9/26 WKND: Liberty 1-2|U-ville emerges|N.Dame un-ties Emmaus|Miles 15:20|Baldwin 2 in VA|GFS pack

 

This race certainly lived up to the hype, and what fans were looking forward to seeing came to be, and then some. Everyone expected to see Pennsbury freshman Sara Sargent challenge reigning state champion Jess Cygan from Liberty, and Sargent showed that early on. At 600 meters, Sargent was out in the lead with Cygan not too far behind, and the rest of the contenders a good distance behind her. As the runners approached the bridge, Cygan had company in Boyertown's Liz Simpson. The two of them ran together with Sargent in 3rd and her teammate Ann Hermon in 4th. Cygan's teammate Amy Darlington was way back. Just after 2 miles, Simpson took the lead and Cygan was alone in 2nd. Hermon caught up to Sargent and the two of them were running together. Darlington was still way behind. Heading back to the bridge, Simpson was still leading with Cygan close behind, Hermon broke away from Sargent for 3rd, and Darlington was putting herself back in the race. In the last part of the race, Cygan passed Simpson and took the win in 19:14. Darlington passed two girls on the final hill to complete the 1-2 finish for Liberty. Herman finished 3rd, frontrunner Simpson was 4th, and Sargent dropped back to 6th. PA#1 Liberty learned afterwards that they needed that 1-2 finish, as they managed to defeat PA#4 Pennsbury 94-98. After this classic race, there should be plenty to be excited about in 6 weeks when everything will be on the line.

 

 

Leah Anne Wirfel of Forest Hills has had a dominant start to her season. Lindsay Kerr of Northwestern Lehigh showed early on in the race that she was going to do her best to challenge Wirfel. The two of them were together early on, but as the race progressed, Wirfel's lead grew larger and larger, and she would take home the title with a 19:06, the fastest time of the day. Wirfel wasn't the only one having a dominant day. The girls of PA#9 Central Cambria were making everyone see red as they ran a strong race and pulled out a strong victory over Northwester Lehigh 92-145. All seven girls broke 22 minutes.

 

 

Unionville was a top ten team in the preseason, but fell out of the poll quickly. The people who saw the potential in this team were not surprised by their strong performance. On this day, Unionville emerged as a team that could be making some noise come November 7. Running without their #1 runner, Unionville had a 17:14 5k average for their five scoring guys, which would have been the 5th best average in the 2008 state meet. Unionville placed their scoring five in the top 21 with a 36 second spread.

The race for the individual title was a close one as well, as Father Judge's Tom Kehl came out ready to run and was with the front group at the beginning. Whitehall's Matt Kacyon was his biggest challenger throughout. Kehl took the lead at two miles and kept that lead crossing the bridge. Kacyon was starting to close the gap at that point, and made a move on Kehl to take command and pull away with the best time of day at 16:20. A very competitive Kehl took 2nd in 16:37.

 

 

Alex Beardsley of North East was not interested in having any kind of dramatics in his race. Beardsley led from the gun and was never challenged in the entire race. Beardsley won in a landslide 16:36, winning by just under 30 seconds. The team race was a lot more climactic than Beardsley's win. PA AA#3 Fairview used a 5-6 finish to take the team title by eight points. Fairview survived Holy Redeemer's 29 second spread and Elk Lake placing their fourth and fifth in front of Fairview's fourth and fifth.