The 2010 Season in Review: AA

The 2010 season began as one of the most wide-open years PA had seen and perhaps no race personified this more than the individual competition in AA. With sophomore Aaron Wilkinson’s Valley View team transitioning to AAA for 2010, the top five runners in the AA classification were not returning. Overall, just six of the top 20 guys were back. District 6 runner Alex Woodrow led the returners alongside fellow top 10 finishers Harold Lamour and Nate Tallada.

In Penntrack’s September preview for the upcoming season, they expertly spotted Ryan Smathers as a runner to watch in the season. Smathers was just 49^th the year before at states, but he had shown great potential on the track, running a key leg on North East’s 4x8 and adding a state medal in the 1600. Oh yeah, and he did all that as only a freshman. We didn’t know it at the time, but Smathers and the rest of the Class of 2013 would come to define the small school classification not just in the 2010 season, but for the decade to come.

Team wise, the contest seemed a bit less of a toss-up. Elk Lake, the 2008 state champions (a story for another time, but they won the state championship without a single individual medalist), was returning six of their top seven including returning state medalist Mike Bedell. They also appeared to have strong experience and leadership as five of their six returners were rising seniors. Quaker Valley, who had fallen agonizingly short in their most recent trips to Hershey, seemed like they might have missed their window, but with a returning medalist in Nat Fox and real wild card in track star LJ Westwood, there was hope to hoist it open at least a little longer. Holy Redeemer, another District 2 team, also had some potential, returning three scorers from the fourth place team in AA.

A bit further down the list was a wildcard squad from District 4. NE Bradford had finished 7^th in 2009, but they returned their entire scoring 5. The pack included three rising seniors and a pair of soon to be 10^th graders: Sam Williams and Curt Jewett.

When the 2010 season began, we didn’t have to wait long to see the big names race. Nate Tallada of Saegertown outlasted Ryan Samthers by six seconds to win the McDowell Invitational and throw down a statement performance. Meanwhile, NE Bradford absolutely smashed their competition at the Cliff Robbins Invitational. Although their 6^th and 7^th runners each ran above 25 minutes, they put 4 runners in the top 10 overall and scored 54 points to beat AAA Dallas (91) and Holy Redeemer (122).

Elk Lake opened up a week later against stiff AAA competition at the Gettysburg Invitational. They finished 6^th, scoring 263 points, led by Mike Bedell’s 7^th place finish. It was a respectable result from the small school, but with the exception of Bedell, their returning varsity runners were outside the top 50 scorers overall. The bright spot was yet another talented member of the sophomore class. Luke Jones made the most of his opportunity with the first stringers and took home 18^th place.

Although Elk Lake could not best the top AAA programs, another AA athlete had better luck. Trinity’s Tommy Gruschow stormed across the course to run 16:05 and take home the gold medal. In the process, Grow knocked off two returning AA state medalists in Bedell and Kutztown’s Nate Noll. Previously more of a track athlete, Gruschow announced he was ready for the hills in Cross Country.

The Foundation meet at the end of September always serves as a great midseason test for state title hopefuls. After Nate Tallada added two more invite victories at Big Red and Penn St Behrend, he entered the meet with some serious confidence. Here, he would get the chance to take on Slippery Rock winner and top state meet returner Alex Woodrow. The two did not disappoint, but men found themselves at the front of the race early and never looked back. Tallada ultimately crossed the line first in a time of 16:54, topping Woodrow by just three seconds.

In the team battle, the story was once again Northeast Bradford. This time, the two sophomores took over the top spots on their team. Curt Jewett ran an aggressive race, staying with the leaders through the halfway point before slipping back to a distant third. Sam Williams added a sixth place finish behind him with Kent Upham and Jake Balchikonis also finishing in the top 15. Ultimately, NEB put up 66 points, almost half of the next closest team, which was once again Holy Redeemer. Redeemer, led by AJ Limongelli (7^th), had a formidable first three, but could not ultimately match the back end of the scoring from their opposition.

Around the state, other top invitationals were ongoing. Gettysburg champion Tommy Gruschow raced in the Carlisle Challenge race and could not match his feats of a few weeks earlier. The Trinity senior finished 31^st while his former vanquished foe Nate Noll turned in a faster time while nabbing the silver medal in the less competitive Champions race. It seemed like Noll had found his footing and would usurp Gruschow on his way back to the top spot in District 3.

