Class AAA: Henderson Repeats
The 2012 champions West Chester Henderson brought back a squad that came away on the good side of a tiebreaker state title win over Cardinal O’Hara. They carried an elite from two led by champion Tony Russell and the experience of 2012 was supposed to carry them through. Their strength was on full display at the Carlisle Invitational in late September, when the Warriors cruised to victory without the services of Russell. They were the only team to score under 100 points and their top six were under 16:30. The Warriors were on state title winning form.
But with NXN being a goal for 2013, Henderson went up to the Reebok Manhattan Invitational to test their mettle against the Northeast Region’s best. A Tony Russell victory in the Eastern States race led the team to a 4th place finish, trailing the likes of Christian Brothers Academy and Fayetteville-Manlius. That performance helped Henderson’s confidence heading in the PA championship season.
The champions would successfully defend their Ches-Mont championship and would follow up that performance with a huge win at the District 1 championship, winning by over 100 points.
Meanwhile, in Western PA, a powerhouse program was shaping up to be the top contender to the champions throne. North Allegheny attended the annual Red, White and Blue Invitational in early September and sent shockwaves across PA. They scored 30 points in a race with 60 full teams with a 1-5 spread of 20 seconds and a top 7 all under 16:30.
Pack running was going to be the way to beat Henderson in the championship finals, and North Allegheny were professionals at that strategy. If 20 seconds wasn’t impressive enough, they bettered that number to win the PIAA Foundation Gold Race with a 16 second spread! Fans across the state officially took the District 7 squad as serious title contenders following that performance.
After a lengthy October break for their varsity 7, the District 7 championship was a message sender to the AAA division that they will be ready to challenge for the title. A 25 second spread with seven in the top 25 solidified their status. All that was left was the long awaited head to head race with Henderson for the title.
If Henderson were going to be defeated, North Allegheny needed to break up the middle pack of Henderson runners and keep their pack strong. Henderson predictably had Tony Russell successfully defend his individual championship, while Reiny Barchet finished 5th overall, scoring 4 team points. So what happened behind them? Henderson’s Alex Knapp beat North Allegheny’s number 1 Cordon Luoco and that moment sealed North Allegheny’s fate as runners up and Henderson’s fate as two time defending champions! Henderson won 60-97 despite North Allegheny’s 23 second spread!
Henderson would go on to the NXN NorthEast Regional on Thanksgiving weekend and qualify for the NXN Finals for the 2nd year in a row! Tony Russell repeated as regional champion to help secure a runner up finish behind Christian Brothers Academy of New Jersey. AAA 3rd place finishers Cardinal O’Hara also attended the race and finished 4th thanks to a 7th place finish from Kevin James. At the NXN Finals, Henderson finished in 12th place, with Russell leading the way with an 11th place finish!
Other headlines outside of the top two included State College coming on strong in the 2nd half of the season to crash into the top five at the state finals, and Council Rock North rounded out the top five thanks to the leadership and quality of Foot Locker Finalist Ross Wilson. District 1 accounted for five of the top ten teams in 2013.
Class AA: Pottsgrove nearly miss out on title defense to Tunkhannock
Defending champions Pottsgrove out of district 1 were strong once again as they looked to defend their championship. Pottsgrove’s journey back to the state championship meet was going to be a tough one, as Holy Ghost Prep dropped from the AAA to the AA division in 2013. The Bristol area school had qualified for the state meet out of AAA as recently as 2010.
The early part of the season saw Holy Ghost Prep earn two top five finishes. First, they finished 5th in the Division 2 race at Briarwood, trailing only Penn Charter for top PA team, and then they followed that up with a runner up finish in the Champions race at Carlisle. Pottsgrove were victorious at the PIAA Foundation Blue race, but struggled the next week at Six Flags.
After successful performances in their league championship, the head to head meeting took place at District 1. Holy Ghost had the 1-2 combination of Daniel Connell and Christian Kardish, while Pottsgrove had a strong pack. In the end, the 1-2 finish for Holy Ghost Prep was not enough to keep Pottsgrove from returning to the state meet to defend their title. A 34 second spread for Pottsgrove gave them a 6 point win!
