10/6 WKND: Big Wins for O'Hara, Rome@Ridgway, Mccauley in DE, Harriman in NJ, N All. Boys@Pitt CC

27th Harrier Invitational

7th Annual Souderton Twilight Invitational

Carnegie Mellon Invitational

DELCO Championships

Grove City Invitational

Grove City Area

Photos and Story By Phil Grove

 

They cheered when the sun finally made a cameo appearance Saturday at the Grove City Invitational.
 
They did again when Grove City’s Daniel Jaskowak put together his finest performance to date on his home course, leading the PA Class AA#4 boys team to a near-perfect 17 points and a team championship.
 
“I knew it was going to be kind of me versus the clock today,” the senior standout said. “I asked my coach, ‘What time do you think is just out of my reach? What do you think I can’t run on this course?’
 
“He said, ‘If you can run like 15:20, I would be very impressed.’ So I was like maybe that’s what I’ll aim for. That didn’t happen, but that’s OK. I still ran well, and I was just trying to get a good time.”
 
The senior covered the first mile in 4:50, with sophomore teammate Aaron Benka eight seconds back. After a tour through the wooded section of the course, Jaskowak’s lead had ballooned to 32 seconds as he hit the two-mile mark in 10:03. His advantage continued to grow as he stopped the clock in 15 minutes, 37 seconds, a personal best by 23 seconds on the Memorial Park layout.
 
“That’s pretty impressive,” Grove City coach Mike Sample said of the winning time. “The course was a little slick, we had early rains so I knew we wouldn’t have too fast of a time, but 15:37 was pretty quick for this course.”
 
With Jaskowak leading the way, Sample’s Eagles passed their final test with ease before PIAA qualifiers get under way. Benka (16:36) and fellow Grove City sophomore Ryan Budnik (16:59) were the next two to finish as Grove City had five of the first six, seven in the top 10 and a 28-second spread for runners 2-5.
 
“This is our home course, and we just went out there and took advantage of knowing what we have to do on our course,” Sample said. “The guys are working hard together, and we’re making sure they are peaking at the right time.
 
“Today was a pretty good example of how hard and hungry they want to be at the end of the year. Every time they step on this course, they want to run it hard and make sure they are setting a good example for the younger generation coming up and preparing themselves for the end of the year.”
 
Plum was led by Ed Amori’s eighth in finishing second with 53 points and a 1-5 spread of just 32 seconds. Chartiers Valley was third with 114.
 
While the locals dominated the boys’ race, a team from the suburbs of Buffalo – West Seneca West – made a 2-1/2 hour drive worth it by walking off with the girls’ team championship. Emilio Mancino’s Indians nipped Grove City, 65-74, thanks in large part to a back-to-back-to-back finish by runners 3-5.

“We have a young team that’s a little inexperienced (so) we try to get out of the area because we see a lot of the same teams all the time,” Mancino said of the reason for the out-of-state trip south. “You’ve got the outlets here. Our team deserves it. It was just a nice little getaway for us.
 
“I knew that we would fare decently this weekend. I didn’t think that we were going to be able to win it though. That says a lot about them.”
 
Freshman Bailey Kessler paced the winners in third, while freshman Katie Jaskowak led the hosts with a sixth.
 
Although her margin of victory was not as great as the boys’ champion, Avonworth’s Beth Shenck was in control of the girls’ race. A course softened and muddied in spots by overnight and morning rain didn’t phase the junior as she crossed the line in 19:59, with freshman Danielle Frank of Trinity 18 seconds back.
 
“The conditions weren’t as bad (as last year),” Shenck said. “Overall, the mud was the kind of consistency that your spikes stick in, so it wasn’t too watery that you were slipping all over the place.”
 
Although spectators had to keep her on course at one point Saturday, Shenck knows the way to Hershey and is looking forward to the chance to be part of the Class A state final.
 
“I’m pretty excited about it,” she said. “They keep telling me I can win, I don’t know about that.”

 

 

 

Pitt-Greensburg Invitational

Ridgway Invitational

Ridgway

This is Kennedy Weisner's home district course. It is Adare Gennocro's home district course. Regan Rome's home district course is over three hours to the east, in Dimock, PA, north of Scranton.  

