The 2011 Season in Review: AAA

In 2010, the WPIAL grabbed the individual gold for the first time since the beginning of the previous decade. A year later, most projected the title would shift back to the perennial power of District 1. Heading the list of returners was Hatboro Horsham’s Sam Hibbs. The rising senior was the top returner from the prior year’s state meet (7^th) and was the top sophomore in 2009 (12^th). His track season was excellent, including a state medal in the 3200.

But as can often be the case, fans were much more excited about other rising stars from the track season. Drew Magaha of Upper Moreland had lit the state on fire with a 4:07.32 record setting performance at Shippensburg, breaking a record that belonged to three-time XC state champ Craig Miller. Magaha had never been a state medalist in XC, but he had shown flashes of potential, including two top 20 finishes in District 1 and two SOL American League championships. The other track stars who turned heads were Alex Moran (4:14 miler) and Ned Willig (4:11 for 1600).

North Allegheny’s hope to keep the title in house was Logan Steiner, the #2 returner from the prior year’s championships (finished 13^th). After the four year stretch the Tigers put together, Steiner and his teammates garnered a large amount of preseason respect. Regardless of how things looked on paper, this program had proven they would produce contenders. PTXC ranked the defending state champions #1 in their preseason rankings.

O’Hara (3^rd the prior year, returned 4 of 5) and Henderson (2^nd, returned runners 4 through 7 from states) were also ranked in the top 3 overall. O’Hara had lost their #1 runner and state medalist Chris Garrity, but the pack component of their team was still there. Henderson was much more of a wildcard. Like NA, they had a reputation that got them a lot of love in the rankings. But the Warriors lost their first 3 runners from states and we would eventually learn that their #4 runner, freshman standout Reiny Barchet, was going to miss the entire season due to injury.

I personally liked the upside for North Penn. Although they had finished just 12^th at states, they returned their entire scoring five from states including two rising juniors and a rising sophomore. This Knights squad had also finished second at districts behind eventual state runner-ups Henderson and had a recent championship history, winning states in both 2007 and 2008.

Despite my excitement about North Penn, other emerging teams quickly made us forget about their upside. North Penn’s major invite debut came at Briarwood when they went head to head with PCL champs Cardinal O’Hara. Although O’Hara had home turf, they left little doubt who the better team was. Dropping 48 points, O’Hara easily knocked off North Penn (93) and put 5 guys in the top 14 overall. Junior Dan Savage led the way with a real breakout run, dropping a 16:09 and finishing in 3^rd overall.

Meanwhile, at the Red, White and Blue Invitational, Mount Lebanon scored 83 points to defeat North Allegheny at the West’s first major invitational. The Tigers had just two top 20 finishers and Lebo’s front running proved to be the difference with Alex Moran, Lawton Tellin and Kevin Tramaglini leading the charge. That victory, combined with a 15 point performance at Marty Uher, was enough to catapult Lebo to #1 in the PTXC rankings.

But Mount Lebanon wasn’t the only surprise at RWB. Grove City’s Dan Jaskowak, who had just squeaked into the state’s top 50 in 2010, entered the race as something of a nobody compared to the WPIAL talent around him. But the junior not only won the race, he scorched the trails to the tune of 15:24. A state title contender had just emerged from obscurity, a sign of what was to come in the 2011 Cross Country season.

Although the Jaskowak emergence was quite jaw dropping, Sam Hibbs was still the clear favorite through the early weeks of September. The senior started his season with three straight emphatic wins. The first came at Viking before he won at Centaur and then the non-championship section of Briarwood. His teammate, junior Conner Quinn, was just within a shadow’s length in each of the races.

Toward the end of the month, almost all of the early favorites converged on Hershey Parkview for the Foundation Invitational. Hibbs and Quinn would lead the individual match-up while O’Hara and Mount Lebanon would vie for team supremacy.

