Photo by Don Rich
PTXC 8 (Kutztown, PA)
BOYS GOLD RACE
Saturday marked the first big test for PA transplant Noah Affolder and his Carlisle team. In a strong field of competitors and some intense heat, Affolder passed the test, winning in 15:58. While he said he would attempt to go for the course record of 15:21, the heat made him reevaluate his plans. Around the halfway point, Affolder shook his last challenger and ran away with the win.
Noah's brother Sam Affolder wasn't far behind taking third and executing a conservative race strategy. He was around tenth at the mile, but worked his way up in the field to grab third. It was a race plan, he'd never really tried before, but upon the advice of his coach, it worked out well for the sophomore. But he was sandwiched between a pair of Loudoun Valley (VA) runners, Peter Morris and Colton Bogucki. Drew Hunter's former teammates proved to have slightly better depth than Carlisle, taking an 80-85 win in the team race. Issac Kole ran very well for the Herd, taking 11th in 16:44. Though Carlisle didn't take the win, it was a good start for a team that will look to be on top of the state podium come November.
Saturday was also a look at a good deal of the other strong runners in PA. Souderton's Connor McMenamin raced for the first time in an invite setting since very early spring. He battled an injury during last track season. After leading through about the first kilometer, McMenamin took sixth in 16:21, a few seconds faster than last year, but in much hotter conditions. Pleasant Valley's Seth Slavin was seventh and the Mechanicsburg pair of Morgan Cupp and Alex Tomasko were impressive taking eighth and ninth respectively.
While Loudoun Valley edged out Carlisle for the team win, there was plenty to note after the top two. Corning from New York was third, led by Kevin Moshier, who took fifth overall and hung with Noah Affolder the longest. Council Rock North (PA#2) was fourth with Bryan Keller as its top guy at tenth, Cumberland Valley was very strong, proving they are certainly capable of doing damage in District 3 and beyond. They took fifth. Mechanicsburg with those two top ten finishers were sixth and reigning PIAA-AA state champs Dallas were seventh.
GIRLS GOLD RACE
US#6 Jessica Lawson made the journey down from New York for PTXC 8 and walked away a convincing champ. The Corning senior broke away from the field around the mile mark and made it a one girl race fast. While the heat preventing a course record attempt, or even a sub-18 try, Lawson was happy with her first invitational appearance of the fall.
Lawson's Corning squad won the team race, scoring 73 points. PA#2 Perkiomen Valley, though, capped off an impressive week with a runner-up finish, 20 points behind Corning. Perk Valley started its week by beating conference rival Owen J. Roberts handily. Annie Glodek led the way for PV, taking second to Lawson in 19:06. For Glodek, she was slower than PTXC 7, but the place was improved. She was happy with her race in the heat. Perkiomen Valley had a strong group of girls from 2-5, led by Michele Daniels, who was 18th overall.
Maddie McLain of Eastern York started off her junior season in a big way. McLain improved to third after placing ninth a year ago. She ran a time of 19:28. Emily Bonaventure of Souderton outkicked Coatesville's Brooke Hutton for fourth place, with both girls clocking in at 19:37. Making a big statement on Saturday was Hershey. Andrea Demko placed eighth in 19:39 and teammate Taylor Mortensen wasn't far behind, taking tenth in 19:51. Faith Mark was 17th for Hershey, as well, showing that they could be a force in District 3 this year.
BOYS BLUE RACE
Joe Cullen used some patience and it paid off for the Wyomissing senior. Cullen clocked a 16:41 to win the Blue Race. he ran away from Red Land's Nate Romberger, who led through about 3K. Romberger wound up second in 16:56. The story, though, was the strong team race from Wyomissing that took second.
York Suburban won the team race. Cullen indicated that perhaps the YS boys were holding back in their first invite, but the AA power still won 76-83. York Suburban packed up early on quite a bit and picked up the nice team win:
Milton's Tyler Lesser, Northeast Bradford's Casey Ellis and Shenango's Matt Salem rounded out the top five individuals.
GIRLS BLUE RACE
Elizabethtown Area looked very strong in its first invitational of the season, particularly up front. E-Town grabbed the first two spots in the race with freshman Katie Locker and sophomore Cat Shontz taking first and second. Shontz led early on, but it was the frosh, Locker, that took the eight second win in the end. We talked with them afterwards:
In the team race, Council Rock South ran very impressively to win narrowly over Central Bucks West, 83-90. Brittany Gable led the way for the Golden Hawks, placing eighth. CB West was led by Erin Chinicci. Oley Valley's Rebecca Snyder had a strong start to her junior season. She placed third overall in 20:35. Mifflinburg's Jillian Miller was fifth in 20:43.