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11/4 STATES WK+ SUMMARY:
A historic PIAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS on a sun-bathed, cool, perfect day as a new course began its sure-to-be legendary future. The Men of Black of Coatesville, scored a modern record team score of just 26 in one of the deepest fields in the state's history. Team #1 Kyle Dawson was 3rd, behind Jason Weller, Boyertown and Paul Springer, Unionville. Neely Spence won the girls' AAA race as the Radnor girls scored an 81-102 win over up-and-coming Emmaus. Lucas Zarzeczny, Avonworth, won the boys AA gun-to-tape. West Middlesex won the team title. In Girls AA, St. Basil Academy beat a strong Lancaster Mennonite team, as Neshanock's Kasey Gibson caught Central Cambria's Carly Seymour with 400 meters to go and held on for the win. At Sunday's PHILADELPHIA CATHOLIC LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS, packs ruled as LaSalle's boys four-peated and Cardinal O'Hara's girls three-peated. Phil Wood and Beth Kelly led their teams to the titles. Kelly's 18:44.7 was the 2nd best PCL League time ever, behind only Prendie's Sheila Klick.
(More detailed summaries are below. Links to meet results and photo galleries are to the right)
The Radnor girls with head coach Tom Flanagan shortly after learning they had won the AAA state title.
11/4 PIAA State Championships @ Hershey Parkview 5K
RESULTS POSTED
By Kimberly Jaick Soden, with Don Rich
Saturday was a perfect fall day for cross country running and Pennsylvania's top harriers took full advantage of it by pulling off individual upsets, establishing elite course records and breaking an all-time state team point record.
Here's a look at what unfolded on Hershey's Parkview 5K course:
2A girls: This race came down to who ran smart and that was Neshannock's Kacey Gibson. The junior hung back as defending champ Carly Seymour of Central Cambria, also a junior, took the race from the gun and was leading by close to 80 meters at one point.
Kacey Gibson, Neshanock, wins AA in the best time on the day and a course record 17:59.
But as Seymour began to tire, Gibson picked up momentum and finished in 17:59, the fastest girls' time of the day. Seymour clocked 18:01, the second best time of the day.
"The strategy was to attack the hills," Gibson said. "I took it at one point, but with 300 or 400 meters to go I took it again. I was trying to depend on a kick. Carly is a great runner and if we raced 10 times she'd probably win five of them."
In the team race St. Basil Academy was able to find its stride at just the right time. After a good summer of practice the team went through weeks of injuries and illnesses inflicted on all seven runners and only ran together as a full team at its league championship a few weeks ago. But that was just enough time to make the team believe it could win states and that's just what happened. St. Basil scored 106 points over runner-up Lancaster Mennonite's 139.
"It was an unbelievable season," said coach Greg Green. "I think the course helped them because of all the strength work we did early on. I kept emphasizing that time doesn't matter and if we race as a team we'll be fine. When you have talented kids you can sometimes just convince them."
Girls 3A: Neely Spence is in the shadow of her Olympic marathon father, Steve, no longer. The home-schooled Shippensburg High junior ran a tactical race to win her first state championship, her first time competing at the state meet. She finished in 18:07. Runner-up Lara Crofford, a senior from Big Spring, clocked 18:22.
Homeschooled Neely Spence of Shippensburg wins AAA in a strategic race.
"I've always been an Olympian's daughter, so it was so awesome to do something he never did," Spence said. Her father's best finish at states was eighth.
"He was more nervous than I was," she said. "I tried to stay as comfortable as possible and right after two miles I started to move. It worked out really well. It's really awesome because I've never gotten to run against my peers and I finally know where I stand in the state."
The team race unfolded pretty much as expected with Radnor tallying 81 points to best runner-up Emmaus (102).
Head Coach Tom Flanagan was as nervous as the girls before the race started. "Once the race started and I saw where they were, I was fine. We got out well and had six in the top 60 the whole way."