As expected, Hibbs took the individual title. Pennsbury junior Connor Harriman split up the Hatboro Horsham sweep in second. Interestingly, Drew Magaha, the track standout, took 4^th in the standings. He started conservatively in the early part of the race before moving up to 4^th overall, just 2 seconds back of Quinn and 9 seconds back of Hibbs.

The front-runners for Mount Lebanon and O’Hara took 6^th and 7^th in the final standings respectively. Although Moran outlasted Savage, it was O’Hara that won the team title. The final standings just titled O’Hara’s way with a score of 79 to 85. Lebo had the front-running to win but O’Hara’s pack was absolutely spectacular. Although O’Hara’s senior leader Mike Bilotta had a sub-par race in 20^th, his teammates stepped up around him. Junior Chris Pastore was 12^th overall and freshman Kevin James, running in his first major invitational, snagged 19^th. James and #5 man Ernie Pitone (21^st) were both new to the scoring line-up for O’Hara.

Up the road at Carlisle, the defending state champions from North Allegheny were taking to the course. Compared to the previously stacked fields at Carlisle, the 2011 race lacked a bit of fire power. So, despite a convincing 76-155 victory over LaSalle, it felt like the Tigers were missing out on the real fight. The good news was their front running was gaining steam. Steiner took 5^th overall and teammate Tim Appman added a top 10 finish of his own. Their 3 through 7 pack included two freshman and a sophomore. And of course, in typical North Allegheny fashion, the Tigers swept the first 7 spots in the JV race.

Individually, the race was won by AA standout Brendan Shearn, but the top AAA spots were both a bit of a surprise. Tom Coyle of LaSalle had finished 2^nd overall and Mike Runco of Pittsburgh Central Catholic was 3^rd. Neither had any top 50 finishes in XC, but both guys had shown flashes of brilliance on the track. Particularly impressive had been Coyle, who had split a 1:54 at the Penn Relays as a sophomore. He had a clear flare for the big moment and would be interesting to watch against O’Hara in the PCL postseason.

The last major invite of September was Paul Short. The team title went handily to LaSalle who defeated, among others, a preaseason darling in District One’s Great Valley. While Independent Leaguer Dustin Wilson dominated individually, the race did prove to be a breakout opportunity for Harriton junior Max Norris. Norris was the only non-Wilson runner to crack 16 minutes and knocked off the top two runners from Carlisle in Shearn (3^rd) and Coyle (7^th). Two defending AAA state medalists also made cases that they belonged in the top 5 discussion for states as Korey Replogle of Altoona and Aaron Wilkinson of Valley View each cracked the top 5 overall.

But October is ultimately where the picture stars to come into focus. And man did October start with a bang. O’Hara entered the Race of Champions at the Fabled Great American Cross Country Festival and absolutely rolled. The PA boys represented the state admirably with a 1^st place team finish. Dan Savage cooked a 15:32 and three other O’Hara runners dipped under 16 with a 5^th at 16:01.

The same day, in two other states that were not Pennsylvania, more drama unfolded. In Delaware, Sam Hibbs and Conner Quinn lined up for the Salesinaum Invitational on the ultra-hilly Brandywine course. A few feet away was Upper Moreland’s lurking monster Drew Magaha. And the monster hit his stride at the right time. With an unbelievable display of hilly running prowess, Magaha didn’t just win against PIAA #1 Hibbs, he opened up a 16 second gap with an all-time great Salesianum performance of 16:22. The victory sent shock waves through the state as the superstar miler looked like he may have finally cracked the code on Cross Country.

In New Jersey, the always exciting Henderson boys toed the line for the first time in a while. Led by breakout star sophomore Tony Russell, Henderson placed a narrow 3^rd at one of the state’s most competitive invites. Henderson averaged 16:51 on a very difficult layout and scored 82 points with three sophomores in their top five.

