Boys' Recap - Carlisle Invitational
Challenge Race
It was a terrific battle up front for the win in the boys' Challenge Race. In the end, Cole Walker pulled out the victory. The Unionville senior went 15:25, a 5K PR, for the win.
Walker was locked in a battle with a pair of runners -- Downingtown West's Aiden Barnhill and University's Larry Josh Edwards. The trio exchanged the lead throughout the race with Walker seizing control in the last half mile and using his good closing speed to take the win in the fastest 5K time of the season by a PA boy.
Barnhill dropped a big PR for second with a 15:32 -- a major statement race by the upstart junior. Edwards, the West Virginia standout sophomore, went 15:34 for third.
Lewisburg Area sophomore Jacob Hess ran well to take fourth in 15:51, his first time under 16 minutes. Unionville's Ethan McIntyre took fifth in 15:54 and Palmyra's Jakolby Fackler was sixth in 15:55, some solid races by those two.
The team battle was no contest for the top spot with PA No. 3 Downingtown West dominating in its season 5K debut. The Whippets put just 84 points on the board in a huge field to win by 159 points over second place. Barnhill's big performance led the way and three others placed inside the top 20 with Declan Rymer (eighth), Ben Datte (12th) and Holden Betz (16th).
Saturday's performance showed that D-West will once again be in the state title conversation this fall.
Hershey ran well to take second with 243 points, with Brendon Shea's 33rd place finish leading the way as the runner-up squad had a 1 through gap of just 36 seconds. Palmyra was third with 270 points. Lewisburg Area, the state's top-ranked AA team, was a very strong fourth in a field of mostly large schools.
Hempfield was fifth, followed by sixth place Unionville, seventh-place State College Area (minus its top runner), and eighth-place LaSalle College, which was running its 'B' squad with the top runners at Bowdoin.
Champions Race
Indiana Area's Kendall Branan won his second race of the XC season in what has been a busy September for the senior. Branan went 16:15, a 5K PR to take the win over a strong field.
Branan took the lead around the mile and kept the lead, holding off a field that was trying to run him down. He closed well and kicked to the win.
Northern Bedford's Ian Sherlock ran a strong second half of his race to take second in 16:26. Greencastle-Antrim's Weber Long was third in 16:26 and Lebanon's Issac Showers was fourth in 16:31.
Wissahickon, led by Solomon Thistle's ninth place finish, took the team title in the Champions Race, edging out Central Cambria, 156-161. Wissahickon had a 1 through 5 spread of just 49 seconds.