Late season #1 and #2 Liz Milewski and Hannah Granger delivered up front. But a surprise #3 runner appeared for states. Flanagan says it is one of the greatest performances he has seen as far as the unexpected race. June Farley says she was just following her coaches advice from a few weeks ago not to let people pass her at the end. Farley took it one step further... she marked two Emmaus girl early in the race. "We were back and forth after the mile-and-a-half. They were probably thinking they need to stay together. I was thinking I have to break them up." Farley dropped one of the two with 600m to go, and the other with 200 to go, and made it three Radnor runners across before the Emmaus #2.
Liz Milewski was the only medalist for Radnor, and says it was the team's experience that carried the day. "We talked last night about how much this race meant with most of us being seniors. It was our last guaranteed race as a team, and that helped a lot."
For Emmaus, earning silver was the end to a dream season that came about because the squad picked up four freshmen, three of whom are triplets.
"They ran the way we talked about running the course," said coach Dan Wessner. "It feels great because at the beginning of the season I didn't think we'd be good enough to be second in the state."
Boys 2A: Lucas Zarzeczny, a senior from Avonworth, watched from the runner-up position last year as champion Isaac Dunkelberger received the gold medal. But this year he made Dunkelberger watch by running 15:37 to unseat the defending champ, who finished second in 15:54.
Lucas Zarzeczny went wire-to-wire to beat defending champ Isaac Dunkelberger. 
Zarzewski says a conservative approach to the race was never a consideration. "I wanted to win it from beginning to end, so that's what I did. It's what I have been training for for the last four years."
Dunkelberger wasn't disappointed in the loss, however, and was happy for Zarzeczny.
"I couldn't be happier with the season and I can't ask for a championship with the season I've had," Dunkelberger said. He missed all of last spring because of mono and dealt with injury and illness this fall. "I just wanted to make sure these guys worked for it."
Dunkelberger, who verbally committed to Duke University earlier this week, said he will most likely end his season with states because of a sore shin.
Team champion West Middlesex of District 10 will also end its season on a positive note. The squad said it was hoping for a top four finish, but got a pleasant surprise when the scores came out and West Middlesex had won with 132 points. Runner-up was Tulpehocken with 186.
"It was definitely one of our goals and we were just lucky enough to have achieve it," said coach Bob Morris. "We did a lot of miles on hills this year." Morris said the team trains over 'Uncle Hewie,' a hill that he said makes the new state course's hills look easy. He made sure they did a good hill workout the week before districts just to get tuned up. Leading the way was sophomore Adam Shrawer, who finished 17th overall. "It was all really a surprise for me," Shrawder said. "It was just really a team effort."
Boys 3A: District 1 made sure to clean up this race, taking the top four individual spots along with the team title. But that wasn't just any team title. It was Coatesville's five seniors enacting revenge over last fall when the team blew up and finished fourth. They won this year with a measly 26 points, quite possibly the best performance by a AAA boys' team against this level of competition.
In the opening mile, all the key players are up front,
Weller-Springer-Dawson-Van Kooten-and two more of Coatesville's top five.
That score was more than good enough to break the modern state record, set in 1996 by West Chester Henderson, also a member of the Ches-Mont League. "That's what really makes the win so much better," said No. 4 runner Sean Ward.
No. 5 runner, Jason Leonard, also known as the team's statistician, agreed. "Coming into states we knew who we had to beat and we knew after last year that anybody could beat us," Leonard said. "That was in the back of our minds." But he also made sure to do his research on how doable a state record score would be.
Because the team has been so dominant this fall, it has built a fan club and the runners said that helped them along on Saturday.
"There were people on other teams, all kinds of people yelling for us," said today's No. 3 runner Owen Dawson.
And of course, they had each other.
"It means a lot more to all of us because we all came together," said No. 2 man Tom Pannulla.
Leading the way was Kyle Dawson, who finished third overall behind a battle between eventual state champ Jason Weller, a senior from Boyertown, and Unionville senior Paul Springer.
Jason Weller used the hills to get a lead he nearly lost to Paul Springer.
