Throwback Thursday: What Else

Yes, it's more O'Hara and Henderson! There's no escaping this I'm afraid. Here's a look at what I thought immediately after the XC season ended. It impacted a lot of fans, catapulted the career of RJJL and really took the blog up to another level. Can't say enough about it ...

O’Hara v Henderson: The Big Question 

http://etrain11.blogspot.com/2012/12/ohara-v-henderson-big-question.html

It is ironic right now to consider that this was the big question of hot debate all summer long and the two teams certainly lived up to the hype. Both teams went back forth all day long with big wins at various meets. Both teams left the state and represented at Great American and Manhattan. Both teams went to the state championship and placed at least 5 guys in the top 50. Both teams scored under 70 points at the state championship and tied one another for the title. Then both teams qualified for NXN, the first time PA has ever sent two teams. Both teams capped off their seasons with great performances at Nationals, two of the top performances we have seen despite very muddy conditions.

If anything the two teams exceeded their massive expectations that developed way back in July and August. The original O'Hara v. Henderson discussion started in the middle of August has since amassed over 1,000 page views, 86 total comments and it helped catapult the blog into a main topic of conversation in the summer for the first time in its history.

I think the rivalry has brought out the best in the runners along the way. I never imagined Tony Russell and Reiny Barchet would have exploded like they did. Certainly Kevin James and Ernie Pitone can not be overlooked as they were huge helps to Dan Savage this year. We saw a number of clutch performances from guys like Haugh at states, banged up but still gutting out a top 50 mark and Bobby Rimkis surprising a lot of people with a state medal to help his team get the gold. We saw huge breakout performances at Regionals from Belfatto and Knapp (and a school record on the track for Mr. Belfatto as well).

The knock on O'Hara coming into the year was always about depth. But they overcame that knock early and often. Their JV squad may have been the best in the state and Hayes and Belfatto stepped up into a pair of quality top 5 guys. Drew Pastore also stepped up and filled in for an injured Nick Smart very nicely. At Nationals the O'Hara depth was seen most clearly, their top 7 all ran exceptionally well.

The knock on Henderson coming into the year was always about youth and the fact that they struggled on the difficult state course the year before. To say they proved the doubters wrong seems to be a dramatic understatement. Tony Russell smashes the course record, 3 Warriors medaled at states and their entire top 7 placed in the top 52 runners on the difficult state course.

It has been an honor to report on such an epic dual throughout the season. Both teams have a lot to be proud of and unfortunately at this point I don't feel comfortable saying any time is really better than the other. These teams are the closest I have ever seen two squads from PA be.

Congratulations to everyone who has contributed to these teams this season, you will not soon be forgotten.

-A Fan

Throwback Thursday: Taking a Trip to States

I've been spending a lot of time looking back at my original blog and it's fun to see the evolution from what it started as to what it ended as. This post is probably my favorite one from those original writings. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Taking a Trip to States November 1, 2012

http://etrain11.blogspot.com/2012/11/taking-trip-to-states.html

I will be making the trip up to the state championships at Hershey this weekend for perhaps the final time. If anyone wants to meet up, talk track, just meet the man behind the posts feel free to give me a call or text or something. My name is Jarrett Felix and my number is 215-450-1099. I am 20 years old and I hopefully don't sound like a child predator for making posts like this. I know there are at least a few parents out there who are readers so this meet up chance applies to you to if you feel you want to talk to the guy posting up some of the things your kids are reading or whatever. I'm planning on wearing some Muhlenberg gear, I'm a Junior here and a Co-Captain of the Cross Country team so if you want to talk to Muhlenberg also feel free. And I have a facebook if you want to facebook stalk what I look like. Again, not trying to be creepy, just trying to be accessible to the readers. Hopefully, its a fun time and a cool race.

Now I am going to get sentimental for a moment.

I know he doesn't really read this blog anymore, because he is a focused man, but if he does, I hope he isn't too embarrassed by what I say.

What's really cool about getting older and following the sport for a while is watching kids improve and rise to the highest level, from relative obscurity to well known commodity. For me, I'm most excited about the state race because I get to see my good friend Francis Ferruzzi run in probably his last race of his High School career on Saturday. Francis and I went to high school together and we have done countless runs together over the years from the time he was a Freshman until now. I'd be lying if I said I knew right when I saw him that he would run 15:45 and break the school 3k record indoors. I still remember the first run anyone did with Francis and my friend Todd told us all, watch out for this kid he is going to be good. We didn't listen to Todd then (which was silly because the kid is a genius), but we should have.