Meanwhile, Elk Lake found themselves against a capable AAA field. This time, it was at the prestigious Paul Short Invitational. On this occasion, the Elk Lake boys seemed better adjusted to the big stage and they raced to 11^th in the final standings. They scored the same amount of points as Hempfield, the team that had previously dominated them at Gettysburg. Behind Bedell and Jones, it was senior Jeff Horvath who delivered the best race of the day for the team in the #3 spot, running 17:20.

Still Elk Lake had to feel much the under dog to NE Bradford. The District 4 squad absolutely rolled through the McQuaid Invitational where Sam Williams clocked a brilliant 15:30 time to finish #1 out of PA athletes. Bradford had 4 guys at 16:05 or faster on the three-mile layout as PA’s AA contingent represented very well. Harley Thompson of Elk County Catholic (15:41), Ryan Smathers of North East (15:43) and Curt Jewett (15:44) all turned in monster results. Bradford picked up yet another invitational win, scoring 93 points with 4 in the top 20.

The run up to championship season saw a few more notable performances. Springfield’s John Trueman looked fantastic at the William Tennent Invitational, running 16:15 to best a crop of AAA District 1 standouts. Nate Tallada and Alex Woodrow were victorious two more times, with Tallada’s first win coming against Harley Thompson, one of the breakout stars of the McQuaid Invite. Out west, Quaker Valley started to come into form with an excellent victory at the MAC XC Championships, posting just 30 points against some strong AAA competition.

While Tallada and NE Bradford had earned the title of favorite, District Week would likely serve as the chance for pundits to determine exactly who would be their best competition. One of the more intriguing individual matchups came right at the beginning in District 3. Tommy Gruschow and Nate Noll went head to head on a modified version of the Hershey course and it was Gruschow who won threw down an emphatic victory, winning by 21 seconds over Noll. The entire winning margin came in the second half of the race.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Elk Lake was hoping to lock up a district title on their home course. The preseason title favorites seemed to have things under control as sophomore Luke Jones dominated Holy Redeemer front man AJ Limongelli by 17 seconds for district gold. Sean Carney then followed up with his best race of the season, finishing 5^th and beating out Redeemer’s Mitchel Ford by a spot. However, Mike Bedell, the team’s catalyst all season, did not finish the race. As a result, Elk Lake was missing a key scorer and the results reflected it. They finished second, 21 points back of Redeemer and just 13 points of Holy Cross, narrowly avoiding missing out on the championships all together.

Around the rest of the state, things held more to form. Harley Thompson, Alex Woodrow and John Trueman all handled their district meets comfortably. Although Nate Tallada got all he could handle from Ryan Smathers, he too emerged as District champion. Harold Lamour of Engineering and Science, the #2 returner from last year’s state meet, posted a dominate victory in his first appearance of the season at District 12, winning by 30 seconds. Brendan Shearn was the victor in District 11 (yet another sophomore) and Joel Christian rounded things out by taking the title in District 4.

But with Elk Lake faltering at their district meet, the biggest story would be who would rise to take their place. NE Bradford did what they had done all season, they dominated the district and posted just 53 points. What was much more interesting to people was the rise of Quaker Valley. QV had won the D7 title each of the prior two seasons with 41 points and 47 points. Those type of performances, within a district that was far from a cake walk, had been enough to make them state title favorites. By all indications, this year’s team was not supposed to be in that league after the hit they took from graduation. And it turns out they weren’t. They were better.

On race day, Quaker Valley scored a mind-numbing 25 points within the 37 team field. All five of their scorers finished in the top 10 overall, led by LJ Westwood’s district championship run. The remaining scorers (Roy Hadfield, Nat Fox, Matt Cooper and Jack McGarry) were all either a sophomore or a junior. This team was doing things the older kids could only dream of and now, suddenly, they looked like an unstoppable force ready to steal the state championship that had narrowly alluded them each of the previous two seasons.

When we reached State Championship Saturday, Quaker Valley had become the clear state title favorites. After taking back to back silver medals in Hershey, this seemed like it would finally be their moment to sport gold. However, the individual race seemed much more unclear. Yes, Nate Tallada had proven himself admirably throughout the season, but the junior would likely get all he could handle from his fellow district champions.

