Independent Schools Report: FINAL

Girls

The Independent school ended with a dramatic finish between sophomores Terri Turner of Springside Chestnut Hill and Abbie Goldstein of Germantown Academy. Turner made a late charge at the end to overtake Goldstein and win the Independent state title. The duo finished ahead of Indy #2 Sarah Walker of Germantown Friends and PA#3 Gabrielle Wilkinson of Friends Central. The runner with the fast time, Jerrica Bauer of George School, missed the Friends league and Independent school races due to injury. She finished the season with a division leading 18:22 in her last meet of the season, the William Tennent Invitational. The division finished with 11 sub 20 minute runners, with nine of the eleven runners scheduled to return next season.

Germantown Friends won the team state title for the 4^th consecutive season with their best 1-5 spread of the season (48 seconds) to beat league rivals Friends Central 51-67, who were only five points behind the champions at the Friends league meet two weeks ago. Germantown Academy finished 3^rd. The GFS team will have four of their top five back for next season, while Friends Central will have six of their top seven back for 2015. Inter-Ac champions Episcopal Academy finished in 6^th after edging out a 2 point victory at the Inter-Ac championships last Monday.

Boys

The independent division had five sub 16 minute runners, but none of those five came away with the Independent school state title, as Sam Ritz of Germantown Academy broke through after a pair of silver medal finishes to win the title. Defending champion Jaxson Hoey was out injured. Billy McDevitt of Malvern Prep, Nick Dahl of Germantown Friends and Gabriel Allgayer of Mercersburg Academy finished in the top five. Indy #8 Josh Hoey earned the silver medal in the race to record the best finish of his career.

Malvern Prep’s team spent the majority of the season in the state number 1 spot and managed to finish the season unbeaten despite the absence of Jaxson Hoey. The Friars won their 2^nd straight Independent school state title by a slim 6 points over 2012 champions Germantown Friends 48-54, despite having their top five in 24 seconds behind the runners up. Malvern’s depth came through, as they finished the season with five sub 16:30 runners. Germantown Friends finished the season with seven sub 17:15 runners. Both teams had two sub 16 minute runners, with three of the four returning for the 2015 season.