Districts: Warwick surprise-Anderson|Emmaus 4-peats|Henderson-Toona dominant|Miles/Sargent|Gil-NA on

 

 

 

 

 

Girls AAA finished in a dead tie between the two state qualifying schools. Holy Redeemer had a 1-2-7 finish led by individual champion Rachel Sowinski (20:03) and runner up Marissa Durako (20:16), but had a 2:44 spread, one minute more than Honesdale, which went 3-5 and they had their fifth runner finish 13 places ahead of Holy Redeemer’s. But on this day, the number 6 runner for Holy Redeemer was four places better than Honesdale’s which broke the 71-71 tie and awarded Holy Redeemer with the AAA girls team championship. The AA girls race was not a close one, as Elk Lake had four in the top 10 and all seven in the top 18 to cruise to the team championship by 54 points over Holy Cross, who will also make the trip to Hershey. Individually, Allison Hall of Blue Ridge was the only girl to break 21 minutes in the race, running 20:33 to win by 32 seconds.

 

AA PA#5 Holy Redeemer had all they can handle in the form of Elk Lake. Both teams had small spreads and both teams had their scoring five in the top 15. But despite Elk Lake having a 29 second spread that was the best in the meet, Holy Redeemer had three in the top 8 to edge Elk Lake for the team championship 45-49, earning both schools a trip to states. 3^rd place Valley View had a 1-2-3 finish from champion Aaron Wilkinson (17:16), runner up Jordan Siddons (17:35) and bronze winner Jake Kanavy (17:44) that proved to be not enough to make the field. In AAA boys, Tunkhannock used a 1-5 finish to hold off Dallas 56-70 for the team championship, despite Dallas having a spread of 31 seconds. Both teams will toe the line in Hershey for the district. Reece Ayers of Tunkhannock was the only runner in the race to break 17 minutes, running 16:44 to win by 24 seconds over the field.

 

 

Bedford boys and Southern Fulton girls will be representing district 5 in AA at Hershey next weekend. Southern Fulton defeated Bedford 20-35 by placing three in the top six overall, while the Bedford boys needed a 6^th man tiebreaker to break the 36-36 deadlock with Chestnut Ridge. Individually, Aaron Benner of Northern Bedford ran 18:06 to win the gold medal by 15 seconds. For the girls, Alex Zanella led her Southern Fulton team with an individual championship in a time of 20:42 to win the race by 36 seconds, and she was the only girl to break 21 minutes on the day.

 

 

Both AAA races had very close team finishes for that one team state slot. The boys AAA race had a tie between Selinsgrove and Jersey Shore, who each scored 38 points. However, Selinsgrove will be the district representative at the state meet, as Tyler Maneval finished eleven places ahead of Jershey Shore’s number 6 runner to break the tie. Vince Fadale helped the Selinsgrove effort to the team title with an individual title of his own, running 17:05 to win by 18 seconds. In the girls AAA race, Williamsport used a 1-2 finished from district champion Sarah Wirth (21:35) and runner up Ann Cromley (21:38) to counter Selinsgrove’s 55 second spread and Athens’ 3-6-7-8 finish to win the district AAA girls team title 57-67.

 

The girls AA race was also closely contested, as Danville was able to defeat Lewisburg 56-61. Both teams will represent the district in the state championships next Saturday. Despite Lewisburg’s 42 second spread, Danville placed four in the top fifteen to sneak out the victory. Individually, Katie Sick of Millville had the breakthrough she had been looking for at districts. For the past three seasons, she had fallen short of a district title behind a Lewisburg runner. This time around, Sick was able to bring home her first district individual championship with a time of 19:51, 18 seconds better than the field. The boys AA was controlled by Northeast Bradford, who placed four in the top ten and had a 61 second spread in the process to defeat runner up and state representative Danville 70-123. Taylor Woznicki of Wyalusing edged out Sullivan County’s Logan Hatton to win the individual district championship. Both runners were clocked in at 17:14.

 

 

 

The depth of District One was on display at Lehigh University, especially in the girls AAA race, where no one team was dominant. No one team placed three in the top 25 and none of the state qualifiers had a spread under 60 seconds. PA#4 North Penn, who has come back into the state podium picture after a slow start to the season, were able to overtake a short handed PA#5 Pennsbury 195-245. Pennsbury ran without their number two runner Ann Herman, but their depth came to the forefront as this young team still managed to grab runner up honors. PA#10 West Chester Henderson took 3^rd place honors with 260 points, Central Bucks South came up and snagged 4^th place with 273 with four in the top 46, and Strath Haven’s three in the top 33 earned them the final team qualifying spot with 274 points. Individually, the big question coming into the meet was who would win the head to head battle between Pennsbury’s Sara Sargent and North Penn’s Megan McGovern. McGovern had run the fastest time in PA last week on this course with a time of 17:39, but on this day, Sargent matched that time and in the process defeated McGovern for the district title by 12 seconds. McGovern’s time was still in the top five in PA this season. In the girls AA race, St. Basil’s continued to flex their AA muscle by winning yet another district title with 40 points, 30 points better than runner up Villa Joseph Marie. The two time AA state champions placed four in the top 10 with a team that only has one senior. Individually, Christopher Dock’s Janine Powis took home the individual championship with a time of 19:50, only one second better than runner up Emma Mahony  of Villa Joseph Marie.

