The weekend started with Lower Merion's Ben Furcht and the Emmaus girls making a statement at Lehigh in the Paul Short Run. The exclamation points continued on Saturday, in and out of state. North Penn dominated Carlisle at Salesianum in DE as Brad Miles reversed roles with Kyle Hurston. The two posted the 3rd and 5th best all-time marks on the course since it's redesign in 1996. The Latrobe girls easily won at Pittsburgh Central Catholic just two days after winning their county championship (where Natalie Bower four-peated). Mt. Lebanon topped North Hills in Pittsburgh, as well (North Allegheny ran their B team). Quaker Valley was a strong third. The North East boys left their mark on the course at Harbor Creek, where Lauren Zarger defended home turf easily. At Steel City, Council Rock North's boys won individually and as a team. The State College girls win. Boyertown's Elizabeth Simpson is wire-to-wire. Plum boys and Grove City girls at Grove City. In Pottstown, Saint Joseph's boys and Exetor girls at Harrier Inv.
Summaries posted BELOW for Paul Short and Steel City. More coming. Look for photo galleries from Paul Short, Steel City and Harbor Creek. Video from Steel City. Stories and more coming through mid-week.
| 10/02 | Westmoreland County Coaches Association
Kiski Prep
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Saltsburg, PA RESULTS POSTED LATROBE'S BOWER WINS FOURTH COUNTY TITLE - from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |
| 10/03 - 10/04 |
 flrunners.com Invitational 9 Presented by Nike
Astronaut HS
By Michael Carpenter
Titusville, Florida was home to the FLrunners.com Invitational 9, presented by Nike, and it was a huge, two-day event this Friday and Saturday. PA was represented at this illustrious meet by Gettsyburg Area High School, led by standout JR Michael Beegle. In a battle all the way to the line, Beegle finished 2nd in 16:08.76 to a SR from Wharton HS, John Grellner, who won the race in 16:08.57.
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Titusville, F ONSITE COVERAGE RESULTS POSTED
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| 10/03 |
Lehigh University
 Cover Story by Kimberly Jaick SodenBy Kimberly Jaick Soden
The Emmaus girls may have been fighting the fall flu season, but that didn’t keep the defending PIAA Class 3A and current top-ranked Pennsylvania team from erasing No. 2-ranked Cumberland Valley off its list of PA squads to look out for by winning the 35th Annual Paul Short Invitational on Friday. Lead by senior Lindsey Graybill’s third place finish, the Green Hornets scored 77 points to Cumberland Valley’s 133 points. “We’re all kind of tired and we all have colds,” said junior Christina Faust, one of Emmaus’ triplets. “We’ve been doing a lot of mileage, so we were just seeing what we could do and see how we compared. We were looking out for Cumberland Valley,” which was led by sophomore Leigha Anderson, who finished just behind Graybill in fourth. Faust and her sisters, Amanda and Brianna, finished in their traditional “ABC” order, with Amanda placing 12th, Brianna 20th and Christina 31st. Senior Melissa Meade 15th sandwiched herself between the triplets to round out Emmaus’ scoring five. Completing the top seven were junior Kelsey Coates (76th) and senior Meaghan Zang (109th). “We ran well as a team here, despite being tired,” Brianna said. “We’re pumped for the rest of the races that we have here” The Paul Short is run at Lehigh University, home to Emmaus’ conference meet, the Lehigh Valley Conference, and the District 11 championships, both of which are coming up in the next couple of weeks.  Head coach Dan Wessner was pleased with his squad’s finish, which is coming off of a third place at the Bowdoin Classic, home of the upcoming Nike Team National Northeast Regional championship.“There was quality competition in a large field, and it doesn’t hurt that districts are here and we can re-familiarize,” he said. “For where we are in training we’re not going to feel well.” Individually, Padua senior Meghan Smith traveled to Pennsylvania for the second time in three weeks, making the effort worth it again as she pulled away from fellow Delaware runner Julie Macedo, a freshman at CS Wilmington, to take top honors. Smith, who clocked 18:26, also won the Briarwood Invite at Belmonte Plateau last month. “It’s a great course, the competition is great out here,” she said. “I was just trying to push that second mile and hammer through the last mile.” The boys race was won in 15:19 by Ben Furcht, a senior at Lower Merion. His teammate, senior Neal Berman, took