The big question entering league championship season was would the surprising results of early October hold or prove to be flukes? O’Hara answered their question with two more statement victories. First, they stormed to the gold at DELCO with just 19 points. Only Jack Huemmler broke up the O’Hara top 5. Then they went to Belmont for the PCL Championships. Against a very strong LaSalle team, O’Hara posted 28 points and boasted a 16:22 average on the challenging course. All five of their scorers placed in the top 10 overall.

At the Ches-mont Championships, Henderson survived a close battle with Great Valley, winning 32-40. However, a closer look at the line-up showed that Henderson did not race their #1 man from Shore Coaches in Tony Russell. Instead, Sam Haugh led the charge and AJ Chaborek stepped in as the #2 with a breakthrough race. Henderson seemed poised for another District title in a week’s time.

Although Drew Magaha and Sam Hibbs were both at Lehigh for their League Championship, the pair wouldn’t be going head to head. Still, fans hoped to compare times between the two to get a sense of what districts might bring. Magaha cruised to a 31 second victory in 15:50 while Hibbs ran 15:53 in his championship. Yet the fastest time of the day belonged to Hibbs’s teammate. Conner Quinn had his best race to date, racing to a 15:47 and winning the league title. Horsham took 1-2 overall and were then followed by three runners from North Penn. North Penn finished with the best average time in the SOL, averaging 16:25.

Out West, the boys were preparing for back to back races at Coopers. The first was Tri-States where Mount Lebanon and North Allegheny would match-up for the first time since RWB. The Tigers WPIAL title streak appeared to be in serious jeopardy after Lebo bested NA 76 to 90. The positive for the Tigers was that Logan Steiner looked to be back to his championship form. He won the individual title by six seconds over Dylan Mountain, leading the race from the gun in 5:04 through the mile. Brent Kennedy, a sophomore from Kiski, finished 3^rd and Alex Moran led Mount Lebanon from the #4 spot.

After watching the Tri-State championships, it seemed Lebo was just too good for North Allegheny to jump. Yet as Districts approached, the weather started to turn dramatically. The rain was pouring buckets on the athletes and so the teams set out to navigate an absolute slop at Coopers Lake. From the gun, North Allegheny decided they were not going to sit back in the elements. They had Steiner in the lead early and opened up a 68 to 105 advantage over Mount Lebanon. There was still plenty of time for Lebo to make up the gap, but as the race continued to unfold it became clear that things were actually trending in the wrong direction. At the finish, North Allegheny had just 50 points to Mount Lebanon’s 115. In fact, Pittsburgh Central Catholic came just 7 points away from beating Lebo and actually had a faster average time. The heroes for the Tigers were the young guns as sophomore Cordon Luoco finished 9^th and freshman Scott Seel finished 10^th, the two spots directly after Alex Moran. With Steiner winning individually and Tim Appman, Mike Meehan and Tyler Nicotra all finishing in the top 20 (i.e. their top 6 guys were all top 20), this one ended up a blowout.

Blowouts seemed to be the theme of the weekend. In District One, West Chester Henderson became champions again with an emphatic 89 to 148 victory over Great Valley. North Penn, my preseason darlings, fell to 3^rd with 155 points, causing me to officially jump off the bandwagon on this team. Individually, Drew Magaha continued his dominant stretch with a 15:16, winning by 18 seconds over Ned Willig, the Ches-mont champion. The two top stars in the mile from the most recent track season had now risen to tops in District One. Conner Quinn was 3^rd and his teammate Sam Hibbs slipped all the way back to 9^th in the final standings after the duo led 1-2 through the mile. It was unclear what exactly happened to Hibbs down the stretch, but his status as favorite seemed to have disappeared.

O’Hara also won the District title comfortably, scoring 33 points to LaSalle’s 54. O’Hara once again had strong individual success, placing 4 guys in the top 20, but the pack wasn’t quite where it had been. Christian Ostrowski was the team’s #5 and Kevin James was the team’s #6, placing 15^th and 17^th in a shallower field. It was a small note of caution for O’Hara supporters, but something that seemed very fixable considering both runner’s past successes within the season.

