AAA BOYS
Click here to read the Pre-Season Previews by Aaron Rich
(Just so you can see then vs. now)
This team not only wants to win another state championship, they want to end the season as one of the top teams in the nation by capping the whole thing with a trip to Portland to race the inaugural Nike Team Championships. But first things first. Cedar Cliff believes they put too much effort into last year's District 3 championship. They may have a point. Their 16:42 team average is the course record. It was their best race of the season, which is not the way you'd like it to go. So this year, they did a mini-taper for Districts - down to 65 miles - added tough workouts on Tuesday and Thursday, and then beat district rival Manheim Township for the 3rd time this season, each with an increasing margin (32 at Gettysburg, 44 at Carlisle, and 74 at districts). Their team average last week was 16:48. They said they were tired. This week they rested for States and believe they can drop more than 15 seconds per man. To give some perspective, out of five races on the States course in this layout, only five teams have broken 17 for a team average. Two belong to state championship teams from West Chester Henderson, one to Manheim Township in their district loss a week ago, and two to Cedar Cliff. So who can catch them? The team with the best shot appears to be Coatesville. Their #1 man from 2003 is back in form and racing near the front again. With Amin Garnett in the mix at the District 1 meet, Coatesville toasted the competition and ran a team average of 15:49. Their race was in great weather. Cedar Cliff ran on a wet course. And the course difficulty is vastly different. But sub-16 is smokin'. They'll need to improve on that effort to beat the Colts. Manheim Township will start with the one-two low-scoring punch of the Miller twins, but their pack isn't close enough to crack Cedar Cliff. Council Rock South and North ran well, but they're far enough back that it should come down to the two favorites. Wild cards could be North Hills and Pittsburgh Central Catholic, the top two D7 teams. They ran 16:58 and 17:04 averages on the hilly Slippery Rock course. But again, it's a bit back from Cedar Cliff and Coatesville. This is going to be a great race to watch. Just stay out of the way, and back from the lines. It's gonna go to the team that wants it the most.
Past Course Performances-Team Averages
2004 Districts 16:48.51 Cedar Cliff
2004 Districts 16:58.59 Manheim Township
2003 States 16:55 Henderson
2003 Districts 16:42.21 Cedar Cliff
2002 States 16:54.3 Henderson
2002 Districts 17:14.58 Cedar Cliff
Original course with the start heading the opposite direction
2001 Districts: Cedar Cliff 16:33 16:48 16:52 17:02 17:42
2001 States: Cedar Cliff 16:32.8 16:41.1 16:44.0 16:57.4 17:37.7
2004 District Performances:
D1: 1 Coatesville 73 6 9 16 19 23 126 187 15:49 :32
D1: 2 Council Rock South 196 17 20 27 33 99 113 144 16:10 :56
D1: 1 Council Rock North 225 1 4 18 67 135 158 173 16:03 1:55
D3: 1 Cedar Cliff 49 3 8 9 14 15 43 110 Total Time: 1:24:02.52 Average:16:48.51
D3: 2 Manheim Township 123 1 2 25 45 50 51 57 Total Time: 1:24:52.94 Average: 16:58.59
D7: 1 North Hills 63 2 6 11 19 25 96 125 16:58 1:10
D7: 2 Pgh Central Catholic 73 3 4 15 23 28 51 110 17:04 :58
According to defending AAA State Champion Craig Miller of Manheim Township, the only runner in PA that worried him coming into the season was his twin. They ran close early in the season, and some observers saw Brad just hanging off Craig's heels, waiting for the big races to start. Well they did, and Brad hasn't been on Craig's heels since. At the Lebanon-Lancaster League champs on October 21st, the difference was 18 seconds. And on the 30th at the D3 race, it was 16 seconds. Craig took the race out hard, and had built a strong lead just past the mile. Brad reportedly has better 400 speed than his brother, so the strategy dictates itself. Craig is a 4:06 miler. Either way, we'll go out on a limb and pick a Miller as this year's state champ. The chase pack will include the two Council Rock North stars, John Mahoney and Brandon Pomerantz, both seniors. Unionville Colin Leak should be in the small lead group as well, along with junior Josh Hibbs of Hatboro-Horsham, Sam Luff of Emmaus (D11), and Ken King of Connellsville and Josh Eddy of North Hills, the latter three seniors. Let the races begin.
8/20-Boys AAA XC Preview: NE #3 Cedar Cliff & Craig Miller are favorites
This year Cedar Cliff is the team to beat. They will be nationally ranked in the pre-season polls and are aiming for not only a state title, but a trip to Portland to race in the inaugural Nike Team Nationals in early December. A real quick glance at 2003 shows Cedar Cliff ran a :39 second spread from 16:23 to 17:02 on the state course the week before States in 2003. Their top soph was DNF at States. They were all off that day, but if he finished where he was with 200m to go in the state race, they would have won easily. All five of those guys return, now four seniors and one junior. Justin Keller, now a junior, will join seniors Pat Caufield, Tim Johnson and Mike Fulton as the core of the talented squad. Senior Bill Frailey should challenge Fulton for the 4th spot. Rounding out the varsity seven-eight are freshmen Aaron Caulfield and junior Cory Creek. The other possible # 7 is Tyler Longenecher, senior, who ran 17:47 on the state course at Districts. Frailey ran 9:55 3200 outdoor and "is not a track guy". He has improved a lot over the past year, and should be mid-16's. Frosh Caufield and Creek are well ahead of last year's 6-7. Creek ran a 1:56 split in 4x800 in the spring. Barring injury, this is PA's best boys' team in years.
The top 3 teams from last year are going to have to rely on young talent as most runners from their state squads last year were seniors. West Chester Henderson loses 3 state medalists and will look to fill that void, with state experience coming from sophomore Chris Ferry and Junior Tom Espedal. They pick up an important addition in Amin Garnett. The senior finished 16th in the state in XC running for Coatesville in 2003, and now lives in the Henderson district. North Hills loses some depth from last year's team but still has the experience and talent of seniors Josh Eddy and Mike Haley, and junior Brennan O'Hare. Hatboro-Horsham loses depth as well, and will look to the experience of junior Josh Hibbs, who is the Hatters top returner. Other teams to watch are Council Rock North, who return 4 runners, and Coatesville, who returns three. Central Bucks East and West have spun off Central Bucks South. Even though the school is not complete, they'll compete as three distinct schools. Competing athletes may share the same classes this fall. That could be fun.
For the individual title the favorite has to be junior Craig Miller from Manheim Township. He came within a nose of adding the US sophomore Mile record to his Freshman 1600 national record at AOC in June. No one in the state has his mile speed. Craig won with style last year and has set his sights on winning this year and in 2005, to make it three. His challengers look to be seniors Ken King, from Connellsville, and Josh Eddy, from North Hills. The two were 5th, and 7th respectively last year. McGuffey's Jeff Weiss is now in AA. Another pack of seniors looking to lead their teams to the top are John Mahoney from Council Rock North, Tim Johnson from Cedar Cliff, and Amin Garnett, now of Henderson. But Miller says there is another guy to watch. Twin brother Brad, who ran 4:18 last spring, is the athlete that most concerns Craig in PA. Coach Terry Lee agrees, but notes, "somebody new is always coming along."