AA BOYS
Click here to read the Pre-Season Previews by Aaron Rich
(Just so you can see then vs. now)
At first glance, the team race seems to be a toss-up. But look closely at the district results, factor in the course difficulty, and you can begin to narrow the field of favorites to just two. Pick one, because we can't. Coming back with another strong team two years after their last championship is D2 power Scranton Prep. They obliterated the competition last week in D2, racing to a 17:10 team average on a 56-second compression on the difficult Scranton Municipal Golf Course 5k layout. But they could challenged by a very strong Greensburg Central Catholic squad that averaged 17:32 at Slippery Rock on a day when the weather wasn't as cool as it could be. Waiting to take advantage of any miscues by either of these teams will be several squads with experience, front-runners, or both. Tamaqua dominated D11 on a fast course. They have to tighten their 1:39 spread, but part of the time is because they have a sub-16 runner in the front of every race. Wyomissing looked ready to pounce in D3 last week, posting a nice 17:32 team average on the State's course on a very wet layout. And from D10, Youngsville is the district champ, but it was just a one-pointer to Greenville, which returns to the state meet with a front-runner of their own. Ellwood City was 38 behind Greensburg Central Catholic at the D7 race, but will have to greatly improve on their 2:42 gap if they are to make any noise.
2004 District Results:
D2: 1 Scranton Prep 28 2 3 4 7 12 13 14 17:10 56(9th)won 02
D7: 1 Greensburg C C 85 6 8 12 28 31 34 41 17:32 1:26
D3: 1 Wyomissing 86 7 10 12 19 38 55 66 Total Time:1:27:43.53 Avg: 17:32.71
D7: 2 Ellwood City 123 2 5 11 32 73 117 17:41 2:42
D10:1 Youngsville 111 3 9 17 28 54 101 125 17:49 2:06
D10:2 Greenville 112 1 7 24 37 43 46 92 17:44 2:24
D11:1 Tamaqua 1. 15:50 - 3. 16:27 - 4. 16:33 - 20: 17:18 - 21. 17:29
Unfortunately for the AA guys who had been waiting for Chris Spooner to graduate, McGuffey dropped from AAA to AA this year. With that move, the front of the AA race changed completely. But it's not a lock. Only four individuals have run under 16 at the difficult Slippery Rock course. Only two of them are in high school. And in a treat for XC fans, both are in this race. The Slippery Rock course record was re-established this year by McGuffey senior Jeff Weiss. On a perfect day for racing, he motored around the course all alone to a 15:30. And while he was working, he wasn't at full effort. The second fastest time ever on the course was by the previous record-holder, Jed Christiansen of Greenville. His 15:37 was run in 2003. Christiansen finished 3rd in AA last year, seven seconds faster than Weiss' 4th place finish in AAA. Weiss has improved. The chase pack will feature Frank Eanes, a senior from Westmont Hilltop in D6, Lane King of D10 Fairview, and Jake Walker of Ellwood City in D10. All finished in the top 12 in 2003.
The Pre-Season Preview
8/20-Team race is wide open, Jed Christiansen is early favorite in AA Boys XC
The team race looks wide open as last years top teams lose talent, but that doesn't stop a good program from producing. Eisenhower, the 2003 champion, loses their top three, but they return 4 runners with experience. The three seniors are Josh Hogan, Dylan Rulander, and Michael Elmer. Also returning is sophomore Jacob Tutmaher. Lewisburg loses Chris Spooner, which is huge, but they have 3 returning, including senior Kevin Schoenefelder, who was 45th last year. Quaker Valley loses their top three, and will look to fill that gap in order to compete well at states this year.
Two teams with the capability of moving up in the state standings are Wyomissing, who was 4th last year, and Greensburg, who was 6th. Wyomissing has 4 returning, including their top two runners, seniors Zach Schaeffer, and Tony Skiles. Greensburg has all 7 members of their state team returning including senior Adam Smith, who was 32nd in 2003.
The favorite for the individual title has to be Jed Christiansen, a senior from Greenville. Jed was third last year behind David Mock and Chris Spooner. His challengers appear to be Jeff Weiss, from McGuffey, which is dropped to AA this year. Weiss was 4th in AAA in 2003 in 16:16; and Frank Eanes, a senior from Westmont Hilltop, who should step to the front with teammate Mock running at William & Mary; Lane King, a junior from Fairview, junior Jake Walker and senior Sam Weiser, both from Ellwood City. Weiser was 6th in the 1600 at PIAA States in May in 4:21.27, with Walker just behind in 8th in 4:21.80. But earlier that day, Walker had finished a strong 3rd in the 3200, going 9:16.41.
AA BOYS
Click here to read the Pre-Season Previews by Aaron Rich
(Just so you can see then vs. now)
At first glance, the team race seems to be a toss-up. But look closely at the district results, factor in the course difficulty, and you can begin to narrow the field of favorites to just two. Pick one, because we can't. Coming back with another strong team two years after their last championship is D2 power Scranton Prep. They obliterated the competition last week in D2, racing to a 17:10 team average on a 56-second compression on the difficult Scranton Municipal Golf Course 5k layout. But they could challenged by a very strong Greensburg Central Catholic squad that averaged 17:32 at Slippery Rock on a day when the weather wasn't as cool as it could be. Waiting to take advantage of any miscues by either of these teams will be several squads with experience, front-runners, or both. Tamaqua dominated D11 on a fast course. They have to tighten their 1:39 spread, but part of the time is because they have a sub-16 runner in the front of every race. Wyomissing looked ready to pounce in D3 last week, posting a nice 17:32 team average on the State's course on a very wet layout. And from D10, Youngsville is the district champ, but it was just a one-pointer to Greenville, which returns to the state meet with a front-runner of their own. Ellwood City was 38 behind Greensburg Central Catholic at the D7 race, but will have to greatly improve on their 2:42 gap if they are to make any noise.
2004 District Results:
D2: 1 Scranton Prep 28 2 3 4 7 12 13 14 17:10 56(9th)won 02
D7: 1 Greensburg C C 85 6 8 12 28 31 34 41 17:32 1:26
D3: 1 Wyomissing 86 7 10 12 19 38 55 66 Total Time:1:27:43.53 Avg: 17:32.71
D7: 2 Ellwood City 123 2 5 11 32 73 117 17:41 2:42
D10:1 Youngsville 111 3 9 17 28 54 101 125 17:49 2:06
D10:2 Greenville 112 1 7 24 37 43 46 92 17:44 2:24
D11:1 Tamaqua 1. 15:50 - 3. 16:27 - 4. 16:33 - 20: 17:18 - 21. 17:29