In other parts of the state, South Fayette, Uniontown and Quaker Valley were doing battle in a deep District 7 AA division, with South Fayette getting the best of both teams at districts and states. The trio would finish in the top seven at the state finals, led by South Fayette’s bronze medal performance.
Meanwhile, District 2 was a large unknown entering the state meet. The cancellation of the Paul Short Run due to the unseasonably humid conditions for early October meant several teams went as much as 3 weeks without any competition. When the racing resumed, Tunkhannock narrowly edged out Scranton Prep and Ed Narkiewicz champions Dallas to become district champions.
So the big question heading into the state finals was whether or not the District 2 teams had shaken off the race rust enough to perform at a high level in Hershey. As they say in sports, that’s why they play the games! Tunkhannock’s number 4 and 5 runners had to beat the Pottsgrove number 5 to win the title and the duo of John Loomis and Carson Ayers finished side by side by 7 team points to edge Tunkhannock as the new AA champions by a slim 4 point margin, 101-105!
Class A: Saegertown snag it at the death
Champions Northeast Bradford had to defend their championship without the services of two of their best runners in program history. Sam Williams and Curt Jewett were the leaders of that team and had earned many medals in big competitions. Their leadership would be missed, but could the 2013 squad muster a strong title defense? After holding off Towanda in the league title race and after cruising through their district meet, they earned the chance to defend the title and the opportunity to avenge defeats to their top two contenders.
Masterman were hyped up as title contenders in the District 12 area and they didn’t disappoint. Masterman didn’t finish worse than 4th in any invitational, and that stretch included a win in the White race at the PIAA Foundation Invitational over champions Northeast Bradford and District 10 squad Saegertown. Come the state final, Masterman were the favorites before the gun was fired.
Saegertown showed their intent for state glory at the Red, White and Blue invitational, finishing an impressive 12th out of 60 teams! A runner up finish to Masterman by a slim 18 points at Foundation kept them in the hunt. League and district victories primed them for a title challenge.
On PA’s grandest stage, Saegertown’s top three that carried the team to that point made the difference in the race, with each runner scoring under 10 points (5-7-9). Masterman’s top four were not the dominance force they had been all season, which gave Saegertown the opening to be crowned the new champions. Northeast Bradford finished a very good 3rd place in their first season after the graduations of Williams and Jewett.
Top Individuals: Young stars rise to new heights; Russell stays on top
The best runner in the state entering the season was back to defend his state championship and NXN Northeast Regional championship. Tony Russell of West Chester Henderson was going to try and top all the great things 2012 brought his way. In 2013, Russell did just that and then some.
Russell achieved some big victories on the way to the postseason. Russell won the Eastern States championship race at the Reebok Manhattan Invitational, putting him on pace to repeat his junior season success. At District 1, Russell cracked the 15 minute mark at Lehigh University with a district winning time of 14:59! At states, Russell led by example, running 15:48 to successfully defend his individual title and help his team repeat as champions. Russell also defended his NXN Northeast Title and led his team back to Portland for the NXN Finals, where Russell would finish 11th.
Like Russell, Dominic Deluca of Dallas went through the PA season unbeaten in 2013. The Dallas senior won the PTXC 5 title in an impressive 15:43 and the momentum never slowed down. Deluca cruised through his league, district and state championships to become the best in the AA division! A 20th place finish at Foot Locker Northeast was icing on the cake for a great senior year!
Meanwhile, Griffin Molino of South Williamsport became the surprise package of the 2013 season. The junior was the lone representative of his cross country team, but he represented his school at the highest level. Molino only lost to Zach Brehm of Carlisle in any PA race he competed in. Molino also cruised to his first state championship with a sub 16 minute performance. To top it all off, Molino was in individual qualifier for the NXN Finals!
The champions from 2013 had plenty of superstar athletes chasing them down throughout the season. Ross Wilson represented PA and Council Rock North at the Foot Locker Finals, Kevin James joined Molion and the West Chester Henderson squad at NXN. New stars emerged such as Dominc Hockenbury of Lake Lehman, Jake Brophy of Central Bucks East, Colin Abert of Easton, Andrew Marston of Conestoga, and Reiny Barchet of Henderson made names for themselves with big performances at some of the biggest meets!
2013 was a special year for the history books? Keep your eyes on PennTrackXC this month as we preview the 2014 cross country season from many angles!