third. Their team finished sixth behind champion Perk Valley, led by the fourth-place finish of senior Jimmy Tarsane. “My goal was to win and it ended up working out,” Furcht said. “I wasn’t going for time.” There was a huge pack of runners at the mile mark and it wasn’t until the pack headed into the cornfields that Furcht made his move into second place. He pulled away for good over the final 600-meter stretch. However he was more excited to turn around and see his teammate cross the finish line. “That’s sick,” Furcht said. “We’re trying to make a name for ourselves.” Pennsylvania was also well represented in the college races, led by Shippensburg’s Neely Spence, a freshman at Shippensburg University, who finished second in the women’s 6K championship, running 19:57. “My goal was to get in the top 10,” Spence said. “I knew I would get really good competition, so I needed to find a good place and hold on. I was really surprised with that time. I had hoped to run sub-20 at the end of the season.” Overall winner Marie-Louise Asselin, a junior at West Virginia University, set a new course record, running 19:38 to lead her squad to the team championship over runner-up Villanova, led by Allentown Central Catholic grad Frances Koons, seventh overall. The men’s race saw a battle of the Miller brothers, with Brad out-pacing brother Craig. The Twins, now college juniors, finished fifth and seventh, respectively, with Brad leading Syracuse to a runner-up finish behind Craig’s Wisconsin team. Craig was the No. 3 man for the Badgers. Meet Summary by Don Rich
Emmaus showed they are deserving of their PA#1 ranking as defending champs who return everyone. They got out well in the Brown (seeded) race... kept four toward the front through the mile, and then maintained the gap at just 53 second through the finish behind the 3rd place 18:41 by Lindsey Graybill. Lower Merion senior Ben Furcht continues to impress. Two weeks ago, he took the pre-states at Hershey. Today in the Brown (seeded) race at the lighting quick Lehigh course, he showed patience and speed, pulling away over the final mile to win in a very quick 15:19. Teammate Neal Berman was 3rd (2nd PA) in 15:34. Perkiomen Valley's Jimmy Tarsnane was 4th in 15:38 to lead his team to the win by just two points over PA #6 Upper Dublin. In the Boys White Race, William Tennent won the team title. Former PA harrier Phil Wood captured the individual race in 15:49. Phil-Mont's Cecelia Forshee went 18:45 to take the Girls White race. Chevy Chase MD edged PA's Archbishop Wood in the race.
In college races, Syracuse junior Brad Miller beat twin brother Craig of Wisconsin for the first time since 9th grade (story coming). But Craig's team won the hot race by 44 over Syracuse. In the women's D1 race, frosh Neely Spence was 2nd overall in 19:57. Villanova's Frances Koons was 7th, racing under the weather.
High School Previews:
Boys, by Aaron Rich
The boys team race should be very exciting, with Cumberland Valley coming off of a great race at the Carlisle Invite. They are currently ranked #3 in the state behind North Allegheny and North Penn. Upper Dublin, PA # 6, will be looking for redemption after their 6th place showing at the Carlisle Invite. Germantown Friends, currently ranked #9 in PA, #1 AA, will be running their full squad, and should race well on the flat course. LaSalle, PA #10, will also be racing, after their 8th place showing behind 6 ranked teams in the Carlisle Invite. Elk Lake, received AA votes, could move up in the rankings if they stay close to Germantown Friends. Individually, the race will have some of the states best AA and AAA runners. Ben Furcht, Lower Merion, will be racing an invitational for the first time since his win in Hershey two weeks ago. Mike Palmisano, Upper Dublin, should take nicely to the flat layout of Lehigh, which should allow his speed to be a big factor in the end of the race. Joe Beveridge, Bishop McDevitt, has performed consistently all season, and should be in the mix at Paul Short. Fairview's Sam Havko has also had a solid early season and should be in the race. Furcht's teammate Neal Berman ran well in Hershey and should be capable of running in the top group. Mark Fuller will be leading Cumberland Valley toward victory so expect him to be among the leaders as well. Girls, by Bill Coren
TEAMS---Two teams have the best chance of winning this 40 team race. PA#1 EMMAUS (2007 AAA PA STATE CHAMPION) is certainly the favorite and PA #2 CUMBERLAND VALLEY, who won in 2007 and has two 2nd place finishes this year at Gettysburg and Carlisle has a good shot.
