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11/26 |
 Foot Locker Northeast Regional
Angel Piccirillo of Homer Center earned perhaps the biggest win of her already fantastic career, becoming the 2011 Foot Locker Northeast Regional Champion over last year's runner up Abbey Leonardi of Maine! Angel's time of 18:01 is the 3rd fastest time on the Sunken Meadow layout! Only Aisling Cuffe (NY) has run the two fastest times on that course.
 Two more PA girls will be joining the two time qualifier, Piccirillo in San Diego! If they gave out a most improved award, Meredith Speakman of Boiling Springs (Exiting picnic grove photos by Marleen Van den Neste) would win the award...TWICE! With only a high 21 minute personal best in 2010, Speakman finished 9th today in the high 18 minute range! Tori Gerlach of Pennridge made a huge surge in the past half mile, and passed a 2010 Foot Locker Finalist in the last few meters to earn the final ticket to San Diego!
This is the first time since 2007 that PA has sent three girls to the National Finals! PA as a team finished in 2nd, two points behind New York, 48-50. Hannah Grossman of Strath Haven (14th) and Maria Seykora of Notre Dame (20th) also scored for the PA squad.
For the boys, Dustin Wilson of Chestnut Hill Academy accomplished his season and career long goal, qualifying for the Foot Locker Finals with a 5th place finish with a time of 15:50! Wilson made his big move into the top three after the first major hill, and was in comfortable position for the rest of the race. Brett Kelly of Boyertown finished in 15th place and Dan Jaskowak of Grove City also cracked the top twenty with an 18th place finish.
By Brian Towey
Parachute Hill is no Cardiac
- but it was the key to Dustin Wilson punching his ticket to San Diego
King’s Park, N.Y. -When Chestnut Hill (Pa.) Academy senior Dustin Wilson rose up legendary Cardiac Hill at Sunken Meadow Park in the final mile of the Northeast Regional at the Foot Locker Championship Saturday, the terrain rang of the familiar.
“Cardiac kind of reminds me of Parachute Hill at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia, where I train,” said Wilson.
The hill was a critical juncture for Wilson at the 2010 meet, when he finished 17th.
“Last year he was in ninth or tenth place coming off of Cardiac but kind of struggled (finishing),” said Chestnut Hill coach Paul Hines. “This year we did more strength work.”
Climbing the hill, Wilson towed a three-man pack that included Piscataway (N.J.) senior Tim Ball, Dan Lennon of Peru, N.Y., and Joel Hubbard of Marshfield (Mass.) High.
“I didn’t come off of Cardiac in great (shape) this year,” said Wilson. “But I was in better position than last year.”
Wilson couldn’t withstand the onrush of Ball and Lennon, and Hubbard pulled by in the final straightaway. But he cemented himself as one of the Northeast’s elite- and a qualifier for the Foot Locker Championship in San Diego on Dec. 10- with a gritty fifth-place finish in 15:50.0. He is the first Philadelphian to qualify for the championship.
“I wasn’t satisfied with finishing fifth,” said Wilson, who will attend Columbia next year. “But the next race is the one that counts.”
Full coverage of both meets with onsite coverage by MileSplit. At Sunken Meadow Park on Long Island - site of the Foot Locker Regional - will be Don Rich, Aaron Rich, Lex Mercado, Marleen Van den Neste, and Brian Towey. At Wappinger's Falls, MileSplit coverage will provided by NY webmaster Kyle Brazeil, along with Patty Morgan and Geoff Decker.
PREVIEWS: Foot Locker Northeast | Nike Cross Nationals Northeast
2011 Foot Locker Northeast Regional PA Preview by Lex Mercado
This Saturday, many of PA's elite cross country runners will head up to Sunken Meadow to tackle Cardiac Hill, and the rest of the Northeast, looking for one of twenty total tickets to San Diego, California to run in the Foot Locker Finals on December 10.