At Paul Short, Francis took off on all of us older guys and led our pack through the first mile, a gutsy move for a Freshman at the biggest meet of his young career. He ended up running under 17 minutes, one of the only Freshman in our schools history to boast a mark like that. That was the moment when I knew he was something special. At Districts, Francis was the top Freshman in the race. He was a key part of our team's 10th place finish at the District meet after losing virtually our entire varsity team from the prior season. It was the last race that Francis and I ever ran together.

Francis and I are neighbors and we have grown over the years to become good friends. We have ran together so many times that is just habit. Whether it be hill work outs at 7 in the morning or late night long runs at 2 in the morning, it was a quality run. Over the years he has become faster and faster (especially relative to me), but I still often times think of him as that little freshman I met a few years back.

Since going off to college, I've missed a lot of races I really wish I could have been at, whether it was the Trojan Track Classic sophomore year or his PTFCA classic 3200m last year. Honestly, there are a lot of moments that I really regret missing, only able to hear about it through a short phone call before the cool down.

That's why this year, for his final race, there is no where else I would rather be than cheering for my friend on the brutal Hershey course. Our high school cross country career comes full circle this weekend at Hershey.

There are thousands of stories like ours this weekend at Hershey. Thousands of runners whose dreams are realized, whose friends and families are watching the final race of a high school career, filled with ups and downs (ironically much like the state's course).

So Saturday, remember the journey of how you arrived at this moment. Seize the power of the moment and run with it all the way through the final hill.

Because before you know it, you will be an old guy like me, sitting a computer screen, remembering the good old days of running with his best friend.

Good luck everybody.

Throw Back Thursday: Footlocker Journals

Pennsylvania had 4 different men qualify for the Footlocker National Championships in San Diego, none of which were crowned State Champion in Hershey. Penntrack put together some very cool journals with each of these runners in 2012 and I've shared links to them below.

https://pa.milesplit.com/articles/92514-penntrackxc-journal-brendan-shearn-north-schuylkill-entry-4-feb-5-a-painful-3k-at-yale

https://pa.milesplit.com/articles/96788-foot-locker-journal-brent-kennedy-kiski-area-hs-i-learned-we-are-all-the-same-even-meb

Austin Pondehttps://pa.milesplit.com/articles/96959-foot-locker-journal-austin-pondel-corry-area-burgers-on-the-beach-oh-and-a-race-too

Max Norris: https://pa.milesplit.com/articles/96987-foot-locker-journal-max-norris-harriton-hs

The Big Question ... Answered?

After fighting all the way to the finish line, O’Hara’s bid for a state championship season had once again ended in heartbreak. They and Henderson shook hands, congratulated one another and raised their respective trophies. Then, it was back to training.

There was a long three-week stretch ahead of both teams. The Nike Northeast Regional was not until the end of November and both teams were going to need to regroup mentally and physically if they were going to grab a qualifying spot to Nationals in Oregon. O’Hara was pelted with talk of being “chokers” who could not rise to the occasion. Henderson, on the other hand, had accomplished their ultimate goal and were being praised for it. Each of these factors can be dangerous in their own ways. But often times the good runners will turn anything into motivation.

As these two teams revamped their training through November, another state champion was figuring out how to best peak for Wappinger Falls. Rob Hewitt, coach of Independent League Champs Germantown Friends, spoke with Coach Kelly at Henderson about the need to keep their athletes competitively sharp in the long lay-off between the state meet and the regional. Ultimately, they decided on a 3200 time trial at Henderson high school at roughly the half way point between the two big races. To make things even more interesting, Kelly called up O’Hara coach Tom Kennedy to see if his guys would want to participate.

Kennedy spoke to his team and apparently there were some reservations about quickly turning around and matching up with Henderson again. The wounds from states were still raw. However, O’Hara saw this as a great opportunity to get in a quality race against great competition. So on November 14, a seemingly random Wednesday night, O’Hara and Henderson began their next battle.

It’s not a controversial opinion to say that Track and Cross Country are very different animals, but fans of the Henderson v. O’Hara rivalry were eager for whatever the next chapter was in this story. No one was ready for the tale to end in Hershey. On race day, Tony Russell and Reiny Barchet went to the front along with Germantown Friend’s stand outs Sami Aziz and Lyle Wistar. They settled in behind Henderson’s pace maker and charged out for a fast time.

Side note: Penntrack put together a really nice race video for this meet (you can access it without an account). Its fun to watch, especially if you like Smashing Pumpkins.