This could be a preview of the AAA STATE team race which should also include PA #6 LIBERTY. Other teams who should fair well at PAUL SHORT are in alphabetical order--CARDINAL O'HARA(2nd 2007 5th Hershey Gold and 6th Abington)--HAVERFORD(1st D1 Briarwood)--LOWER MERION(5th Viking)--PADUA DE(3rd Briarwood Champ. 8th Carlisle)--PERKIOMEN VALLEY(3rd 2007 1st Chris Fretz 4th Centaur)--STRATH HAVEN(4th Abington 4th Briarwood Champ.)--and WINSTON CHURCHILL MD(4th Gettysburg). QUINCE ORCHARD MD, ST. BASILS, and ST JOHN VILLA (NY) could also make some noise! INDIVIDUALS--One of six girls could win the individual title. Diacont (1st Lion) of NAZARETH and Holl (3rd Hershey Gold) of UPPER DUBLIN; Smith (4th 2007 14th Carlisle and 1st Briarwood Champ.) is capable of a big race at any time. The three favorites appear to be Anderson (2nd Gettysburg 7th Carlisle) CUMBERLAND VALLEY and two EMMAUS' runners-Amanda Faust (2nd Viking) and Graybill (1st Viking). Others who could vie for top 10 are Kerr NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH, Perry ELCO, Piccoli LOWER MERION, Moores QUINCE ORCHARD MD, Rutkowski STRATH HAVEN, Meyer STRATH HAVEN, Areias WILLIAM TENNENT, Barrett ST BASILS, Gilmour ST BASILS, Fuller NAZARETH, McKinney Lester CUMBERLAND VALLEY, Giedd WINSTON CHUCHHILL MD, Firki WINSTON CHURHHILL MD, and Bivona ST JOHN VILLA NY. |
Bethlehem, PA ONSITE COVERAGE RESULTS POSTED Photo gallery by Don Rich of the four varsity races at the Paul Short Run |
| 10/04 | 24th Harrier Invitational
Pottstown
By Michael Carpenter
The 24th Harrier Invitational was in Pottstown, PA this weekend, and both the St. Joe's Prep boys and Exeter girls squads had impressive showings. St. Joe's snuck 4 into the top 10 and scored only 33 pts, behind James Murphy who was 2nd overall in 17:20. Alex Talarico of Oley Valley was just ahead in 17:19 and walked away with an individual title, and helped his team to a 2nd place finish with 64 pts. Jamus Perry of Owen J Roberts was rounded out the top 3, posting a 17:30.
But the Exeter girl's were every bit as impressive, putting three girls in the top 10 and scoring only 36 pts, beating out Oley Valley, 2nd with 45 pts. Amanda Quaglia of Exeter led her team to victory with a 20:30, with Kelly Meyer, OJR, and Saige Zaharesky, Pottstown, nipping at her heels and finishing 2-3 overall. Meyer finished 2nd in 20:34, with Zaharesky right behind her in 20:39. |
Pottstown, PA PARTIAL RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | 7th Annual Lion Classic
Linesville
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Linesville, PA |
| 10/04 | Cumberland County Championships
East Pennsboro
Red Land swept both races held at Trinity HS in Camp Hill. With her 3rd place 20:38.6, Emily Luvison led a group of five scorers in the top ten. Mechanicsburg's Sarah Sulon won in 29:43.9. Greg Gillispie led the Red Land boys with his 2nd place 16:56.6. East Pennsboro's arry Latchford won in 16:41.3.
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Enola, PA RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | Endless Mountains Invitational
Bobcats Running Club
A junior and sophomore toasted the boys' race at the Kiwanis Wyoming County Fairgrounds. Junior Vic Costello of North Pocono, went 16:13.7 to hold off Tunkhannock's Reece Ayers, 2nd in 16:19. Northeast Bradford won the team title by 14 over Tunkhannock, placing three in the top ten behind Tory Carlsen's 7th place 17:36.8. Milton dominated the girls' race, with three in the top 10 behind the win by senior Heidi Shuck in 20:17.1 and 3rd place 20:53.4 by senior Kristin Shoop.
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Meshoppen, PA RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | Grove City Invitational
Grove City Area
By Michael Carpenter
The Grove City invitational was in Memorial Park on Saturday, and both the girls and boys races came down to a battle of just two teams: hometown Grove City and the squads from Plum HS. On the girl's side, Grove City walked away with a team title, earning only 27 pts after putting all 5 scorers in the top 10, including SR Megan Degraaf's 20:12 1st place finish. The Grove City ladies spread 2:02 on their way past Plum, who was 2nd with 76 pts. Brittany Amori, SR from Plum, led her team with a 4th place overall finish, posting a 21:17. Stong Vincent SR Anna Dunsworth and Grove City SR Nicole Wizorek battled hard for 2nd place overall, both crossing the line 20:59, Vincent taking 2nd.