"I took my race out hard," Kyle Dawson said. "It's just so exciting because we're all seniors and we knew we could do it if we ran hard."
The win should also help the squad's bid for its first national title at the upcoming Nike Team National race. "We're all hyped," Kyle Dawson said. "It really helped winning States because we're going to show them that we're not fooling around."
Coatesville plans to run at PenntrackXC's Last Gasp Classic on Nov. 18 to solidify its Nike Team National bid.
Coatesville head coach Keith Andrew had watched three of the seniors lose States by five points in 2004, and then have a bad race in 2005, after entering the meet as one of the favorites. Simply, he was impressed. "They didn't lose site of what was still ahead after last year. Right from that disappointing day, they focused on coming back here and taking the trophy home."
Someone else who will now make a bid to nationals, but to Foot Locker's National Championship, is Weller.
On Saturday Weller used his knowledge of his District 1 opponents to pull off his victory.
"It was not until the very end that I knew I would win," Weller said. "I knew this course kind of favored me because of the hills. On the last hill I tried to open the gap and tried to push Springer's kick out."
Weller ran 15:04 to just hold off Springer, who was two seconds back.
"I knew Vince McNally had won (District 3) with a 15:58, so I knew it was going to be fast, but not that much faster," Weller said.
If Weller ever doubted himself, his fans didn't. They were running around the course with "Stop Weller" T-Shirts with the wording embedded on a stop sign. Boyertown coach Ron Hofmanner also had every confidence that his runner would bring home the school's first individual gold medal. "I knew it was his type of course," Hofmanner said. "He hit every hill as hard as possible and just put as much distance on as possible."
In-depth features on Gibson, St. Basil, Radnor and Coatesville will follow shortly on PennTrackXC.com.
11/4 PIAA State Championship Select Pix and Photo Galleries by Don Rich
Select Pix of the 11/4 PIAA State Championships @ Hershey Parkview XC Course
11/4 PIAA State Championship Photo Galleries by Karen Ward
11/4 PIAA State Championship Photo Galleries by James K. Wood
Soph Phil Wood led LaSalle to their 4th straight PCL title.
Greg Wommer of Archbishop Ryan was 2nd.
11/5 PCL Championships @ Belmont Plateau, Philadelphia
RESULTS POSTED
Once a streak starts in the PCL, it seems to continue until someone else starts a new one. And in both varsity races, it was the pack attack that would rule the day. The LaSalle boys have now won four straight league titles, and this one was by a reasonably comfortable margin, 32 to 52 over rivals Cardinal O'Hara, placing five in the top ten. The Lions went out hard and had three in front entering the woods, but the LaSalle Explorers' pack was lurking close behind, and upon existing the woods with a 1000 meters to go, they were firmly in control of the race. Phil Wood finished his strong sophomore campaign with his first PCL title, running a swift 16:04.3 to beat Archbishop Ryan junior Greg Wommer by ten seconds. Junior Ed Buck led O'Hara with a third place 16:18.7, with sophomore teammate Mike DeStefano 4th in 16:25.0. Underclassmen swept the first five places - a rare event in any league championship.
Beth Kelly, Cardinal O'Hara (r) ran the 2nd best
PCL Belmont Plateau mark ever,
leading her team to a three-peat.
Carroll's Amanda Bascelli, a frosh, was 2nd.
In the girls' race, junior Beth Kelly ran the 2nd fastest league time ever, going 18:44.7 to win the individual battle with super frosh Amanda Bascelli of Archbishop Carroll, who took 2nd in 19:01.2. O'Hara placed five in the top 11 (and also captured 12th place), to win 32-58 over a resurgent Archbishop Prendergast. Archbishop Carroll was 3rd with 68 points. Defending champ Colleen Boland continued her recovery from a mid-season bio-mechanical problem to place 3rd in 19:25.4.