In the second half of the race, Tony Russell took over. Oozing with confidence after his impressive final mile at the state championships, Russell continued to push the pace and dropped everyone but Aziz. Barchet was next in the Henderson-O’Hara standings and then the O’Hara pack was rolling in. O’Hara’s top three had been visible at the front of many races, but this time they were a pack of four. Jim Belfatto, excited about the opportunity to get back on the track, was tucked in with Savage and James and looking very smooth.

On the final lap, Russell and Aziz battled hard, but ultimately it was Sami Aziz who sprinted home as the meet champion. The Independent League gold medalist had heard the hype about Russell, but was up for the challenge, blasting a shiny new PR of 9:14.7. Although Russell didn’t take gold, his silver came with a giant breakthrough at the 3200 distance. He clocked 9:16.3.

There was a sprint battle to the finish behind them. Reiny Barchet was able to hold on for third place, but just a half second behind him was O’Hara’s #1 runner. It wasn’t Savage or James or Pitone. It was their 4^th different #1 runner that season: Jim Belfatto. Belfatto stopped the clock at 9:22.1 which was not only a massive PR but, improbably, a school record for the 3200. Savage, James and Pitone all came through close behind and ahead of Henderson’s 3-4 Eric Stratman and Seamus Collins (who can be seen high-fiving as they cross the finish line). Chris Pastore finished in 11^th overall, wrapping up the sub 9:40 performers.

In dual meet scoring, the final standings were Henderson 28, O’Hara 27. If you counted the GFS guys in the results, the final standings were Henderson 36, O’Hara 36. Another tie! Only this time, O’Hara would have taken it on the 6^th man tie breaker as Matt Hayes bested Ricky Waltz to the finish line. Once again, these teams were as close as close gets.

Despite their pre-race reservations, the O’Hara boys left the meet feeling great about the decision to compete. They had a little bit of their swagger back. Henderson still had plenty of reason to be confident as well. Their results were peppered with PRs and they had a monster front runner in Tony Russell. In a large, highly competitive meet like NXR that could be a deciding factor. However, conspicuously absent from the 3200 duel was one of the heroes from Hershey – junior Sam Haugh. Haugh had apparently badly injured his hand and he would be unavailable for the Nike meet. That left a hole in their top 5 that somebody would need to fill.

The guys descended on Wappinger Falls Saturday November 24. Based on the national rankings, the Northeast Region had a good chance at sending 3 teams to Nationals. However, only two teams were guaranteed a spot. And Christian Brothers Academy was a close to a guarantee for one of those spots as you get in Cross Country. Both Henderson and O’Hara had seen CBA up close and the NJ power had stormed ahead of each by some 200 points. The more interesting New Jersey school for the PA hopefuls was Don Bosco who could be a real party crasher if things unfolded right.

 If Henderson or O’Hara was afraid of CBA, they certainly didn’t show it at the start of the race. CBA’s top 3 runners had been dominant compared to the PA teams in their first two match-ups, but through the halfway split of the regional race, you would never have been able to tell. Based on 2.5K splits, all three teams top 3 runners were nearly dead even. Meanwhile, O’Hara and Henderson’s 4-5 runners were both starting more aggressive. The boys from Henderson particularly so as they stormed out to the overall lead in the team standings, followed closely by O’Hara. PA was taking it to the New Jersey super power.

In the second half of the race, CBA began to counter punch. Tom Rooney and Josh Kruppa were beginning to move back up the field to join their lead three, all of whom were holding ground or advancing. Meanwhile, O’Hara and Henderson both had pieces that were slipping slightly. Kevin James for O’Hara and Bobby Rimkis for Henderson were both feeling fatigued. It became clear that CBA would have enough to win the race, but who would take that coveted second spot?

At the front of the field, Henderson needed every point they could get from Tony Russell. And with yet another signature final mile, Russell delivered just that. Tony became the regional champion and, regardless of how his teammates finished behind him, locked up a spot at the National Championships. But the x-factor for Henderson was Reiny Barchet. Although two O’Hara runners had bested Barchet at states, he came to Regional with a lot more pop. The junior sprinted furiously over the final stretch and outkicked a pack of runners, including CBA’s top dog Jack Boyle, to bring home 2^nd place overall. A 1-2 finish for Henderson in the Northeast Regional!

O’Hara never stopped battling behind them. Kevin James was joined by his teammates Dan Savage and Ernie Pitone and together they worked together to get to the finish line. James hung right on Savage’s shoulder through the chute as the boys took 11^th and 12^th in the team standings. Pitone was not far behind in 14^th. Only O’Hara and CBA had three in the clubhouse that quickly. Still, there was plenty of ground O’Hara still needed to make up on Henderson.

