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It was a dominant showing in Manhattan for Pennsylvania's top distance talent at the Champs Northeast Regional Championship. Ten boys and nine girls earned All-Northeast Region recognition. Five boys and one girl punched their ticket and will represent the Northeast in San Diego, California, on December 10th at the Champs Sports National Championship.
Pennsylvania showed up, in what was utterly a statement day for the Keystone State Natives.
Boys Championship:
Drew Griffith of Butler took the individual title today in 15:20.9. He broke away from the pack with Sam Burgess of Framingham, MA, during the last kilometer of the race. Griffith stayed tight to Burgess who pressed to create separation. With less than fifty meters to go, Griffith made a late move and earned the win by a half second margin. Notably, 31% of PA MileSplit fans said that Drew Griffith would have the best day amongst PAers HERE.
Drew spoke with us briefly after his win
Rounding out the top 5 was Brian DiCola of Hatboro Horsham, finishing 5th in a time of 15:33.5.
Just behind him was a strong pack of Pennsylvania standouts consisting of Ryan Pajak of Ringgold finishing 7th in 15:38.7, Colin Whitaker of Lampeter Strasburg finishing 8th in 15:40.6, and Timothy Roden of Central Dauphin finishing 10th in 15:47.8.
Colin Whitaker discusses the race and PA's standout day.
With five boys in the Top-10, Pennsylvania dominated the team competition and put forth one of the best efforts we've ever seen by a Pennsylvania contingent.
Two boys earned Second-Team All-Region recognition and fell just short of qualifying for the National Championship. Matthew O'Brien of Susquehannock finished 13th in 15:51.4, while Logan Strawser of Juniata finished 16th in 15:56.1
Four boys earned Third-Team All-Region, led by Brett Kroboth of Peters Township, who ran 16:19.2, finishing 26th. Behind him was Aidan Hodge of Hempfield, finishing 27th in 16:19.2. Rory Lieberman of Danville Area finishing 28th in 16:22.4, and Patrick Lawson of Haverford Township finishing 30th in 16:22.7.
Girls Championship:
Natalie McLean of Pine-Richland will survive and advance to the National Championship as the sole Pennsylvania runner earning First-Team All-Region recognition. McLean finished 8th in a time of 18.19.1.
McLean discusses another great performance.
Three runners just missed out on the advance to nationals, but they still had strong performances earning themselves Second-Team recognition. Logan St. John Kletter of Mount Lebanon finished 12th running 18:54.6, Marlee Kwasnica of State College Area finished 17th running 19:05.9, and Lillian DiCola of Hatboro Horsham finished 18th running 19:06.5.
Five girls finished Third-Team All-region, being led by Kailey Granger of Dallastown, finishing 21st in 19:17.3. Just behind her was Amy Devan of State College, finishing 22nd in 19:18.8. Olivia Cieslak of Haverford Township finished 25th in 19:23.7, Willow Myers of Mercer finished 26th in 19:25.7, and Virginia Kraus of Moravian Academy finished 30th to round out the Pennsylvania medalists.