11/4 PCL Championship Select Pix and Photo Galleries by Don Rich
Select Pix of the 11/5 PCL Championships @ Briarwood Plateau
11/5 USATF Three Rivers Association XC Championships @ Cooper's Lake
RESULTS POSTED
11/1 Akiba Hebrew Academy Invitational @ Belmont Plateau, Philadelphia
RESULTS POSTED
Phil-Mont Christian placed five in the top six to score just 18 points. Wes Tomer ran 17:48 to lead his team. Run as a single race for the boys, Akiba Hebrew won the Tri-County League scoring behind Seth Greenberg's 3rd place. Their 44 points were ten better than Phelps. Woodlynde's Andrew Garone was first. In the girls' race, Hope Robb led the Hill School to a team title with her first place 23:50. Hill tallied just 28 points, placing five in the top ten.
11/4 NCAA DII East Regionals @ Cooper's Lake
RESULTS POSTED
One of the back hills that will help to write the history of XC in PA.
44/4 STATES WK+ PREVIEW:
This will be the first state championship race on the new Hershey Parkview course at Saturday's PIAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, although it won't be the first race. Those occurred Monday at the District 3 Championships, after a two-day delay caused by Saturday flooding. There are those that argue that running the district meet there every year is a distinct advantage to D3 runners. Others argue that racing a tough course two weeks in a row can have a negative impact. Either way though, few dispute the fact that having the runners put it all on the line five days later, will not be easy. Every district other than D3 finished on Saturday, and a few were ready to roll much earlier. It remains to be seen whether the delay will impact Saturday's results, but, as the saying goes, that's why they run the races.
Carly Seymour of Central Cambria is stronger than ever
and could repeat as AA champ.
Because of the delay, our coverage was delayed. Which means our preview this year will be short and sweet in honor of the new course in Hershey, which is generally up, down, and if early reaction prevails, a real cross country course worthy of a state meet.
To say that PA is loaded this year would be an understatement. You may not see it in the times on the new course on Saturday, but you will see it in the effort and in the team competitions. Times posted this year will stand up for many years as some of the best. The conditions will be perfect. The atmosphere will be electric. And if you can't get a charge outta this, you don't love XC. Welcome to Hershey Parkview... a course that is sure to become a legend. Your stories start November 3rd.
AA GIRLS: It appears that early season injuries have virtually vanished from the Saint Basil squad. The District 1 power did not qualify last year, but they beat a perennially deep Gwynedd-Mercy team to return to the big race. District 3's Lancaster Mennonite got #1 runner Lindsey Shertzer back in what appears to be top form, just in time. She won D3 by a ton, and is one of the individual favorites. Look for a Carly Seymour-led Central Cambria team trying to break through on top. Seymour is the returning AA champ, and has been running the lights out all season. If these three teams leave any room at the top, expect it to be filled quickly by District 4's Lewisburg, District 7's Riverview or Quaker Valley, District 9's Elk County Catholic, or District 10's General McLane. Joining Seymour and Shertzer at the front of the race will be Neshanock's Kacey Gibson from District 7; Steph Fulmer of St. Pius X, District 1; Tamaqua senior Alexa Griffiths of District 11; Wyoming Seminary soph Alexandra Hackett of District 2; Lewisburg #1 Kiah Hardcastle and Millville frosh Katie Sick, both of District 4; Harbor Creek's Lauren Zarger, representing District 10; Robeson junior Shatievah Lewis of District 12; and District 3 runner-up Kara Millhouse of Boiling Springs.
Lucas Zarzeczny leads Avonworth in AA.
(photo by James K. Wood)
AA BOYS: This race also features a returning champ, Tamaqua senior Isaac Dunkelberger of District 11. Dunkelberger has been running well this season, but he'll face tough competition from last year's runner-up, Lucas Zarzeczny of Avonworth in District 7. Zarzeczny is bringing his D7 AA champion team with him this year - a stronger group than the state qualifiers of 2005. The front pack should also include Smethport's Ben Hahn, District 9; Lakeland's first two men, Kyle Pepson and Mark Bucklaw, District 2; Westmont-Hilltop's Travis Dean, District 6; and District 10's Michael Stolar of Mercyhurst Prep. Challenging Avonworth for team honors will be the AA champs five of the past six years, Scranton Prep. They weren't as dominating as usual in their D2 win this year over Lake Lehman... but they can never be discounted when it comes to the state race. Also look for good things from Penns Valley of District 6; West Middlesex of District 10, and District 3 champs Tulpehocken, who will be easy to spot with their bright golden shirt and a big "T".