Yet, after the gun sounded, it was someone within his district who made the first move. Ryan Smathers, the sophomore from North East, fearlessly went to the front and dared his competition to come with him. The hot pace left some of the top runners in a tricky place. You had to balance running within yourself with making sure you didn’t get buried in the narrow start. Woodrow, Trueman and Tallada all decided to settle in just behind the ambitious sophomore while Gruschow, Jones, Lamour, Thompson and Westwood all sagged back. I fact, Quaker Valley layed off the hot pace in general, coming through the mile standings in fifth place. Elk Lake, with a strong looking Mike Bedell, were out hard and in second. But Northeast Bradford and their formidable foursome were leading the charge.

As the runners approached mile two, the story continued to be the Same. Smathers had actually opened up slightly by this point in the race with a two second lead over Trueman. The fast opening clip had left many on their heels as Tallada slipped to fifth and Woodrow to seventh, neither looking like they had a big surge in them to fight back. But Tommy Gruschow, lurking in fourth, took the hills quite well and, confident in his speed, waited for the opportunity to strike.

Quaker Valley had spent much of the first part of the race waiting to strike and, two miles into the race, it seemed like they may have waited too long. The core that had dominated the WPIAL championships was buried among the pack as Nat Fox and Jack McGarry found themselves outside the top 90 overall with barely a mile to make up ground. They were a distant 5^th as Northeast Bradford and Elk Lake continued to assert their dominance.

Elk Lake was cutting into Northeast Bradford’s lead, now just six points back. Bedell and Jones were leading the charge, but the pack was running the best they had all season. Sean Carney was lurking around the medal spots as the best #3 guy in the field and Will Bennett, the team’s #5, was within 7 seconds of Bradford’s #5 man. Would he be the x-factor they needed to close the gap?

But as they neared the finish, it seemed the story would not be who could close the gap, but who could hang on. The brutal early pace was taking its toll on many of the top runners. Quaker Valley, who had waiting so long to time their surge to the finish line, finally began to smell blood in the water as their team surged up the standings. For Northeast Bradford, Kent Upham, one of their fantastic four, began to tire and slip back down the standings. For Elk Lake, it was Will Bennett, a consistently reliable scorer, who began to falter.

At the front of the race, the individual battle was seeing a big shake up as well. Tommy Gruschow had taken over from Ryan Smathers and was now minutes away from a state championship. Yet as he made his way through the final stretch, the crowd was cheering furiously, letting him know that the race was far from over. As the intensity ramped up, it was revealed that it was not one of the district champions coming to hawk him down, but instead District 2 runner up AJ Limongelli of Holy Redeemer. Limongelli had been consistently solid all year, but he had not yet worked his name into the state title discussion. On the final straightaway, he saw his chance and poured out everything he had to go get Gruschow.

In the final moments, Tommy unleashed his potent kick and stormed home for a one second victory. His final time was 16:30. After Gruschow and Limongelli, Harley Thompson was the next to come home in 16:40 with Joel Christian and Ryan Smathers rounding out the top five. Smathers led a group of six sophomore medalists including Sam Williams and Curt Jewett from Northeast Bradford as well as Luke Jones from Elk Lake. Quaker Valley’s top sophomore, Roy Hadfield, was just off the medal stand in 34^th.

Although Quaker Valley made a valiant push, led by LJ Westwood’s top 10 finish, it was clear that the boys would once again be denied a state championship. Elk Lake and Northeast Bradford, despite some slippage in the races final stages, seemed as though they had done enough to take the podium spots. The only question was what order.

Initially, the math said the Northeast Bradford had managed to hold on and win the State Championship by one single point. But further review of the tap revealed something tragic. Northeast Bradford’s number three runner, Jake Balchikonis had impeded another runner at the finish line. Officials reviewed the tape very carefully and ultimately decided to disqualify Balchikonis, a result which completely transformed the meet. Not only did this make Elk Lake the champions, it also elevated their district mates Holy Redeemer into the runner-up position. Northeast Bradford was relegated back to 8^th place in the standings as what was initially a 16^-point team score became a 157 score.

Depth ultimately proved to be a big factor for Elk Lake. Will Bennett didn’t have his best day at this meet and they needed one of their six-seven guys to step up. The man who did it was senior Bryan Grosvenor who surged up 16 places in the last mile. Grosvenor and #4 runner Jeff Horvath combined to cut 21 points off their team scores in the last 1.1. Not only that, but Elk Lake also put three runners on the medal stand in Mike Bedell (7^th), Luke Jones (17^th) and Sean Carney (24^th).

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