On the boys side it was Plum who came out on top, edging Grove City 33-43. All 10 scorers from both squads were in the top 20, 7 in the top 10. Grove City looked strong, taking 1-2 behind SO Jacob Kildoo's 16:13 win and SR Tom Bollinger's 16:51 2nd place finish. But Plum's 5-man varsity squad of Junior class harriers spread only :40 seconds behind Bryce Rupp, Denny Lydon and Richie Addison's 3-4-5 finish in 17:08, 17:09 and 17:10. |
Grove City, PA RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 |  Harbor Creek Dirty Dawg Invitational
Harbor Creek
By Michael Carpenter
Photo by Carl Strub
 On the boys side, PA Honorable Mention North East won with only 29 pts over McDowell's second place team finish with 70 pts. Dylan Klein, 16:50, Zach Mix, 16:53 and Rob Merkel, 17:01 finished 2-3-5 overall to lead North East to victory, but it was Bryan Baumgartner, SR from General McLane, who posted the top time of the day, winning the race in 16:37. The varsity 5 from North East spread an impressive :50 seconds from 2nd-11th place overall on their way to a team title. |
Harborcreek, PA ONSITE COVERAGE RESULTS POSTED Photo Gallery by Carl Strub of the Harbor Creek Dirty Dawg Invitational |
| 10/04 | Heartland Middle School Classic
Lewisburg Area
To see the results in the PennTrackXC.com Middle School Rankings, click below:
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Lewisburg, PA RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | Southern Tier Classic
St. Bonaventure
Allegany Limestone finshed 4th in the Varsity Girls Small race behind the 2nd place 20:55 by Megan Bischof, and 4th place 21:19 by Sam Stady.
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St. Bonaventure, NY RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | Northern Tier Invitational
Olean
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Olean, NY |
| 10/04 | Pittsburgh Central Catholic Invitational
Pittsburgh Central Catholic
By Michael Carpenter
The Pittsburgh Central Catholic Invitational was this weekend, and some of PA's top runners posted solid times on a cold weekend in early October. Cam Stauffer, Seneca Valley SR took the win in 15:55.5, holding off Canon-McMillan SR Matt Gregory in 15:57.0 Daniel Krystek, Gateway standout SR rounded out the top 3 in 16:03.1. Mt Lebanon took the team title over PA Honorable Mention North Hills, 81-87 pts. Mt Lebanon's top finishers went 6-10-13, led by Rad Gunzenhauser in 16:11. North Hills was led by Juris Silenieks in 16:19, finishing 9th. Sewickley Academy SR Nick Blodis ran away with the Varsity B race, beating the field by more than :20 seconds, posting a 16:40.7.
Latrobe's SR sensation Natalie Bower stole the show again, running away from her competitors and taking the win in 18:09.1, more than :30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field of the girl's Varsity A race. Teammates Abby Hewitt and Mary Jo Jakubek went 5-7 and posted 19:04 and 19:15 respectivey, helping PA#4 Latrobe to crush the team competition with only 64 pts. Knoch SO Jolene Kunkel was 2nd overall to Bower in 18:40.9, just edging out Kayla Keddal, JR from Peter's Township who was 3rd in 18:41.3. Northgate's Bridgit Walters took the Varsity B race in 19:58.2, a solo sub-20 effort. |
Pittsburgh, PA RESULTS POSTED Video of both varsity races by Jayson Jackon's Run Like A Champion |
| 10/04 | Ridgway Invitational
Ridgway
By Michael Carpenter
The Ridgway Invitational was on Saturday, a really great event with an 800m race for elementary school level runners, a 2750m for Junior High level, as well as a Varsity 5k for the high school harriers in the area. Danielle Kocjancic, a JR at Kane Area HS, took home the gold in the girl's Varsity 5k posting a time of 19:03. But Kelsey Acre, SR from Punxsutawney Area was able to lead her team to victory behind her strong 2nd place finish in 19:14. Punxy scored 59 pts to beat out Clearfield (70pts) and DuBois Area HS (90pts).
