The 2012 Season in Review: A & AA

Preseason

The move to three classifications did undeniably have some effect on the AAA landscape as team’s like Grove City and Dallas shifted from AAA Cinderella stories to AA powerhouses, but the biggest impact could be seen within the AA individual class. The class of 2013 within small schools was absolutely stacked. Many in that class were friends despite school and even district boundaries and they were excited to, together, prove just how talented the AA class could be. Yet the split in classifications fractured their impact.

In AA, defending state champion Brendan Shearn remained, but the 4 guys who had finished directly behind him at the state championship shifted down a classification. His class would include Aaron Valerosa (7^th), district mate Tyler Stelmack (12^th) and 800 standouts Shawn Wolfe (16^th) and Dan Alexander (17^th).

There were also some top names from the AAA landscape who had now moved down a classification. Dan Jaskowak (2^nd) became the top returner based on time in the AA class. After his meteoric rise from relative obscurity to state title hopeful in 2011, Jaskwoak took to the track and doubled down on his success. The junior’s track season included times of 1:55, 4:17 and 9:14, the last of which was good enough for second at the state championships. The preseason speculation was that Shearn vs. Jaskowak would be the “real” state championship.

Vinny Todaro (26^th) was the only other top 40 finisher from the AAA state meet who would be switching classifications. However, Ethan Louis and Dominic Deluca (both top 50 finishers), both seemed like they could compete for a top 10 to 15 place within AA.

At the top of the new A classification were two ready-made rivals from District 2. Luke Jones of Elk Lake, the two-time defending district champion and reigning silver medalist would enter as the slight favorite against Holy Cross’s Rico Galassi. Rico was 3^rd at the 2011 state championships and went on to finish a narrow second against Shearn in the outdoor 3200. The Northeast Bradford duo of Sam Williams and Curt Jewett were also in the A classification along with North East’s Ryan Smathers. Smathers was fresh off a blazing fast track season that included a 4:12 in the 1600.

This classification also featured Jordan Jackson (7^th), Ryan Archer (10^th), and Barrett Kemp (13^th).

Sorting out the team side of the small school classification was a bit trickier. In the AA race, you had a number of formerly mid-pack AAA teams that were suddenly at the front. Pottsgrove from District 1, who had failed to qualify for states out of the loaded region, were the preseason #1 ranked team. Grove City, who finished 19^th in AAA the prior year, was preseason #2. Annville-Cleona, a top team last year who struggled a bit at AA states, returned their entire varsity and looked like contenders from within the AA classification. Holy Redeemer (3^rd and 2^nd the prior two years) and Quaker Valley (1^st and 3^rd) were programs you could never count out.

In A, Canton received the most votes in PTXC’s preseason poll. Using a tight pack, Canton had raced to 6^th in the final standings at AA states in 2011. They returned their entire scoring 5. State runner-ups North East and surprise 4^th place finishers Masterman were also in Class A with a nice crop of returners. Oswayo Valley (11^th) and Vincentian Academy (12^th) both returned their entire varsity squads.

AA

Vinny Todaro of Big Spring had been 26^th at the prior year’s state championship in XC. One spot off the medal stand. During indoor track, Todaro finished 9^th at states in the mile. One spot off the medal stand. Outdoors, after running 4:16 at districts, Todaro failed to qualify for the state finals in the 1600m. It had been a story of near misses for the junior. But as a senior, he was determined to flip the script. Opening his season at Enos Yeager, Todaro dropped a 12:30 on the 2.35 mile course, one of the fastest times in meet history. Instantly he established himself as a name to watch alongside Jaskowak and Shearn.

Shearn had the chance to open his season shortly thereafter. He traveled to the PTXC Invitational where he had started his title run a year ago. This time, things didn’t go quite as smoothly. The North Schuylkill sejnior finished 7^th in the final standings and #2 against AA competition. The top runner in AA was Dallas Junior Dominic Deluca, who finished second overall in 16:07. Deluca, another former AAA transplant, was making a quick case that he belonged in the state title conversation.

