9/14 - West Chester Henderson wins behind Ian Gottesfield and his 16:08

Abington Invitational

West Chester Henderson has not won a state title since 1996, but during time time since, they are always in the hunt. They were 2nd in 2001, with mostly underclassmen. That's the good news. The so-so news is they are not as deep as they'd like to be, with a solid first five that can run with most in the U.S., but too many seconds to #6. Today, one of their top five (senior Mike Misselwicz) didn't run nursing a minor nick. The result, though, was as expected. A team win behind junior Ian Gottesfeld and his 16:08. Teammate, and fellow junior Greg Williams was just five seconds back. Mike Merrick and Jim Alexander went 6-7 in 16:41 and 16:45, but their fifth guy was 41st, which tallied 57 points, still good enough to hold off Chester County rival Coatesville, with 79. Haverford senior Eddie Dutch battled with the top and rallied for a strong 3rd in 16:28. For the girls, Gwynedd-Mercy outdistanced a Paige/Erin-less Wissahickon team by 35 points behind the dominant 18:59 of team leader Meghan Bishop.