by finishing in the top two in the Northeast Region. Pennsbury enter this meet as the state champions for the 4th time in five seasons, narrowly defeating the reigning NXN Northeast champions Unionville by 5 points. Both teams waiting until the 2nd half of the season to start competing will really be put to the test on Saturday, although their state meet performances would suggest that they are ready to put on their best performance of the season in New York.

Cardinal O’Hara girls will be joining the top two at NXN for the very first time after their highest state meet finish in school history (3rd). The team only has one senior in their top seven, so the squad will enter the race with nothing to lose. Olivia Arizin and the Mancini sisters of Grace, Liz, and Eleanor will lead the way for the District XII Champions.

Those teams will be joined by Aislinn Devlin of Downingtown West and Maddie Bixler of West Chester Henderson. The Ches-Mont league rivals had strong ends to their season, with Devlin recording her best state finish of her career. Olivia Sargent will look to earn a high finish for her Pennsbury squad, but she can also contend for the top spot. She is coming off a season best performance at states. Unionville’s Olivia Young and Sargent have exchanged victories over the other in their past two races, with Sargent winning the latest battle.

 

Boys

The boys AAA state champions North Allegheny (Wexford Flats) will try their luck at NXN Northeast after timing their best race for the absolute right time. Matt McGoey and Hunter Wharrey have been the top two for the champs all season and will look to repeat that feat one more time. McGoey’s form will put him in contention for a top ten position.

Conestoga and Andrew Marston will also be making an appearance at NXN. Conestoga’s last trip to New York was arguably one of the best races of the season, as they earned a 3rd place finish behind two of New York’s top teams at McQuaid. Marston was the winner of that race and victory here will make it 3 years in a row that a PA runner won the NXN Northeast race. If the team runs like they did in late September in New York, they could finish quite well.

Cardinal O’Hara are back again, with Kevin James leading the way. James will look to make it to the NXN finals for the 3rd year in a row, and 2nd straight as an individual. O’Hara were team qualifiers in 2012. After their best performance of the season at states, how close can they get to those big top 2 places?

Nick Dahl will lead his Germantown Friends squad in the boys race, while Griffin Molino of South Williamsport will look to qualify for NXN Finals for the 2nd year in a row after an excellent 2014 season that included a repeat Class A championship and a top ten finish at Paul Short.

 

Foot Locker

Girls

Brianna Schwartz of Shaler Area will look to keep the Foot Locker Northeast championship in the state of Pennsylvania after Tessa Barrett’s win last season. Barrett’s top opponent last year will be the same for Schwartz this year, as Hannah Delbassi of Connecticut will be Schwartz’s top challenger. Schwart has been unstoppable as of late. Can the state champion continue her season undefeated?

Ally Rome and Lindsay Oremus of Dallas will look to make it 3 years in a row for a Dallas runner to represent the Northeast in the Foot Locker finals. The duo finished 1-2 in the AA state race, with Rome claiming the gold medal. Ally’s sister Regan qualified in 2012 and 2013, and Ally will look to make it 3 years in a row for the Rome family.

Marissa Sheva of Pennridge, Madeleine Davison of North Allegheny, Mady Clahane of Cumberland Valley, Brooke Hutton of Coatesville, Kelsey Potts of Mount Lebanon and 2 time class A state champion Marianne Abdalah of Vincentian Academy will also look to crack the top ten. Sheva finished 4th at states after going the first two months of the season unbeaten with the 2nd fastest time in the state. Davison was the top runner in Western PA for the first seven weeks and had four victories this season. Clahane has only finished once outside the top five in a PA race in 3 years, and has finished in the top 14 in both Foot Locker appearances. Hutton is making her first Foot Locker appearance after an excellent first year, earning five victories and never missed the top ten in any race. Abdalah has rolled through the Class A division for the 2nd year in a row to go along with three other victories. She will look to break the top ten and close the gap on Clahane and Davison after racing them earlier in the season.

 

Boys

AAA boys state champion and course record holder Jake Brophy of Central Bucks East leads the group of PA boys looking to earn an early Christmas present to San Diego. Brophy has only lost one race all season and that was at Foundation to fellow Foot Locker contender Paul Power of Spring Ford, who is having the season of his career himself. Power may have missed the top ten at states, but he has been excellent every other time he has competed, including a meet record at Foundation in September.

Before Brophy’s huge state triumph, Colin Abert of Easton was PA’s top star. The senior had set course records at PTXC 6 in Kutztown (15:21) and set a new meet record at the Paul Short Run (14:55), which was in the top ten for a good portion of the season nationally. After finishing 5th at states, Abert will look to rebound and make that state performance turn into a blip on an otherwise spectacular season.

AA champion Dominic Hockenbury of Lake Lehman has been excellent this season and was strong through the PA postseason. Hockenbury will look to take advantage of having such a strong field around him to earn the biggest success of his career.

Casey Comber of Hatboro Horsham has been on Brophy’s heels for a lot of the season, and a similar formula can help him get inside the top ten. Comber has five victories of his own this season and a 15:12 personal best this season. Other contenders that will be joining Comber and the rest of the chase pack will be Sebastian Curtin of Mercyhurst Prep, Will Kachman of Bedford, Independent School state champion Sam Ritz of Germantown Academy, and Griffin Mackey of Sewickley Academy.