The west coast’s Dan Jaskowak opened his season at the Red, White and Blue Invitational where he had won the previous fall. Just like Shearn, he hoped to open on a similarly high note, but ultimately ended up surprised by a couple of upstart juniors. AAA runners Brent Kennedy and Ethan Martin both topped Jaskowak who finished in a final time of 15:40. However, Jaskowak’s Grove City team looked great. They placed 3^rd overall in the invite, losing only to AAA powers North Allegheny and Mount Lebanon. Sophomore Aaron Benka was the team’s breakout star, taking 22^nd overall. Quaker Valley, the defending AA state champions, finished in 7^th overall.

Shearn would have the first bounce back performance. At the Briarwood Invitational, Brendan put himself on a hilly course right in the middle of the raging O’Hara v. Henderson debate. Brendan battled against rising Henderson star Tony Russell all the way until the finish, but guys running 15:41 for blazing fast times at Belmont Plateau. Shearn was given the nod in the final results, a big win for his confidence. The same weekend, Jaskowak raced at the Boardman Invitational where clocked an impressive 15:46 for 3^rd overall against out of state competition. The time was quite quick, but ended up being slightly slower than the fastest PA time of the day, AAA’s Austin Pondel, who won the D2 race by 40 seconds.

With both top contenders getting back on track, the boys descended on the Hershey Parkview course for a state preview at Foundation. As expected, Shearn and Jaskowak showed their class from the jump in the race. Ultimately, Jaskowak prevailed against Shearn with a 16:19 statement victory. Brendan, at 16:27 was well ahead of third place finisher Dominic Deluca (16:53). Lake Lehman’s Kieran Sutton finished 4^th in 17:01 and Bradford’s Aziz Yousif was 5^th in the same time.

The Foundation meet also served as an opportunity for the top two teams to face off prior to states. District 1’s Pottsgrove was trying to prove they could handle their sudden jump to state elite while Grove City was hoping to take a grip on the power struggle. However, on race day, this match-up didn’t come to fruition the same way it did for Shearn and Jaskowak. Pottsgrove did indeed storm to the title, led by Ian Yanusko in 6^th place, but Scranton Prep surprised Grove City for the 2^nd position. The District 2 squad finished only 13 points back of Pottsgrove and unleashed a very solid pack with 5 in the top 26. Grove City placed 3^rd with 125, unable to match the depth of Pottsgrove and Scranton Prep. The PCL’s Bonner rounded out the top 4, led by Will McDermott’s 7^th place finish.

Fans didn’t have to wait long for a Pottsgrove-Scranton Prep rematch. The two teams were just 3 points apart at Paul Short 6 days later with Pottsgrove once again edging out the top AA spot in the race.

While everyone was salivating over the Jaskowak-Shearn match-up, Big Spring’s Todaro prepared for his moment at the Carlisle Invitational. Facing off against two of the top AAA runners in the state in Brent Kennedy and Tony Russell, Todaro absolutely blitzed the course to run 15:31 and win his third invite of the season. Shawn Wolfe, the defending District 3 champion in the AA classification, ran 16:11 for 11^th. Liam Corcoran, another D3 AA stand out, was 9^th in 16:06. Wolfe’s Annville-Cleona team held their own among the stacked AAA field, taking 8^th overall with 315 points.

As the calendar flipped to October, the championship season began to descend upon us. It seemed like the momentum was on the side of Dan Jaskowak. He started the month with a jaw dropping 15:37 at his home invitational while his Grove City teammates posted 17 points. Then he won at the TSTCA championships, avenging his early season loss against Brent Kennedy with a 15:36 victory at Coopers. Capping off the stretch run of the season, Jaskowak battled AAA star Austin Pondel all the way to the line at District 10’s and knocked him off in a slosh pit of conditions (yet still ran 16:23) for yet another gold.  