 

The state qualifying spots in AAA boys were up for grabs outside of the top two or three teams. Everyone knew PA#2 West Chester Henderson was the favorite to win the meet. However, since they had kept themselves away from the spotlight for a big part of the season, no one was certain how good they could be in a big field for 5000 meters. Well the questions were answered and what everyone suspected would happen back in the preseason did happen today. In a field of 58 full teams, Henderson placed five in the top 22 with a 44 second spread to score 67 points, winning by 124 points over PA#9 North Penn, who had a 1-2 finish from district champion Brad Miles (15:35) and Sam Bernitt (15:46). Council Rock North came through at the right time with a 3^rd place finish, scoring 198 points with three in the top 50. PA#7 Unionville hung on for 4^th place with 201 points with four in the top 52 and a 41 second spread, and Hatboro-Horsham, a team that had been hanging around the top ten all season, took the final state spot with 226 points and four runners in the top 47 and a 51 second spread. In the AA race, Lower Moreland went 11-12-13-18-19 with a spread of 30 seconds to outlast Jenkintown and their 2-6 finish, 73-84. John Shope of Phil-Mont Christian won the individual championship by 15 seconds, running 16:27 to be one of two guys to break 17 minutes in the field.

 

 

(Photo by Carl Strub)

The boys AA race featured arguably the deepest AA district field in the state. The race featured AA PA#3 Fairview and previously ranked North East and West Middlesex. West Middlesex had a 49 second spread, but had their 3-4-5 runners score in the 30s. They would finish 3^rd with 135 points. Fairview had a 5-9 start, but had their number five runner score 44 points. They would finish 2^nd with 110 points. North East, a team that had been known for having a strong 1-2 combination and not too much behind that, came through in a big race and put a huge margin on the field with 66 points. All three teams will go to the state meet next week. Normally, the story would be about how Alex Beardsley won the race by a large margin but his team would come up short. This time, his team won the district title, and he didn’t win, as Nate Tallada of Saegertown outdueled Beardsley by 3 seconds, 17:40 to 17:43. In AAA boys, McDowell placed five in the top 12 and six in the top 15 to earn the opportunity to represent district 10 in Hershey with 44 points, 14 points better than Meadville. Jacob Kildoo did what he did best and that’s win another big race, running 17:23 to win by 16 seconds over Logan Steiner of Meadville.

 

The girls AA race featured a head to head battle between AA PA#4 West Middlesex and AA PA#5 North East. Both teams matched up very evenly throughout the scoring, with both 1-4 runners stuck right with each other in the race. But a 25 point score from West Middlesex’s 5^th runner proved to be the difference as West Middlesex defeated North East 85-88. Union City would finish 3^rd with 106 points, and they were led by the individual champion Vicki Bem, who ran 20:43 to win the race by 6 seconds. All three teams will go to states next Saturday. In AAA girls, Meadville placed three in the top 10 and five in the top 18 to represent district 10 in Hershey with a score of 46 points. Elesia Wilson led the charge for Meadville, running 21:03 to win the individual gold medal.

 

 

 

 

Elk County Catholic came away with both the boys and the girls team AA district championships, with the boys coming away with a 26 point victory over Cranberry and the girls earned a 15 point victory over Brookville. Both runner ups will join Elk County Catholic on the line in Hershey. The boys placed three in the top 5, led by individual gold medalist Chris Antonio (17:45.87) and runner up Harley Thompson (17:55.12). They also placed five in the top 13 to earn the big victory. The girls placed three in the top ten and five in the top 18 to win the championship. Individually, Emily Giannotti continued her winning way by winning the district gold medal, becoming the only girl to break 20 minutes with a time of 19:56.61 to win by 33 seconds.

 

In the AAA races, the Bradford Area boys placed five in the top ten, including individual champion Matthew White (17:50.98) to win by 18 points over Punxsutawney and earn the right to represent the district at states. In the girls AAA race, Punxsutawney was able to pull off the narrow 47-54 victory over DuBois Area to earn a bus ride to Hershey. Milea Schall led a 1-6-7-11-22 finish for Punxsutawney, running 20:46.70 to win the individual championship.