The PA girls will send up two top twenty finishers from last year's Northeast Regional. Angel Piccirillo looks to make a return trip to San Diego after qualifying last season with a 6th place finish. The two time AA cross country champion completed an undefeated season in PA, which included an All Time #2 performance at State College, a win at PTXC 3, another district title, and a brief hold of the state championship course record. The Villanova commit is the 4th best returner from last year's field. The other top twenty finisher is Paige Stoner of Pottsville. Stoner finished 15th last year and she was the top freshmen in the race. Stoner did not suffer from the sophomore jinx, winning her league and district titles, earning two other top three finishes, and earning her 2nd state medal with an 11th place finish. She is the 8th best returner from last year's race, and as she showed at the District 11 meet, her finishing speed may help her get to San Diego if she's in the mix in the final half mile. Tori Gerlach of Pennridge finished 23rd a year ago and is coming off another great season. Gerlach won her league championship, repeated as district champion, and finished 12th at states. AAA state runner up Hannah Grossman of Strath Haven will be entering this race for the very first time, but Grossman has always run well in big races. In 2011, Grossman won three invitationals and had four other top five finishes, including a 3rd place finish at District 1. Maria Seykora of Notre Dame, Kennedy Weisner of Elk County Catholic, Meredith Speakman of Boiling Springs and the Sheva sisters of Marissa (6th at states) and Caitlyn of Pennridge will also represent PA in the championship race.
For the PA boys, Dustin Wilson of Chestnut Hill Academy is the 2nd best returner from last year. In a race that was full of very talented seniors, Wilson was one of three underclassmen to crack the top twenty (17th). In 2011, Wilson has not finished worse than 3rd in any meet. Wilson has wins at Briarwood, Paul Short, Inter-Ac Champs, and the Independent School State title in the snow. His 3rd place finish was at Manhattan, behind superstar Ed Cheserek (NJ). Joining Wilson at Sunken Meadow will be the Hatboro Horsham duo of state champion Conner Quinn and his partner in spikes, Sam Hibbs. The two have recorded four 1-2 finishes during the 2011 season, and their experience running together will be a huge advantage. Both finished in the top ten at states, with Quinn winning it all. AA boys champion Brendan Shearn of North Schuylkill has been one of the more consistent runners and one of the big breakthrough runners in the state. Shearn has only been defeated by two PA runners all season, one of them being Dustin Wilson. Another breakthrough runner this season was Dan Jaskowak of Grove City. His coming out party was his victory at the Red, White, and Blue Invitational in Pittsburgh, and he ran the table all the way to the state meet, where he finished 2nd. Ryan Smathers of North East and Brett Kelly of Boyertown (3rd at states) will also represent PA in the qualifying race.
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Kings Park, NY
RESULTS POSTED
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11/26 |
 Nike Cross Nationals Northeast Regional R
Photo by Patty Morgan
 Pennsbury's Ann Herman finished 5th with a time of 18:48.6 to earn the last individual qualifying spot for the NXN National Finals next Saturday in Portland, Oregon! Stephanie Aldrich of West Chester Henderson finished 16th and Megan McGarrity of St Basil Academy was the 3rd best PA runner in the field, finishing 26th overall. In the team standings, North Hills tied with Hillsboro for fourth place with 203 points, only 6 points out of qualification, but would earn fifth place based on the 6th runner tie breaker. West Chester Henderson, running as Dub-C XC finished 9th and Downingtown East, running as D-Town Pack, finished 15th. St Basil Academy, running as Jenkintown Running Company, finished right behind them in 16th.
For the boys, North Allegheny, running as Wexfort Flats, finished in 6th place with a score of 215 points. Logan Steiner led the way for his team and for PA, earning a 17th place finish in 16:36.6. Brent Kennedy of Kiski Area finished 20th overall, and Curt Jewett of Northeast Bradford finished 27th overall.
Full coverage of both meets with onsite coverage by MileSplit. At Sunken Meadow Park on Long Island - site of the Foot Locker Regional - will be Don Rich, Aaron Rich, Lex Mercado, Marleen Van den Neste, and Brian Towey. At Wappinger's Falls, MileSplit coverage will provided by NY webmaster Kyle Brazeil, along with Patty Morgan and Geoff Decker.