But there was a wait for the Henderson pack. Rimkis was fading and someone needed to step up and take over as the team’s #3 runner if they were going to catch O’Hara. The hero of the day was none other than sophomore Alex Knapp. Knapp, who had been a non-factor at the 3200 race, came powering home over the final half of the race and picked up critical ground to finish 24^th in the team standings, sneaking ahead of O’Hara’s #4 runner and keeping his team in the hunt. Knapp was the team’s 7^th man at states, the only one who didn’t factor into the team scoring. But without Knapp, Henderson may have been sitting home during nationals weekend.

With Knapp stepping up, O’Hara needed their own hero to counter. For them it was Jim Belfatto. Fresh off his school record in the 3200, Belfatto stepped up and kicked right beside his teammate Chris Pastore. Both O’Hara boys managed to finish ahead of Henderson’s Bobby Rimkis. Pastore finished as the quickest #5 runner in the entire meet, even ahead of CBA’s Josh Kruppa. The question was, would that be enough to overcome Henderson’s impressive 1-2 finish?

Eric Stratman stepped up for Henderson, once again speaking to their depth, as the #6 man from states became the #5 at regionals ahead of Seamus Collins. Stratman’s 39^th place finish was not quite enough to catch O’Hara in the final standings, but it did keep things incredibly close. The final score was O’Hara 90 and Henderson 95 in 2^nd and 3^rd positions. The fact that the margin was once again so razor thin seemed to all but guarantee that two teams from Pennsylvania would be heading to Nationals. And, oh by the way, both PA teams finished much closer to the super power CBA. Their winning total was only 73 points.

After a nail-biting wait, it was revealed that Henderson would indeed be at the Nike National Championships in Oregon. With Henderson being bumped into the meet, that extended the individual qualifying list a bit further down, meaning PA’s Sami Aziz, the winner of the 3200 race between both times, would also be heading to nationals. PA was sending 15 boys to Nike Nationals and 4 to Footlocker for a total of 19 national qualifiers.

Now Nike Nationals had always been a little gimmicky. The course featured hay bales and short, man-made hills plus, most notably, some man-made mud. But in 2012, the course was at a new level of crazy. The natural Oregon weather combined with the artificial course conditions made the Nationals course an absolute slop show.

They say that a muddy race can be a great equalizer. Conditions make it harder to have all of your guys have their best day. But in my opinion, the conditions made it so that fast starting teams could benefit. In the mud, it was going to take a lot of work to move up late in the race. So if you could get out hard and find a way to hold your ground, you could have a big day.

As we had just seen at the Northeast Regional, our PA teams knew how to get out hard. The boys got out so hard in fact that through the opening 2k, Reiny Barchet was mixing it up for the lead at the National Championship. The Henderson junior had been second at the Northeast Regional and was hoping to carry that momentum with him in this race. Fearlessly, he went to the front and hung on as best he could with the lead group. In the end, Barchet finished in 21^st overall for the top spot in PA, edging out 4:01 miler Bernie Montoya and finishing 10^th in the team standings.

Surprisingly, his teammate Tony Russell was not with him. In his prior few races, Russell had run within himself at the start, using a powerful final mile to crush the field after their legs were already weak. His state championship close was a textbook example of this. However, the muddy and crowded conditions made it tough for Russell to use his well-honed strategy. The slop took many victims on this day and, unfortunately for Henderson, Tony Russell was one of them. Henderson finished a solid 15^th in the final standings.

That meant it was up to O’Hara to score a top 10 finish for Pennsylvania. Right from the start, O’Hara stuck their nose in the race. At the first split, they were in 5^th place. Now O’Hara had been out this hard before and struggled to finish the job. At states, they were leading over Henderson through 2/3 of the race, but ultimately were edged out. This time had to be different.

Every time they read off the team splits, O’Hara was holding tight to that 5^th position. At the finish, Dan Savage crossed first for the squad, named “Philadelphia”, with Ernie Pitone just behind him. Their final times were 18 flat and 18:02. Those times would have been scary to see before the race, but after actually traversing the course the times would prove to be quite impressive. O’Hara put their entire top 5 under 19 minutes, helped by yet another big day from Jim Belfatto (who had some nice face time in the NXN video) and that proved to be enough for O’Hara to hold their 5^th place finish at the National Championships. They finished just one spot behind CBA.