Todaro posted an undefeated month as well. He won the Cumberland County Championships and then outlasted a strong group of Mid Penn Competitors to win on his home course. Then Todaro traveled to Hershey and defeated Shawn Wolfe by 4 seconds for the District 3 title.

Not to be outdone, Brendan Shearn dropped a 15:17 at the Schuylkill League Championships to break a long standing course record. His winning time was over 90 seconds better than second place. He then cruised through the District 11 championships, winning by 48 seconds and running the fastest time for any classification.

Team wise, the favorites were looking strong as well. Pottsgrove picked up an easy win at the Pioneer League Championships, scoring just 33 points to defeat a largely AAA field. Then they cruised past Holy Ghost Prep at the District One Championships. Prep had been among PTXC’s top 5 AA schools for the majority of the season, but Pottsgrove’s depth proved to be too much for anyone to handle. They placed their top 6 runners in the top 8 overall while HG Prep’s #1 runner was 9^th.

District 2’s championships were incredibly sloppy as muddy conditions made it tough for the runners to produce fast times. However, Scranton Prep handled the conditions best out of any of the teams in the deep field. They posted a score of 54 to knock off Tunkhannock (65) and Holy Redeemer (67). This knocked out Holy Redeemer from the State Championships in a surprise turn for the 2010 state runner-ups.

Other district champions included top foundation teams Grove City and Bonner as well as defending state champions Quaker Valley, who were starting to look like their old selves after a 66-132 WPIAL championship. Annville-Cleona also held on for another district title, defeating York Suburban by 27 points.

After watching Rico Galassi boldly sprint through the opening 1600 meters, the AA boys took a more conservative approach to the opening stretch. The lead time at the mile was only 4:56 and 18 guys came through in that time with 33 under 5 minutes. Vinny Todaro, Brendan Shearn and Dan Jaskowak were the top three through this point as expected. Aaron Valoroso, Kieran Sutton and Mitchell Smith, each a district champion, rounded out the top 6. But still anyone could jump up the standings in a blink. The pack was too tight to have a clear favorite.

The same could not be said for the team race. Pottsgrove, as expected, was out well ahead of the field. Their entire scoring 5 was in the top 20 team places and averaged a 5 flat. But their expected rivals, Scranton Prep, were nowhere to be found. They were back in 156^th, their usually tight pack slipping apart in the crowded state field. Instead, it was Grove City who rose to challenge Pottsgrove. Grove City had 72 points, just 6 pack of Pottsgrove and no other team had less than 130.

At two miles, things continued to stay very conservative. None of the top runners seemed to really want to put in that big surge. As a result, the leaders went through 3200 in 10:16. It was a pack of 5 all together, Jaskowak leading with Todaro, Valoroso, Shearn and Sutton. Dominic Deluca, the top junior in the field, had moved to 6^th in the standings. But through this point, it was obvious that the top names were running within themselves. It had been a conservative start and the final mile would be an explosion.

The second mile had proven to be much more of a differentiator in the team standings. Pottsgrove was beginning to open up, now with a 19 point margin over Grove City. Scranton Prep was climbing the standings, now in 4^th with 140 points. However, their district rivals from Tunkhannock was just ahead with 139. Annville-Cleona was not out of it either, sporting 142 points. Annville had the best front running, led by Shawn Wolfe in 8^th overall.

As the final mile progressed, the front of the race began to explode. Shearn busted lose on the down-hill leaving the Alohas and put the pressure on the others to follow. Although many expected the red hot Jaskowak to be the closest pursuer, it was Todaro who countered closest. Those three started to breakaway, chased by Sutton and Valoroso.

It looked like maybe Shearn had put enough distance between himself as the 4:16 miler, but coming up the final hill, Todaro had another gear still reserve. He sprinted past Shearn and opened up to the finish. Todaro stopped the clock right at 16 minutes to win by 4 over Shearn. Jaskowak managed to make it home at 16:12 to round out the top 3 as expected. Although few had that order. Valoroso and Sutton finished nearly side by side to round out the top 5.

