The 2011 Season in Review: AA

For years Quaker Valley had been one of the favorites for a state championship in AA Cross Country. However, after a string of disappointments, including a surprise 3^rd place finish at the 2010 championships, it was hard to push all your chips in for the WPIAL powerhouse. Entering the 2011 season, it seemed QV would have their best chance ever to change the narrative. The team returned their entire scoring 5 from the state championships, including past medalist LJ Westwood and Nat Fox.

Northeast Bradford was an interesting wildcard. The District 4 champions had narrowly missed state gold the previous fall, losing on a bizarre DQ. In 2011, they returned their top 3 runners, including rising juniors Sam Williams and Curt Jewett, but depth would be the big question for this squad.

District 10 received a lot of love in the Penntrack preseason rankings. Both West Middlesex (12^th at states but returned 4 of 5) and Mercyhurst Prep (missed states by one spot, returned 3 of 5) received votes and showed up in the top 5 preseason poll. However, North East (4^th at states, returned 3 of 5) seemed to be the most dangerous squad from this district considering their pedigree and potential front-runner in Ryan Smathers. As a sophomore, Smathers had finished 5^th individually at XC states and was the runner-up outdoors in the 1600 against Tommy Gruschow.

Smathers was the top returner individually and led the way for an incredible class of rising juniors. There had been 6 sophomore medalists in 2010 including District 2 champ Luke Jones and District 11 champ Brendan Shearn. Shearn was also coming off a track season in which he had placed 2^nd to John Trueman in the state championship 3200m.

The aforementioned LJ Westwood would be the big hope for the senior class. The reigning state champion at 800 meters, Westwood had placed 8^th at Hershey the prior fall and was also the WPIAL champion over Cooper’s Lake’s hills. He had the right combination of speed and strength to do real damage his senior season.

In his first major invite, Westwood showed exactly what kind of potential he had. The senior stormed to a 15:50 on the Red, White and Blue course which was good enough for 4^th overall and tops in AA. The result also helped carry Quaker Valley to a third place finish in the team standings, behind only the AAA powers of Mount Lebanon and North Allegheny. Nat Fox (16:11) and Roy Hadfield (16:22) each turned in top 25 results against the stacked field.

The same weekend at PTXC, Brendan Shearn made his case for the top spot in the AA power rankings. At the always competitive PTXC meet, Shearn took control of the race and never looked back as he rolled to a 16 second victory over Altoona’s Dylan Mountain. Across the state at the Big Red Invitational, Ryan Smathers finished with a silver medal in his season debut, taking second to Austin Pondel of AAA Corry.

At the same meet, North East won the team title in the Red Race with 42 points. In the White Race, West Middlesex was the top squad with 47 points. The Red Race featured more of the larger schools, but ultimately West Middlesex was higher ranked school in PTXC’s next ranking set.

The defending champions from Elk Lake showed their cards for the first time at the Lackawanna Invitational on September 17. In the team race, Elk Lake was something of a non-factor, taking 4^th against a large AAA field. But the bigger story was the race from junior Luke Jones. He stormed to a blistering 15:31, some 20 seconds ahead of one of the bigger names in AAA, Aaron Wilkinson. After the statement victory, all eyes were on the Foundation meet where LJ Westwood, Ryan Smathers and Luke Jones were set to face-off for the #1 spot in AA.

But as usual, things did not follow the script in Hershey. The Northeast Bradford duo of Sam Williams and Curt Jewett, running the state course for the first time since their heartbreaking loss in Hershey, came out firing. Jewett took out the race hard, leading through halfway in 8:01, before Sam Williams took over in the latter half of the race to surge home with gold. Williams ran 16:33 for the victory, 10 seconds ahead of silver medalist Ryan Smathers. Jewett held off Elk Lake’s Luke Jones by 1 second for the bronze. Williams time was not only best in the Blue Race, it was also faster than all those in the AAA race, which included ET #1 Sam Hibbs.

Notably missing from the results was Quaker Valley’s #1 guy LJ Westwood. After his RWB race, many were eager to see what Westwood could do against the top guys in Hershey, but he didn’t start the race for QV. Despite this, Quaker Valley still not only won the meet, but absolutely dominated. Thanks in part to a big improvement from senior Matt Cooper, QV stormed to the win 106 to 182 against North East. Holy Redeemer, using a tight pack, finished in 3^rd place and preseason darlings Mercyhurst Prep finished in 4^th, led by a freshman in Sebastian Curtin. The two main protagonists from the 2010 state champions, Northeast Bradford and Elk Lake, finished in 9^th and 21^st respectively.

Looking at the full results, what jumped out was the number of Juniors. The 11^th graders took the top 6 spots in the meet and 9 of the top 11 places in total. The only seniors to breakup the onslaught were Nat Fox and Saegertown’s Nate Tallada. Seeing Tallada’s name in the results, in 8^th place, was an interesting wrinkle. Nate had been an absolute force in AA the previous two seasons and, if he was healthy and in form late in the season, would be a sleeper pick to use that senior experience to upset the juniors.

