Pittsburgh Central Catholic Invitational - Saturday October 3
Preview
Intro
Schenley Park will play host to the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Invitational and showcase many of the top teams and individuals in the WPIAL. It will be a sunny day on Saturday with temperatures in the upper 50s/low 60s for race time.
Girls
#6 North Allegheny and #3-tie AA West Middlesex headline the field as they will look to keep last year's runner up, Knoch, from taking top honors. West Middlesex was off last weekend and North Allegheny is coming off a 3rd place at Carlisle. Last year, North Allegheny made sure their 'B' got big race experience as they finished 11th. West Middlesex finished 4th against the AAA-loaded field. Knoch used the the Kunkels', Jolene (2nd) and Alyssa (8th), strong upfront running to earn second place. Alyssa is gone, but Jolene returns to continue to lead the team.
Jolene Kunkel is the top returning individual and will be try to improve on her 18:40 effort last year and win the race. She will face a tough challenge from returning runners Kayla Keddal, Peters Township (3rd), Hillary Boxheimer, Bethel Park (6th), Mary Jo Jakubek, Latrobe (7th), Kelsey Metheny, Bethel Park (10th), Marissa Polk, Oakland Catholic (11th) and Katrina Jeung, Shady Side Academy (12th). Plus North Allegheny's Alex Gambill, if they run their A squad.
Boys
The race features #4 Baldwin, #6 North Allegheny, and #2-AA Quaker Valley. Baldwin and North Allegheny are coming off great races this past weekend and will look to keep the momentum going this weekend as it will give them a good indication of where they stand in the WPIAL. Baldwin finished fourth a year ago and will be looking to move up and challenge for the top spot. Last year, North Allegheny finished tenth with their 'B' team so expect them to make a jump if they put their top guys in the meet. Quaker Valley finished third last year and is looking forward to battling their AAA counterparts from the WPIAL.
On the individual side, runners 6-10 return from last year lead by Rad Gunzenhauser (6th, 2008) who finished 2nd last weekend at Carlisle. John Yankello will lead the Quaker valley charge as he looks to improve on last year's 7th place finish. If North Allegheny runs their top squad, Ryan Gil will be in the mix as well.
Paul Short Run - Friday October 2
Girls Brown
This race will feature three of the top five, and four of the top ten teams in PA. At Carlisle last week, PA#3 Notre Dame defeated PA#5 Emmaus on the tie breaker after drawing even through the first five runners. Emmaus has had a lot of success on Lehigh’s course the past couple of seasons, but Notre Dame is really on a roll, having finished in the top 3 in their past 3 invitationals. PA#4 Pennsbury will also toe the line, having just come within four points of upsetting PA#1 Liberty @ Hershey last weekend. A friendlier course may help Pennsbury come out on top. The other ranked PA team in the race is Cumberland Valley, ranked 10th. Individuals that will be contending for the win include Leigha Anderson of Cumberland Valley, Sara Sargent and Ann Herman from Pennsbury, Maria Seykora and Julianne Garvey of Notre Dame, Sarah Rutkowski of Strath Haven, and the Faust triplets from Emmaus.
Boys Brown
PA#8 Cumberland Valley and PA#9 Perkiomen Valley highlight the 42 team field. Cumberland Valley is coming off a 4th place finish @ Carlisle and Perkiomen Valley is coming off a dominating home victory two weeks ago. St Joseph’s Prep will also be in the race, coming off their PA#2 finish @ Briarwood two weeks ago, beating out PA#10 North Penn. Vince Perozze of Perkiomen Valley will look to continue his winning ways, having won both invitationals he has entered, and Chris O’Sullivan of St. Joseph’s Prep will look to carry his momentum from Briarwood, finishing 2nd out of all PA runners.
Competing teams for Steel City Invitational, October 3, 2009
Altoona B/G
Bishop Shanahan B/G
Boyertown B/G
Bristol B/G
Calvary Christian Academy B/G
Chester B/G
Coatesville B/G
CB South G
Council Rock North B
Neshaminy B/G
Octorara B/G
Oxford B/G
Paul Robeson B/G
Philadelphia H.S. Girls G
Tulpehocken B/G
Unionville B/G
West Chester East B