Deluca, who had put himself in the mix at two miles, could not hang on through to the finish. He ended up in 11^th place. But the junior did finish as the top returner in the field. Dominic Hockenbury, as just a freshman, finished in 22^nd overall and claimed a state medal behind his teammate Kieran Sutton.

At two miles, it appeared Potsgrove had the race won. However, Grove City didn’t give up over the final mile. Dan Jaskowak’s 3^rd place finish got his team a 1 in the team standings. Then sophomore Aaron Benka crossed in 18^th, meaning two Grove City boys were in the clubhouse before any from Pottsgrove. In fact, Ian Yanusko, Pottsgrove’s #1 runner, finished in 29^th place overall and outside the individual medals. It was incredibly rare for a state championship team to not have any individual medalists. Pottsgrove’s Morgan Moonan and Evan Cook both crossed next from the top two teams, but their teammate Derek Lopez had slipped a bit over the course of the final mile and junior Ryan Whiteman stepped up for Grove City to pass him. Pottsgrove’s #5 runner at two miles, Mike Rossi, had also slipped behind a late surging Grove City runner as Ian Brown moved ahead.

But ultimately, junior Josh Toth was able to pick up the slack when Rossi slipped and he surged one spot ahead of Ian Brown, helping to swing the title back in Pottsgrove’s favor. The final standings read 96 to 99. Annville-Cleona finished 3^rd, well back in 151 points, but posting an awesome bounce back from a disappointing state meet in 2011. Shawn Wolfe struggled over the final mile, but still delivered a low stick alongside Ben Mason and Mark Bachman. Tunkhannock held on to defeat District 2 champs Scranton Prep as their early season title dreams were dashed by the Hershey hills. Both of these teams looked set to rematch in Hershey the next season as Tunkhannock returned their entire top 4 and Scranton Prep returned 4 of their best 5.

A

Preseason favorites Rico Galassi and Luke Jones got a chance to face off in week one as the pair traveled to the Cliff Robbins Invitational. It was a stacked meet that also featured the Northeast Bradford duo of Sam Williams and Curt Jewett. Galassi handled business impressively, beating Jones by 23 seconds and defeating Williams and Jewett by a wide margin. However, the good news for Northeast Bradford was that they finished as the top A school in the meet. Freshman Levi Upham placed 12^th overall in his first invite of his career, giving them a valuable third piece.

A week later, the Northeast Bradford boys took their show on the road to a bigger stage: the PTXC Invitational. The field was stacked with talent from all classifications, most notably defending state champions Brendan Shearn and Conner Quinn. But NEB was up for the challenge and Sam Willliams conquered all the competition en route to the individual victory. As a team, Bradford finished 5^th in the final standings and tops among small schools. Junior Brandon Devonshire was the difference maker as his addition the line-up really rounded out their top 5. Now this team was a state title contender.

North East looked to be one of the most formidable opponents for Northeast Bradford. The 2011 state runner-ups picked up a nice win at Slippery Rock, led by Ryan Smather’s 16:07 gold medal. Sophomore Gary Olson also posted a top 5 finish as the team rolled to a victory over many of the top WPIAL schools in the classification.

Unlike prior years, North East did not attend the Foundation Invitational, which meant Northeast Bradford would have to handle District 10’s other top program in Fairview. With Williams and Jewett taking 1-2 individually, this proved to be a smooth operation. Bradford scored 73 points and cruised to victory. Their closest competitors were from Vincentian Academy in D7. The Archer twins, Ryan and Alex, placed 4^th and 8^th individually and led a top 4 that all was within the top 20 scorers. If this team developed a bit more of a 5^th man, they would be in a position to challenge for the podium at season’s end. Fairview, Saegerotwn, Masterman and Elk Lake rounded out the top 6 teams.