Radnor is now six deep with a front-runner in AAA.
AAA GIRLS: The AAA races are epic. Nationally ranked teams. Rare individual talent. Loaded with seniors ready to write their personal histories on the hills of Hershey. In the team race, PA#1 Radnor has held that position all season for one simple reason, they win. With the exception of a runner-up finish to the then-US#1 Hilton NY (defending NTN champs) in late September – by just nine points –å this senior-dominated team has been overwhelming competition inside PA. Their 50 second spread off a 2nd place 18:06 by current #1 Liz Milewski at District 1 says a lot. Their 18:39 team average on a known Lehigh 5K (NOT SHORT GUYS) course, says even more. But they have to run their race, and to the best of their ability to hold off several great teams – teams who would run away with a state title in almost any other year. As senior-laden as Radnor is (they do have a frosh stud in the top group), Emmaus of District 11 is young. Their top six includes four freshmen and two sophomores. They're mentored and monitored by senior captain Beth Luff. With triplets who have a lot of experience, and another freshman who is the daughter of an Olymplic Trials marathoner, they have race acumen beyond their years. Plus, their team average of 18:58 at Lehigh run the day before Radnor under similar conditions, says they will be formidable. So forget about intimidation. And coming out of District 1 with Radnor is Council Rock North. They averaged 18:59 for their scoring five. And they have something more. They have experienced the joy of seeing their long-time coach Cliff Robbins successfully return from major cancer surgery over the summer. There is something to be said for the intangibles. These three teams will throw everything at each other for the full 5K. And they will have plenty of company should they show any chinks in the armor. Mount Lebanon of District 7 has a great pack that will just roll across the line within sight of each other. No one should discount last year's champs from D7, Latrobe. They lost a lot. They haven't lost coaching or heart or their #1 runner. Manheim Township turned District 3 upside down this year, winning major meets and taking a district crown home to their school for the first time ever. And District 1 also has West Chester Henderson and Unionville (2004 AAA champs) trying to push their way onto the podium. In the race for individual honors, several of the favored teams have #1's who could challenge for the win. There is Radnor's Milewski, who nearly captured D1 last Friday. And Latrobe's Natalie Bower is now a sophomore and running with more confidence than ever. She's built for the hills and as tough as they come. D1 champ Kerry Swayne of Hatboro-Horsham picked up confidence with her district title. District 9's Sarah Lonzi of Bradford will be there, as will Penntrafford senior Diana Filtz of D7. State College senior Katherine Ward of D6 could pop a race at any time. District 3 champ Lara Crofford of Big Spring has the course record on the new layout, and would love to keep it. You know she will race from start to finish. But most knowledgeable eyes will be on newcomer Neely Spence of Shippensburg. Spence won the Paul Short Run in late September in 17:47. She raced Monday in a pack back from the leaders, making sure she qualified for states, but conserving as much energy as possible. Spence, who joined Ship this year after a law was implemented mandating homeschooled athletes be permitted to participate in public school activities, has her eye on a bigger prize - a state title.
AAA BOYS: This has been a six-year journey for this exceptionally close-knit group of seniors on the Coatesville High School team. They've known each other, and run with each other since middle school. Over the past two years, events have occurred to solidify the bond, and to create the team that has beaten every squad they have faced this year.
Vying for individual honors will be
Jason Weller, Paul Springer, Kyle Dawson (among others),
and the Dawson's Coatesville band is always in the picture.