Although the excitement all centered around Foundation, the always loaded Carlisle Invitational was happening at the same time just up the round. Here, Brendan Shearn proved formidable again. With a time of 16:05, Shearn defeated a loaded AAA field that included North Allegheny front-man Logan Steiner and LaSalle rising star Tom Coyle. A week later, when Shearn placed 3^rd at Paul Short in 16 flat, it became clear that he was amassing one of the best resumes in the state: regardless of classification.

But the state landscape is always changing in Cross Country. While Shearn, just a day after Paul Short, ran a blazing 15:58 at the Northeast Invitational, many top AA runners were heading to New York for the McQuaid Invitational. Williams, Smathers and Jewett, the top three from Foundation, would get a rematch on the three-mile layout. This time, it was Jewett who topped the trio, running 15:38 to take down Smathers by 8 seconds. However, it was another small school runner who stole the show. Barrett Kemp of District 9’s Oswayo Valley threw down a jaw-dropping victory with a 15:30 winning time. Suddenly, there was another junior whose name belonged in the state title discussion.

Meanwhile, the team race was becoming a bit less clear as well. Quaker Valley raced at Pittsburgh CC, once again without LJ Westwood. It was revealed that the team’s star runner was recovering from injury and, although he hoped to return for the postseason, it was unclear how much fitness he would still have. During the same weekend, D10 powers North East and West Middlesex both grabbed invitational victories, the latter coming at Cochranton. Canton out of District 4 had also turned heads, winning at the Northeast Invitational.

It wasn’t until October 13^th that we saw Westwood back in action. As expected, Quaker Valley stormed to victory at the Midwestern Athletic Conference championships. Westwood finished as the team’s #3 runner on race day, running 18:15 for 8^th overall. The team comfortably won with 6 top 20 finishers. Nat Fox was the league champion. Despite some question marks, this team was still clearly the one to beat in AA.

Individually, the big names picked up some nice wins during league week. Brendan Shearn dominated the Schuylkill League with a blazing 15:39. Sam Williams won at Meteor while Curt Jewett was the winner at NTL Coaches. Ryan Smathers won at the D10 Region 4 meet while Nate Tallada, showing a return to championship form, dropped a 16:09 to win at Region 3. Things were set for an exciting district week.

In District 3, things started off with a familiar result. Anville-Cleona knocked off Lancaster Mennonite  for the second straight season, behind a strong individual victory from Shawn Wolfe. Fitting the theme of the year in AA, the entire top 4 for AC were juniors. District 2 had their championship a day later where the favorites held form. Luke Jones was the individual champion, defeating Holy Cross’s Rico Galassi. Holy Redeemer was the team champion in runaway fashion, scoring 31 points for an easy victory.

In District 4 we finally got an upset. The top 5 names individual were all as expected (and, by the way, were 5 juniors), but Wellsboro ended up the surprise team champion. They knocked off Canton and Northeast Bradford, both more acclaimed teams, en route to an automatic bid to the state championship. Northeast Bradford would not go home empty handed, however, as they took 1-2 individually behind Jewett and Williams.

Brendan Shearn and Barrett Kemp both became district champions without much fuss as Kemp helped his Oswayo Valley team to a 1 point team title in D9. Dan Alexander was the D1 AA champ, adding yet another junior to list of contenders in AA. His Lower Moreland team was headed back to states as a result.

But the two biggest meets of the week were District 10 and District 7. In Buhl Park, it was the long awaited matchup between North East and West Middlesex. While both teams had been among the Top 5 seasonal rankings, only one could be the D10 champion. The race was incredibly close as North East had the better front running, but West Middlesex narrowed the gap with their pack. In the end, North East just barely hung on with an 88-91 victory. Individually, Ryan Smathers wasn’t as lucky. After following a very quick early pace from Jeremy Parsons, Smathers found himself running on empty over the second half of the race. In the end, that allowed Nate Tallada to once again come through for the District title, winning by 8 seconds in a sloppy race.

As sloppy as things were at Buhl Park, things were perhaps uglier at Cooper’s Lake. The conditions might things ripe for an upset, but Quaker Valley was unphased. The defending champions did what they have come to expect: crushing a 42 team field with just 29 points. They put 5 runners in the top 11 scorers and boasting the gold and silver medalists. Roy Hadfield, another junior, was the district champion with a time of 17:21, followed by Nat Fox. Places 3 through 7 also belonged to juniors.

And so Quaker Valley once again entered the State Championship as a popular pick for victory. Not only were they a deep team with excellent coaching and experience, but no clear challenger had risen from the other districts to challenge them. Quaker Valley lined up at Hershey with heavy pressure, but the race was undeniably theirs to lose.