As mentioned, Williams and Jewett took the top 2 spots at this meet, giving Williams a second straight major invitational victory. Adding to the impressive nature of the run, was the defeat of Elk Lake’s Luke Jones who finished in 3^rd place, one spot ahead of Ryan Archer. Hunter Johnston of Saegertown rounded out the top 5.

The two missing names from Foundation quickly showed up in other places. First, Rico Galassi stormed to a victory at the Paul Short Invite in Lehigh. He dropped a 15:44 to dominate a field that included top talent from the Independent League and each of the other classifications. Then at McQuaid, Ryan Smathers knocked off the Northeast Bradford duo with a jaw dropping 14:51 3-mile. Williams (15:06) and Jewett (15:10) were 4^th and 5^th overall, but did help lead their school to the top PA honors with a 15:54 average. They scored 100 points vs. North East’s 204. It was actually Oswayo Valley (200) who finished closest to NEB in the final standings, led by Spencer Cole in 20^th. Barrett Kemp, who had been the breakout star of this meet a year prior, was just 44^th and finish as Oswayo’s #3. If he returned to early season form, perhaps this could be the challenger to NE Bradford’s quest for the throne.

Heading into District week, the clear favorites for the state title seemed to be Rico Galassi and Northeast Bradford. Bradford delivered on that sentiment quite strongly with a 32 point performance at the D4 championships. Jewett and Williams both finished under 16 minutes. But perhaps more importantly, Ben Horton had a really strong day as the team’s #6 runner which provided a nice level of insurance in case disaster struck. NEB didn’t have to look far back into the history books to see when a bizarre DQ cost them a state title. Every member of the team would be important.

Meanwhile, Galassi wouldn’t prove to be as fortunate. Luke Jones delivered yet again on the D2 stage as he survived brutal conditions and turned in a 10 second victory over Galassi to win a third straight district title. Now Jones, who had shown his ability to run clutch in Hershey just one year earlier, could make a case for state title favorite. Jones also helped his Elk Lake teammates lock up a spot in the state championships.

District 10, who had their own sloppy championship race, proved to be the wildest meet of district weekend. The slop proved to be a real challenge for North East’s senior leader Ryan Smathers to navigate and, after leading through a mile, he faded back to 5^th. That meant Jeremy Parsons was the surprise champion from Maplewood. There was more bad news for North East. The 2011 runner-ups for state gold ended up 4^th in the final standings, losing by just one point against Mercyhurst Prep in the race for the final state qualifying spot. That meant North East would not be headed back to states. The race for gold was just as close with only 1 point separating Saegertown and West Middlesex. Despite an off day from lead man Hunter Johnston, Saegertown was able to win a district championship just a year after graduating their best runner, 3-time district champ Nate Tallada.

Upsets were going around as at the WPIAL championships, Sacred Heart knocked off Vincentian Academy for the victory by 12 points. Vincentian had the individual champion in Ryan Archer, but ultimately, Vincentian’s nearly 4 minute spread left them vulnerable for Sacred Heart to swoop in. That being said, Vincentian seemed like their front running advantage would be much more valuable in Hershey and they were still not out of the running for the podium.

Oswayo Valley survived a nail bitter against Northern Potter to win the District 9 title. Barrett Kemp looked back to his old self with an individual victory. Masterman in District 12 and Westmont Hilltop in District 6 also both raced to qualifying spots for the state championship. Both teams were preseason top 5 picks by PTXC.