Despite the doubts, O’Hara had done enough to prove their spot as the favorite, particularly when their top competition in Mount Lebanon had their own problems at WPIALs. In my predictions for the meet, I slotted O’Hara with the top spot, followed by the up and coming North Allegheny team. I was concerned about Henderson’s youth considering three of their scorers were sophomores with little state championship experience. I actually had confidence that Mount Lebanon could bounce back as well, maybe even mix it up for state medals.

Individually, the biggest point of debate seemed to be Dan Jaskowak. With Magaha suddenly emerging in Hibbs position as the District 1 superstar, he had become the state title favorite. But Jaskowak was no slouch either. The problem was, he hadn’t raced a major invitational since the Red, White and Blue meet in September. I couldn’t quite get a strong read on his late season fitness.

Personally, I was concerned about Magaha on the Hershey hills. He had not finished off a season with a state medal in XC before and, although he was clearly at another level from a confidence and fitness perspective, I went with a true grinder in Logan Steiner for my pick to win. I wasn’t buying a big bounce back race from Hibbs (although many thought he could), but I did think Conner Quinn would benefit from the move to a more hilly course in Hershey as opposed to the faster, speed oriented Lehigh course. Quinn was my pick for 3^rd behind Steiner and Magaha.

But ultimately, all the predictions meant nothing when the runners lined up on state championship Saturday. As expected, Conner Quinn, Drew Magaha and Dan Jaskowak got to the front early, but the PCL/D12 champ Tom Coyle was first to come through the mile split. The runner-up at Carlisle had broken 16 minutes on the legendary Belmont course and felt he belonged in the state title discussion. He pulled fellow PCL runner Dan Savage with him into the top 3.

O’Hara in general followed a fast approach, with their entire top 6 going out under 5 minutes through the first mile. As a result, they had 95 points and sat in first place overall. But surprisingly, that was not enough to establish a large lead. Although O’Hara had buried Henderson (4^th – 160), Mount Lebanon (5^th – 169) and North Allegheny (6^th – 217), the boys from North Penn had shot out like a rocket over the first mile and hung right there with O’Hara. Dan Davis led the charge, but the key riser was junior Hunter Hill who coasted out in 4:57 and put this team in a position to improbably compete for the win.

As the race progressed into the signature Aloha Hills, the hot start from Coyle started to take its causalities. Logan Steiner, who had got out conservatively in 37^th place, started to rise through the field and he moved into the mix alongside Conner Quinn. Dan Jaskowak lingered out front as well, but Magagha had backed off his early sprint to the front and was absent from the top group. Then, after biding his time, Jaskowak made his move. As Coyle slipped back a bit, Jaskowak went to the lead and only Quinn could follow. The two runners moved ahead of the pack and it became clear the title would be decided between them.

The one guy who could maybe flip the script was Boyertown’s Brett Kelly. Although Kelly was already a two-time top 30 finisher at states, the Senior had been something of an afterthought in the state title discussion. He was just 5^th at districts, but after two plus miles, he was moving into third position and hoping to try and steal more.

Coming into the final hill, Quinn had found the extra gear he needed. With a herculean final surge, the Hatboro Horsham junior broke away from Jaskowak, now in a battle for second with Brett Kelly, and powered home for the epic state championship gold. It was one of the most stunning upsets the state had seen in what was a truly tumultuous year atop the PA standings.

Jaskowak held off Kelly in the battle for 2^nd and 3^rd while Dan Savage of O’Hara made up serious ground on the final mile to earn 4^th place overall. Logan Steiner was 5^th and Magaha, making up a massive amount of ground in the late stages of the race, ended up just behind him in 6^th.

With Savage taking 4^th overall, things were off to a hot start for O’Hara in the team standings. Things looked even better when Mike Billotta sprinted home in 11^th place, holding his own with big kickers Ned Willig and Connor Harriman (who both came from way back in their own right). Ultimately two more O’Hara boys would cross the line inside the top 50. That seemed like it would seal it.