In 2004, four sophomores and two senior leaders nearly upended NTN team, and that year's Great American XC Festival winner Cedar Cliff. Five points separated them from another state championship to go with their upset win over Cedar Cliff in 2000. Waiting for their awards behind the stage at the original Hersheypark course that day, there was no joy in finishing second. There was anger. And there was resolve. In an strange twist, two of the guys on this year's team had transferred to another school the summer of 2004. Had those two guys - Kyle and Owen Dawson - run for Coatesville that day, the results would have been different. They had run for Coatesville as freshmen. And by the spring of 2005, they were back at Coatesville.
Fast-forward to XC 2005. The juniors were reunited and re-focused. They sailed through their season and came into states as one of the favorites. But they and co-favorite Manheim Township were ambushed by West Chester East. Coatesville would finish 4th behind Wissahickon, as well. To say the guys were upset would be putting it mildly.
The year is 2006. Kyle and Owen, and fellow seniors Tom Pannulla, Jason Leonard and Sean Ward, along with junior Drew Mahoney and sophomore Chris Rosato, commit to each other and to the team. They work with their coaches Keith Andrew and Dave Lapp to put together the training that will get them off to a good start, while preparing them for the four-week gauntlet of tough league, district and state meets at the end.
This season, they leave little doubt about their resolve or their ability. The five top seniors take charge. In five big meets this year, they have an astounding record. Their point totals at Big Valley, Gettysburg, Carlisle, Steel City and District 1 are 16-26-30-40-51. Oh, you say. It's going up. Well, consider their spreads from one-five in those meets... :48, :46, 1:06, :45 and :49. That is 4 minutes and fifteen seconds that separate their top five over five races, COMBINED. Then consider that the 49-second spread they achieved in the powerful District 1 race was off of Kyle Dawson's 14:58 3rd place run. So what am I saying here? Simply, as far as these guys are concerned, they haven't yet accomplished anything. Not until their first five guys cross the line and secure a state AAA title.
They do have some strong competition. As with the girls of AAA, there are teams in the state who could win this thing outright on any given day. One of those teams, West Chester Henderson, has been ranked #2 in the state this year. They have raced Coatesville four times (Steel City, dual, league, Districts) over the past three weeks. They are 0-4. Last year's champs, West Chester East, are in the same league. They are 0-3. And Strath Haven, the runner-up at District 1, is well, just 0-1. This year's western PA power, North Allegheny, came east to Carlisle, and finished 2nd with 115 points to Coatesville's 30. 0-1. It says here it is not over until the last finisher crosses the line. If you're out there on Saturday, watch for the Men of Black. The big C on their chests doesn't just stand for Coatesville. They want it to stand for Champions, as well.
While you're watching that race unfold, you'll be treated to some of the best talent in years in the individual race. Consider there are three sub-15 minute 5K guys from District 1 in this race. Unionville senior Paul Springer is having a killer season, and his 14:47 at Lehigh sent a statement to those outside PA that this state is as strong as any. Boyertown senior Jason Weller followed him across the line in 2nd in 14:54. And as you already know, Kyle Dawson was 3rd. District 7 has two strong contenders for this trio in Pittsburgh Central Catholic senior Scott Van Kooten, and Penntrafford senior Josh Christopher. They have traded wins these past few weeks, and both are capable of exploding great races. And District 3 contributes two more major contenders. Conestoga Valley junior Vince McNally (the young'un of the group) nearly broke 15 last season in a race chasing Manheim Township's Craig Miller. He had a correctable bio-physicial issue early in this season, and through furious cross-training, and careful monitoring by his coach, is nearly back in top form. He had to run a little harder on Monday than he had wanted, but he is back and ready to throw everything he has into this race. D3 runner-up Bryan Beegle of Gettysburg has been having an incredible season, and should be in the mix.
So get your running shoes on for Saturday, and stay out of the way of the runners. They'll run you over as soon as look at you... all striving for the payoff for the work and the effort they have invested in themselves and their teams.
To the athletes: Trust your training, have fun, and leave nothing on the course.