The stage was finally set for the PIAA State Championships. The individual race in A had really opened up after district week as the list of potential champions was close to 10 guys. But Rico Galassi, the favorite for most of the season, put his stamp on the race from the start. He stormed out the gates and put a ton of pressure on the others to follow his near suicidal pace. At the mile, Galassi was through in a jaw dropping 4:41. Smathers of North East was the guy closest to him at 4:43, but 9 guys went out under 4:50 and 24 were out under 5 minutes. Williams and Jewett were in 4^th and 5^th, leading North East Bradford through the standings. Their team led comfortably at the 1 mile with 79 points. Saegertown, the slightly surprising champions out of District 10, were in second place with 104. Then the WPIAL teams, OLSH and Vincentian sat in 3^rd and 4^th.

As the race progressed, runners naturally started to crater off the early pace. However, the one guy who wasn’t faltering was Rico. The senior actually opened up over mile two and led through 3200 in 9:56. Luke Jones was now his closest competitor, trying desperately to reel his rival in. But he was still nearly 10 seconds back. Smathers, Jewett and Williams rounded out a familiar top 5. The biggest favorites were all there, but it seemed like no one could catch Galassi.

Looking just as invincible, Northeast Bradford was leading the team race. They had 87 points at 2 miles and their average time of 10:43 was the only average under 11 minutes. While freshman Levi Upham was fading a bit in his state debut, Brandon Devonshire was having a monster race and had climbed within spitting distance of a medal during mile 2.

Saegertown was the team that had the best chance of catching up. Although they couldn’t quite match the Bradford front running, they did have a medalist in Hunter Johnston and a strong two-three in Morgan Schenberg and Brandon Barclay. If Devonshire faded, perhaps Saegertown could make up ground. Vincentian sat in third with the best #4 runner in the race. Depending on how their #5 closed out the last mile, they could challenge for the podium. Oswayo Valley and Elk Lake had now moved into the top 5 teams in 4^th and 5^th. Oswyao boasted 3 runners in the top 11 of team scoring.

Over the final mile, Northeast Bradford began to fade ever so slightly, but ultimately no one was going to catch them. Their top 3 runners all ended up finishing with individual medals as Devonshire grabbed 22^nd overall and 7^th in the team scoring. Their final score of 96 points was 37 ahead of the next closest competitor.

Rico Galassi’s path did not prove so smooth. His once insurmountable lead was shrinking with every step. The familiar foe of Luke Jones was pushing hard to try and get Galassi. As they came to the final straightaway, the one man race became a two man race. Jones sprinted like crazy, but coming off poop-out Rico still had enough left in the tank to hold on for a narrow 1 second victory. The times were blistering fast for the new A division as Galassi ran 15:59 and Jones came home in 16 flat. They were the fastest small school times ever turned in on this particular course layout.

Sam Williams and Curt Jewett were the next two to cross the line, adding individual medals to their gold medal collection. Jeremy Parsons of Maplewood doubled down on his District 10 victory by placing in 5^th and leading the district in Hershey. Parsons, a junior, was also the top in his class for the event. Sophomore Griffin Molino, who finished in 8^th, was the #2 returner.

As the back half of the race started to trickle in, sorting out the team battle was becoming close to impossible. Yes, Northeast Bradford was clearly the state champions, but who would be second? Saegertown seemed in a position to grab it at 2 miles, but their #5 runner had slipped a bit coming out of the Aloha hills. Vincentian had hoped to move up, but their guys largely held serve in the final mile. The same was true for Oswayo Valley.

In the end, the medals ended up being handed to a surprise team: Elk Lake. When they had started the season at Foundation, Elk Lake had been relatively buried in the team title conversation and, even after winning the district meet, it didn’t feel like this squad had enough to get to the podium. But they fought hard and got a massive lift from a pair of sophomores in Eddie Cumens and Dalton Sherman. But the big mover over the final mile was senior Seth Carney. Sitting in 149^th with a mile to go, Carney turned on the jets and passed 32 runners to help swing the race in Elk Lake’s favor. Just two years after their state championship run, Elk Lake was back on the podium, ironically, alongside the team that they beat to get that title.

Sagertown finished 9 points back in 3^rd with Oswayo Valley and Vincentian Academy rounding out the top 5 teams.