However, a few key things happened in the final 200 meters. For starters, Chris Trimble and Dan Davis both threw down some massive kicks for North Penn. Jack Macauley was already in the clubhouse with a state medal, but the squad’s other two top 50 finishers needed every point they could get in the final straightaway. Davis was able to pass O’Hara #3 Ernie Pitone and Trimble finished just two spots back.

Then, with both Matt Molloy and Hunter Hill beginning to fade, Ryan Grace came through in the final mile of the race, including a big kick off the final hill to cross the line as the team’s #4, saving what would prove to be valuable points. In the end, freshman Kevin James and senior Christian Ostrowski for O’Hara couldn’t quite find their form in the closing stages of the race and North Penn, on a sixth man tie-breaker courtesy of the ambitious starting Hunter Hill, won the state championship. The final totals for both schools were 132.

The sixth man tie-breaker is a rule rarely seen in XC, especially in large meets, but here it was necessary to implement not just to decide a minor place, but to determine who was actually leaving Hershey with a state championship.

North Penn went from 3^rd in the district to 1^st in the state in the blink of an eye. They seized a moment that was there for the taking for multiple teams. North Allegheny, the WPIAL champions, finished in 3^rd place overall only 12 points behind the winners. Their three seniors came to play, but the young heroes of the district championship Louco and Seel, both struggled to capture that same magic in their return to Hershey. Their old rivals from Mount Lebanon finished at 153, just 9 points back. They pieced together a much more successful bounce back campaign and ended their season on a strong note.

The district champions from Henderson, who had handed North Penn an emphatic defeat at Lehigh, ended up 5^th in the standings with 195 points. Although Russell and Haugh, the team’s #1 and #2 runners, ran strong, they didn’t quite duplicate their district efforts. Sophomore Seamus Collins, a key scorer in the early season, ended up finishing as the team’s 7^th man.

Ultimately, the year was up for grabs from the start and, although many teams seemed to have a hold of the season in mid-October, it was North Penn who ended the year raising the trophy. It was undeniably the biggest shock of the decade in the team title contest. You could argue that teams like North Allegheny, Henderson and even O’Hara were just a bit too young for the moment, but North Penn managed to pull off the victory with sophomores in the 4-5 spot of the line-up. Matt Molloy, who had watched the 2010 State Championship from the sidelines, stepped in off the bench and ended up delivering one of the game changing scoring positions. The other top 6 runners: Davis, Trimble, Macauley Grace and Hill, cut a combined 145 seconds off their times from the previous state year.

That season, North Penn did not win the team title at Briarwood, Salesianum or Districts. They lost to O’Hara by 45 and Henderson by 66. They finished 3^rd at districts, a worse finish than they had posted either of the prior two seasons (where they were 12^th and 9^th at Hershey). They didn’t participate in any of the three major mid-season invitationals (Foundation, Carlisle and Paul Short) to gain big meet experience or learn about their rivals. They trained. They practiced. They believed they could win.

What is perhaps equally wild to think about is what happened next. North Penn went to the Nike Northeast Regional, perhaps out of a feeling of obligation more than a feeling of desire. The results reflected this as they struggled to find energy on race day. They finished 21^st in the team standings, losing not only to North Allegheny, but also to Kiski who had been 9^th at states just behind Great Valley.

The 2011 State Title was the third in 5 years. They had placed in the top 3 at districts each of those 5 seasons. Going into 2012, they returned 5 of the top 7 from their state championship team, but surprisingly, they haven’t been back to states since that 2011 state championship.

For the record, Hibbs ended up 13^th in the state final. Comparatively, he ran a much better race than districts which included a big kick to the finish to make sure he got in the top 15 for a third straight season. Although Hibbs had a disappointing stretch run to the season, I am happy to report that he bounced back in a big way during the track season. He was second indoors in the 3k to Dustin Wilson and 1^st outdoors in the 3200 for his first state title.