So when the murmur rippled through the fans gathering for the Ridgway Invitational on the District 9 home course that District 2 defending champ, and 2012 Foundation Blue Race champ Regan Rome of Dallas was there, the anticipation could do nothing but increase. The reasons were obvious. Rome was looking for competition.

But the new classification adjustment in PIAA cross country made for some interesting assumptions. Adair Gennocro of nearby Saint Marys was in AA. Rome had been moved from AAA to AA. Weisner had been runner-up for two consecutive years in AA cross country. Gennocro had been 3rd for two consecutive years in AA cross country.

But Weisner was now Class A.

So why did Rome come west on the day of her homecoming dance?

Simply, to see where she was with her main AA competition, Gennocro. But she was also looking for as much competition as she could find. She had been disappointed in her 3rd place finish at PTXC4 on September 8th - behind champion Weisner and runner-up Greta Lindsely of AAA Penn Manor. So Weisner was on her radar.

But Gennocro was her measuring stick for this race.

As it turned out, Rome's race at Ridgway showed she measured up well.

Going out with Gennocro, both were trailing a fast-starting Weisner, who was on a fast-opening mile training run. But by halfway, Rome had shed her AA rival, and had closed on Weisner.

Approaching the two mile, Rome was in the lead.

Unsure of the strength of that lead after Weisner had set a course record at the huge McQuaid Invitational the week before, Rome continued to push.

Weisner was at the end of a tough week of training, but she readily acknowledged that Rome was the better on this day.

Rome closed to a course record of 18:15.4, with Kennedy in at 18:41.0, a PR on the course, also breaking the CR of Gennorco, who ran 19:04.6.

In the boys race, there were two top harriers absent to tale their SATs, but they don't' award points for test-taking at a cross country meet.

In their stead, Elk County Catholic senior Ryan Detsch took the opportunity not win his first invitational in 16:55.9. The recently awarded Eagle Scout used the confidence gained from this Boy Scout experience to push through the hills and capture this first major invitational.

Southern Tier Classic XC Invitational

Allegany-Limestone

The Legends Meet*

The stage was set Saturday for a meeting of one of western Pennsylvania’s hottest and fastest runners of 2012 and one of Ohio’s 1,600-meter run champions from a year ago.
 
As has been the case this season, it turned into another race against the clock for Corry Area’s Austin Pondel in The Legends Meet at the Trumbull County (Ohio) Fairgounds. The senior was left to go it alone at the front because of an unexpected no-show, dominating the Division III race with a 15:59.8.
 
“Yes, the course was very muddy and sloppy with quite a bit of standing water,” said Pondel, who won by more than 30 seconds and had the day’s best time by almost 22. “People were saying that course was flat and, ha, it really is. I believe that it was probably 20-35 seconds slower with the mud. I just tried to make sure I didn't fall or twist anything.
 
“For bad weather, it doesn't really affect me that much. I would say I would rather run in 85 degrees compared to 45 degrees, but everything else isn't a problem. I definitely put that to the test last year at the District 10 AAA district race that was low 50s and 4 to 6 inches of mud everywhere.”
 
Pondel was able to put about 70 meters on the field in the first 1¼ miles. All Tim Nichols of South Range could do was run for second, crossing in 16:31.9.
 
“Yea, even with a no-show, it was still a really fun meet and course,” said Pondel, whose time is one of only 5 sub-16:00 clockings in meet history.
 
Curtis Royek of Corry Area was eighth in 17:32.4 as the Beavers finished sixth with 194 points. Ohio-ranked Gilmour Academy won with 52 points as The Legends Meet is Corry Area’s last before the District 10 regional meet on October 20.
 
“With the championship races starting, I'm ready to show myself,” Pondel said. “The whole month of September, we had region tri-meets every Tuesday and I felt like my fitness kind of stalled with no full weeks of pure training, but this past week and next is all training and, even now, I feel like my aerobic strength has come back/gotten better.
 
“My racing this season is kind of disappointing with little competition, but I did beat quality guys at McDowell and was the fastest PA kid at Boardman so that gave me some hints of what I'm possible of.”