2011 NXN Northeast Regional PA Preview by Lex Mercado
A small contingent of PA teams and top runners will make their way to Bowdoin Park in New York to run the Nike Northeast Regional. The top two teams and the next five individuals will auto-qualify for the NXN Finals scheduled for next Saturday December 3rd in Portland, Oregon.
Three of the top five AAA girls teams will compete at the regional, with 3rd place West Chester Henderson and 4th place Downingtown East looking for one final big race. The Ches-Mont league rivals went head to head in many races this season, with Henderson getting the best of Downingtown East each time. For most of the season, Henderson was a popular selection to become state champs. Winning PTXC 3 over eventual champ Pennsbury, finishing 2nd in North Carolina, and winning at Shore Coaches, they never finished worse than 3rd in any meet all year. Sophomore Stephanie Aldrich has been the top runner for Henderson. She finished 8th overall at District 1 and 9th at states. Amanda Eiseman, Michelle Tracy, and Janie Augustyn have also been big contributors to Henderson's successful 2011 season.
Downingtown East has had some big results this season, finishing 2nd at Briarwood, one point behind state champs Pennsbury, along with a 3rd place finish at Ches-Mont and 4th place at the deep District 1. The squad has relied on a fantastic top four led by junior Katelyn Callaghan. The junior finished 12th at District 1 and 19th at the state meet. The Weiler sisters, Biz and Anja, have also been consistent runners all season long.
Western PA's best squad, North Hills, returns to the course after a tough outing in Hershey. After winning Tri-States and WPIAL's with little difficulty, they struggled to a 5th place finish. The sister trio of Margo, Shannon, and Mary Malone have had fantastic seasons, including a 1-2-3 finish at the Tri-State Champs. Margo has been the leader of this trio, winning WPIAL's and finishing 25th at states. Shannon has been running stride for stride with older sister Margo, and Mary has been closing the gap with the other two. A strong finish from those three will keep them in the mix.
AA state champions St. Basil Academy will also compete and is making their first venture to the meet. The Basil 2011 season has seen this team take on the best competition it could find, competing in the gold race at PTXC 3 and Paul Short, as well as the Eastern States Race at Manhattan. That schedule will allow this team to perform well on Saturday. Megan McGarrity leads the squad after her 6th place finish at states along with her league and district titles.
Individually, Ann Herman of Pennsbury will be running what she hopes will not be her final high school cross country race. State Champion Pennsbury had trained for the PIAA meet this season, and was not committed to continuing their season at NXN. Herman's senior season was phenomenal, with the senior running some great races when they counted. In her last three races, she won her league championship, finished 5th at District 1, and finished 3rd at states. Autumn Greba of Norwin will also make the trip after finishing 41st at states 3 weeks ago.
On the boys side, North Penn will return to the course after their memorable performance at states. The new AAA state champions surprised everyone but themselves by having their best race of the season when it mattered, defeating race favorite Cardinal O'Hara by the 6th runner tie breaker. North Penn will rely on pack running to get a successful result, using a 46 second spread to win the title 3 weeks ago, the best in the meet. Jack MaCauley, Dan Davis, and Chris Trimble lead this group, with the trio earning top 35 finishes at states.
North Allegheny will also make the trip to Bowdoin Park. The WPIAL champions finished the season with a pair of strong performances. After spending most of the season as the 2nd best team in Western PA, they came out and won the WPIAL Championship over favorites Mount Lebanon and then finished 3rd at the state meet. Logan Steiner is one of the best front runners in PA. He won Tri-States and WPIAL's, and he also finished 5th at states.
Individually, the duo of Curt Jewett and Sam Williams of Northeast Bradford will highlight the PA field. The two finished in the top twenty at states and have a couple of 1-2 finishes at districts and NTL Coaches. Combined, the two had only one finish outside of the top ten all season.
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Wappingers Falls, NY
RESULTS POSTED
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Girls Seeded Race Video
Boys Seeded Race Video