In the boys race, Bud Plaszenski and Mike Robinson, a pair of seniors from Dubois went 1-2, posting 16:13 and 16:46 respectively. But the squad from Dubois had to take home the team bronze, the 1-2 punch and 83 total pts was not enough to defeat Bradford Area (51 pts) and St. Marys (76 pts). JR Matthew White led Bradford to the gold with a 17:00 3rd place finish, and SO Justin Huey was St. Mary's top finisher, going 17:08 and finishing 4th. |
Ridgway, PA RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | Salesianum Invitational
Salesianum School
By Michael Carpenter
 Some of PA's best traveled to Delaware this weekend for the Salesianum Invitational in Wilmington. PA fans got quite a show, as North Penn's Brad Miles and Carlisle's Kyle Hurston battled it out for top overall finisher in the Varsity A Boys race. Miles took the win in 16:20, which is the 3rd best all time on the famed course since it's redesign in 1996. Three of his teammates slipped into the top 10 and helped PA#2 North Penn to a team title. PA#4 Carlisle was 2nd in the team race with big help from Hurston's impressive 2nd place finish in 16:25, also putting three in the top 10. Hurston now stands at #5 all time on the course.Salesianum Course Top Marks, since 1996 redesign
(Courtesy of Joe O'Neill, N5CTA.com) 1. Sharif Karie, West Springfield, VA 15:54 1996
2. ?????
3. Brad Miles, North Penn, PA 16:20 2008
4. Mike Spooner, West Springfield, 16:22.14 2005
5. Kyle Hurston, Carlisle, PA 16:25 2008
6. Alan Webb, South Lakes, VA 16:26 1998
Miles, Hurston photos courtesy of Budkeeganimages.com
But the PA excitement didn't stop there. PA#8 North Penn's girls squad was virtually untouchable in Delaware this weekend, putting all 5 scorers in the top 10. Christy Cohick, a JR at North Penn, won the race in sub-20 fashion, something only she was able to do in the Varsity A Girl's race, posting a 19:54. SO teammate Heather Sleheimer was 2nd in 20:11. Rachel Brown, Lauren Bond and Carolyn Fergus finished 4-5-9 overall to help in this impressive team win. But Hatboro Horsham's girls squad also ran well this weekend, placing their varsity scorers all in the top 15. The duo of Kaylee Irwin and Casey Uhrich led the way for the ladies from Hatboro, finishing 7-8 overall and posting 20:51 and 20:55 respectively. |
Wilmington, DE RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | Steel City Invitational
Coatesville
By Don Rich
 SAT's and the growing, non-SAT challenged Paul Short Run cut into some of the normal depth of the Steel City Invitational, now in its 42nd year. But the competition was still brisk, and the hill was still the hill. Council Rock North has been on the radar all year, and are currently ranked #8 in PA. They started with one point from Dan Wallace, who went 16:25.9, and had a 1:27 spread to their 5th man. CRN placed three in the top six, and finished with 58 points. Altoona has been ranked this season, and Cedar Cliff has received mentions most weeks, and the two showed that similarity, with Cedar Cliff holding off Altoona by just two points, 74 to 76. Altoona's Wade Endress took 2nd overall in 16:46.5. The girls race was really a chase.  By 3/4's of a mile, Boyertown's Elizabeth Simpson was up by ten meters on teammate Jamie Vincent and Plymouth-Whitemarsh senior Katie Gorman. Gorman would keep contact and finish 18 seconds behind Simpson's 19:36.2, the only two sum-20's on the day. But right behind Gorman were two State College harriers, Lucia Sofo, 3rd in 20:11.4, and Chloe Schmidt, 4th in 20:17.8. Their seven points helped propel the Lady Lions to the team win with 71 points, 11 better than Central Bucks South and 19 better than previously ranked Downingtown East. If they improve on their 1:46 spread, they could be a top ten team in PA at the state championships. |
Coatesville, PA ONSITE COVERAGE RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 |  The Legends Meet
Maplewood
The Mount Lebanon girls traveled to Cortland, Ohio for The Legends Meet, and came away with 3rd place in the Division I race with 117 points. Junior Samantha Carl led Lebo with her 3rd place 19:22. Teammates Shannon Moorhead, 13th in 19:57, and Anne McGinty, 18th in 20:04, were also in the top 20. In boys' action, Mason Calhoun was the top finisher for Aliquippa Hopewell in the Division 2 race, going 17:23 for 18th.
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Cortland, OH RESULTS POSTED |
| 10/04 | Tri-County North Conference
Riverside (7)
Riverside's boys captured the team title with just 26 points behind the 16:56 win by Jon McElwain. Two other teammates were in the top ten. Ciara Sackin led her Mohawk team to a 24 point win over Ellwood City with her 5th place 23:09. Laurel's Rachel Simko won the race in 22:11.
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Ellwood City, PA RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS POSTED |
| 10/06 | Cardinal Classic 5k
Pine Grove Area
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Pine Grove, PA |
| 10/07 | Midwestern Athletic Conference
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Hazen, PA |