Central League Championships - Meet Recap
-By Abby Huber
BOYS RECAP
For the first two miles of the Boy's Varsity race, Ridley's Zack Forney and Penncrest's Avery Lederer were side by side. As the two seniors rounded the final loop, Lederer opened up a gap that led him to another individual victory on the Rose Tree Park course. His time of 16:13.30 was faster than his winning time last weekend on this course most likely due to the cooler temperatures.
Ridley's Forney finished his last run at Rose Tree Park in 16.25.40, his fastest time on the course. He looked strong on the hills and seems ready to finish his senior year with a bang. Forney has never made it to state meet, but his success the past two weekends has given him the confidence to go after that goal in two weeks at Lehigh.
Lederer was not the only Penncrest boy continuing his momentum from last week's DELCO performance. Teammates Patrick Theveny and Justin Senackerib raced competitively, placing 4th and 6th overall individually at leagues. Even though one of Penncrest's top seven runners was sidelined due to illness, the team still won the Central League championships with 56 points.
Haverford Township was second overall as a team, led by sophomore Mike Donnelly who had a nice kick to the finish to place third overall in 16:31.30.
Also noteworthy was Harriton's lead runner's performance at Rose Tree on Saturday. In only his third invitational appearance to date, sophomore Sam Kartsonis finished 7th overall with a new personal best time of 16:49.30.
GIRLS RECAP
On the girls' side of the race, Michelle Qin of Harriton broke away from the pack early, setting a brisk pace. However, it did not take long for Conestoga's Dominique Shultz to catch up to Qin. Shultz looked comfortable bounding up the steep hill at mile two and took over the pace soon after this point. Shultz finished in 19:28.60 to take first. Qin's second place time of 19:49.10 is a personal best time at Rose Tree Park.
Anna Twomey (ninth in 20:47), Emily DeSantis (11th in 20:59), and Nia Goddard (12th in 21:01) supplied strong finishes to help Conestoga to its first CAL title since 2014.
The Strath Haven girls made it a closer race than predicted. Strath Haven's top three runners, Taylor Barkdoll, Ava Crawford, and freshman Julia Benner, all finished in the top ten on Saturday. In the end, Haven's score was not enough to beat Stoga's 52 points for the win.
The Lower Merion girls were third overall as a team, led by freshman Sarah Hurst who was fourth overall individually. Ridley senior Jamie Green finished her last race at Rose Tree Park fifth overall a few seconds behind Hurst.