It's Coatesville and WC East at the front. (photo by Richard Ames)
West Chester East is demonstrating that their mention as a contender for state honors is well-deserved. For the second week in a row, they won an invitational, but this time it was over Northeast US#5 Coatesville, who rolled last week at Big Valley. Duriel Hardy again led the charge for the Vikings, posting a quick 15:52 on the uneven Abington layout. Wissahickon's Doug Maisey was 2nd in 16;10, with Coatesville #1 Kyle Dawson a second back with teammate Jason Leonard just 12 more behind him. But from there, it was a swarm of three East runners as Ian Gough, Andrew Lobb and John LaColla cross the line virtually together. Sean Ward of Coatesville broke up the pack a little with East's Steve Vincent closing out the scoring just eight seconds after the other three for 31 points. Coatesville's took 18th and 20th to give them a score of 53. Observers noted that the race was very close until the three-mile mark when East took control. Both squads are training through this portion of the season, so the real test won't be until October at their league and District meets.
In the girls race, Gwynedd Mercy was four better than West Chester Henderson, 83-87 despite the one and three finish by Henderson's Megan Durkee in 19:18 and Amy Jordan in 19:31, respectively. West Chester East's Alicia Woodruff chased Durkee the final 1.1 miles from 50 meters back, and nearly caught her before running out of real estate. Woodruff took 2nd in 19:19. Wissahickon took 3rd in both team races.
Duriel Hardy wins to start the scoring with a single point.(photo by Richard Ames)
The girls race is similar to the boys
with Gwynedd and Henderson leading the pack. (photo by Richard Ames)
Megan Durkee, Henderson,
pulls past Alicia Woodruff, WC East. (photo by Richard Ames)