Viking Invitational
The Viking Invitational sees Mullelly and Franklin emerge from the pack to set the stage for an exciting season. O'Hara boys and Wissahickon girls look strong. Results courtesy of Mike McMillen.
Erin Franklin has picked up where Paige Miller left off, at the front of the race. Her finish in Friday's Viking Invitational was better than second place by a minute. Photo by Mike McMillen.
Mark Mullelly, Upper Moreland, and Erin Franklin, Wissahickon, showed some early season promise with convincing wins in the Viking Invitational at Tamanend Park, Bucks County, PA on Friday afternoon in warm and muggy conditions on the 3.0 mile wooded course.
Mullelly's 15:59 was 13 seconds up on O'Hara's Joe Francisco. Mullelly had a breakthrough race in the spring, getting fourth in the 3200 with a 9:22. O'Hara's boys put four in the top twelve to take team honors over Central Bucks East 55 to 63.
Franklin, who ran #2 behind last year's state champ Paige Miller, and finished out of the medals at states, apparently has stepped it up a notch this season as she dominated CB East's Val Myers by a full minute, taking the race in 18:49. Wissahickon easily took the team competition by placing six in the top 11, with a 2:29 spread between one and five. Danielle Schopf did not compete for O'Hara.