One mile into the race, things were as expected. QV rolled through in first with 88 points. The next closest team was already buried behind them as Holy Redeemer came through with 162. Wellsboro and Anville-Cleona were the only remaining teams under 200 and then the three District 10 squads filed into 5^th through 7^th. Quaker Valley’s front four had gotten out well and clear of traffic. Their 5 was a bit further behind, but still in a great spot. That would be the only point of weakness for other teams to attack.

As Quaker Valley dominated, the more interesting part of the race became the individual battle. Barrett Kemp of Oswayo Valley had the lead through the mile, but state title favorite Brendan Shearn was right on his hip. There were 22 runners that took the race out under 5 minutes, led by Kemp and Shearn at 4:54. The top 8 runners at the mile were all juniors as were 13 of the top 14. The only senior to break them up was Nate Tallada, sitting in 9^th place at 4:56.

A mile later, Curt Jewett had taken over the lead. Jewett, who led through halfway at the Foundation Invite, found himself in a familiar place. He split 10:14 through the 2 mile and had three other runners right behind him including Shearn. The District 2 duo of Jones and Galassi were in 3^rd and 4^th. Ryan Smathers, who had led the race through two miles a year earlier, was now in 5^th place and had his eyes up for the final mile. With a bit more conservative of a start, he could be a dangerous sprint finisher in a close race.

It was still anybody’s race individually, but the team title was becoming much more certain. Quaker Valley, determined to leave nothing to chance, was flying through the course. They had 92 points at 2 miles with four runners inside the top 20 team scorers. Matt Cooper was once again excelling on the Hershey hills and Nat Fox was in a medal position individually. The #5 spot was still their only weak point, but sophomore Rob Veltre had stepped up and taken over for Josh Szymanski. As a result, QV crossed the two mile mark with the best 5^th man in the field.

North East, behind Smathers charge, had jumped to 2^nd in the team standings. They had 154 points and the edge over Wellsboro and Holy Redeemer. The familiar foe of West Middlesex was in 5^th, but they needed to get an individual further up the field. Their top runner was 21^st in the team standings. Wellsboro had three in the top 25.

Minutes later, we would be tabulating the final points. But before those would be announced, a sprint finish was on to decide the individual state champion. Coming out of the back hills Brendan Shearn and gotten his legs underneath him and prepared for his final surge. Going into poop-out hill, he had the lead by Elk Lake’s Luke Jones was still within striking distance. Ultimately, the pair battled on the home straight, but Shearn never let things get too close as he sprinted home for the gold medal and Jones took a strong silver.

Those two were well clear of the rest, but the top 5 had also open up on the nearest competitors. Rico Galassi finished one spot behind his District 2 rival and Sam Williams held off a late charge from Ryan Smathers. As expected, the top of the field was mostly juniors, with 8 11^th graders cracking the top 10. But the top senior was a big surprise. Beaver Area’s Josef Dipietrantonio, who was just 11^th at districts in the WPIAL, finished 6^th overall at states and was the top senior. His WPIAL mate Nat Fox was the #3 senior across the line in 11^th.  In total, 19 of the 25 medalists were juniors and 1 was a sophomore, meaning that 20 of the 25 medalists would be returning the next season.

After Nat Fox came home in 11^th, three more Quaker Valley runners came through in the top 31 overall including Roy Hadfield’s state medal winning 23^rd place finish. LJ Westwood threw down a big final kick to get all the way to 29^th in the final standings, only 10 seconds outside of the medals. As a result, QV had 4 runners in before most teams even had 2 across the line. When Rob Veltre crossed as the team’s #5 runner, the state championship was clinched. Quaker Valley emphatically put their stamp on the race with a score of 90 points, half of 2^nd place’s 181.

The second place set of medals ended up going to North East who survived a late charge from Holy Redeemer in the race’s closing mile 181 to 190. Holy Redeemer had a 59 second spread, but no top 20 finishers and so North East was about to hold them off. North East freshman Gary Olson stepped with a massive breakthrough, finishing as the team’s #2 runner in 25^th in the team standings.

The big surprise of the day was District 12’s Masterman. Entering the race as a relative unknown, the Philly Public school was not featured among the discussion of top teams. There was good reason: the last time Masterman came to Hershey, the finished just 14^th at the Foundation meet. But the Masterman boys hung tough during the fast start and used their experience on the Belmont hills to rally late in the race. After sitting in 11^th at the mile, Masterman surged to 8^th at 2 miles before closing rapidly to the finish to grab 4^th on a tiebreaker over West Middlesex. Keaton Naff led the way for Masterman with his state medal winning finish, but the team’s pack behind him was the difference maker. They had strong surges 2 through 6 down the stretch and ultimately outpacked the pack kings from the season in West Middlesex.