DELCO Recap: Arizin, James, O'Hara maintain dominance at county championship!

By Dan Beck

Cardinal O'Hara swept both the girls and boys titles at the DELCO Championship held at Rose Tree Park in Media, Pa. Saturday. The Lions took home some hardware in the process, running well against good fields.

GIRLS

It is time to forget about Olivia Arizin, the 800 runner (for now), and start thinking about the Olivia Arizin the cross country star.

The junior cruised to a DELCO individual title at Rose Tree Park. Arizin took command of the field just before the mile continued to open up a gap against a tough pack.

Arizin said she felt good in the first mile and opened up some space on her and the race's defending champion Sacred Heart's Emma Seifried. From there it was all about hanging on. The win may not have been expected, but Arizin will certainly take it.

"I don't really put expectations on my races because if I do I don't want to be disappointed, so I just go out with my team trying to do the best we can do," Arizin said.

As she hit the finishing stretch, Arizin gave a glance to notice the real estate between her and Seifried and enjoyed her lead to tape. She won in a meet record time of 18:21, a strong victory especially considering she was sixth at the meet last season.

Her teammates behind her--mostly comprised of Mancini's--helped complete the double win; individual and team. The Lions scored 43 points, good enough for the win over a hard-charging Strath Haven squad. O'Hara's scoring five was made up of Arizin and four Mancini's, sophomore Elizabeth (seventh place in 19:40), senior Grace (ninth in 19:55), freshman Christine (tenth in 20:04), and sophomore Eleanor (16th in 20:32).

The runner-up, Seifried, was just two seconds off her winning time in 2014. The sophomore at Country Day of the Sacred Heart was still satisfied with her effort.

"I think I went out fast in the beginning and that took a toll at the end, but I felt good," Seifried said. "I knew Olivia [Arizin] would be a race for me because she's having a really good season, so I expected to be up there with her."

The two were together for most of the first mile before Arizin said she started feeling good and formed a gap between her and the field. Seifried stayed relatively even with Arizin, but was unable to close on her in the final mile.

Penn Wood senior Agnes Mansaray took home third place in a time of 19:05. Jamie Green of Ridley played it fairly conservatively in the opening mile and made up some ground on the field taking fourth in 19:11. Strath Haven senior Maia Mesyngier was fifth for the runner-up team, traversing the course in 19:26.

The champion Arizin said her training is right on schedule and is looking forward to the Philadelphia Catholic League Championships in a few weeks and districts and states beyond that, where she will look to do more damage.

BOYS

It was easy to pick the O'Hara boys Saturday. And it wasn't just because they were the ones in the bright pink singlets.

Cardinal O'Hara dominated the boys race at the DELCO Championship putting its top five in the top 11 and easily taking the team title at Rose Tree Park in Media, Pa. Ryan James and Rob Morro, who went one-two respectively, paced the Lions up front.

James finished the hilly terrain in 16:02, just a couple ticks over his goal of breaking 16. James and Morro took the front of the pack right away and didn't look back. James gapped his teammate and made a dash for the finish.

"I felt great with my performance," James said. "I was hoping to break 16 before Catholics and before states, but now I'm going to try to break 16 there."

Morro took second behind James in 16:15. Lions coach Tom Kennedy believes his team is finally getting on track this season.

"I'm very happy," Kennedy said. "We had had some struggles early on in the season and we really weren't looking like an O'Hara team and today looked liked we're getting back to where we want to be."

This marks the seventh consecutive DELCO title for O'Hara--the longest streak of any O'Hara team in the history of the meet. Patrick James took seventh in 16:43, Gavin Inglis came across tenth in 16:56, and Billy Donovan was right behind him, running 16:58 for 11th place. That's five runners up 17 for the Lions.

Haverford's James Abrahams finished third behind the O'Hara pair in 16:24. Sean Sullivan of Bonner Prendergast was fourth in 16:28 and Strath Haven's Ian Reid was fifth in 16:35.

Kennedy was pleased to see his top dogs running out front, no matter who ended up winning the individual crown.

"They've traded off a couple races," he said. "Rob [Morro] is the number one man in practice, but Ryan [James] really comes out and races very well. As a coach, it's a conflict with two guys you love. You want both of them to win and you know it can't happen. I told them both their strategy for today and I just sat back and watched the race."

40 points behind O'Hara in the team race was Strath Haven at 71. Haverford was third with 75 (with a 14 second gap between its two and five runner). Ridley (138 points) and Penncrest (162 points) rounded out the top five.

Up next for O'Hara is the Philadelphia Catholic League on Saturday October 24 where they will battle LaSalle, which topped the Lions by 35 points at Briarwood--the same course at PCLs.

We're going to have a difficult contest with LaSalle at Catholics," Kennedy added. "They are a incredible solid and impressive team. We still want to go after them."