O’Hara’s 5^th place finish would prove to be the best national finish of any team in the decade. Savage and Ptione were 36^th and 39^th in the national file, two of PA’s better overall finishes in this meet. The disappointment of the state championship had not wilted this team. Instead it had provided the motivation they needed to finish the season on an incredibly strong note.

As these runners packed up their XC spikes (or probably through them out after that race), they could both be satisfied with what they had accomplished. O’Hara’s seniors had left the team with a lasting legacy and a piece of the history books. Their returners, James and Belfatto, would have incredible wisdom and experience to bring to the next generation. Meanwhile, Henderson was the state champions, returning 6 guys who were ready to try and win gold again. Bobby Rimkis could graduate knowing that, without him, his Henderson teammates would still be chasing that elusive gold. And his individual medal was an added bonus.

Yes, both sides could hold their high. The question O’Hara vs. Henderson did not seem important to them anymore. Each runner had used their opponents as motivation, as a reason to push that extra day in training, and as a way to get the most of themselves. From that perspective, it was really more O’Hara and Henderson.

Of course, the anonymous blog commenters could never be satisfied with such a cop-out of a concept. And, because of the final results of the season, some fans never let the debate rest. The lingering question as the 2012 calendar ended: what would you rather be 5^th at nationals or 1^st in the state?

From the perspective of a middling runner like myself, I gotta say I think they both sound pretty great.

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.

No One Could Keep Them Out

Prior to the 2012 season, the PIAA made the decision to add a third classification to the sport of Cross Country. The ripple effects of the decision were numerous, but the impact was perhaps most obvious within the borders of District 12 AAA where the number of state qualifying spots for teams was cut from 2 down to 1.

The Philadelphia Catholic League joined the PIAA prior to the 2008 Cross Country season and, since that time, produced two top 10 teams in the state every year with their top school placing in the top 3. LaSalle and St. Joe’s Prep posted top results during the early years and then O’Hara and LaSalle took over through the move to three classifications. Prior to the 2012 season, O’Hara received plenty of well-deserved hype about their chances to win a state championship, but their rivals from LaSalle were clearly contenders for a top 5 spot as well. In fact, PTXC’s rankings put LaSalle at #3 in the preseason rankings behind only the golden children of O’Hara and Henderson.

But both O’Hara and LaSalle (and the rest of the Philly Catholic League) lived in District 12. As a result, only one team could receive a bid to the state championship. Given the proven talent coming out of the PCL, how could this be possible? Well, the simple answer is that the state qualifying allocation system has its quirks. The allocation of state qualifying spots during reclassification was not based on merit, but rather on the number of schools within your district. So past success did not weigh into the conversation.

Regardless of the reasoning, LaSalle entered the 2012 XC season as long shot underdogs to make it to states. And things didn’t get any easier to start the season. Senior Tom Coyle, who had won both the PCL and the District 12 championships in 2011, was state champion in the 1600 during the spring of 2012. Yet an injury knocked Coyle out of the opening meet at Briarwood. Without their front-runner, LaSalle looked a little hapless in the championship section. Jack Magee led the team in 23^rd place and Brendan Bilotta was the #2 at 31^st. Andrew Stone, who was fresh off a fantastic track season that ended with a 1:52, looked a lot like a track guy as he finished in 55^th and ran #3. Overall, LaSalle finished 10^th out of 12 teams and was almost 200 points behind the meet champions from O’Hara.

A week later, LaSalle showed up to race the top teams in the state at the Foundation Invitational. Brendan Billotta finished as the team’s only top 60 finisher, running 17:26 for 24^th. That put them 10^th in the meet, well outside their preseason projection. Even putting Coyle in the race in first place, LaSalle would have been just 5^th at the foundation invite, again roughly 200 points behind O’Hara. Unfortunately for the Explorers, it was looking less and less like a tragedy that District 12 was only getting one spot on the line in Hershey.

But a lot can change in a month. LaSalle didn’t race another major invite the rest of the regular season. They trained. They got healthy. They regained focus. And they found a new reason to fight.

While District 12 was only allocated one team spot, they were also allowed 5 individual qualifiers. If you have 5 individual qualifiers running at the state championship meet, that is sufficient to score you as a team. Therefore, if LaSalle could somehow manage to grab all 5 of the individual qualifying spots (i.e. the top 5 non-O’Hara places), their 5 runners would qualify as a second team to states. A door was suddenly open, but the question was how wide?

All it would take be one really talented individual who slipped in the chute in front of LaSalle’s 5^th best guy and the dream was shot. They needed a perfect day from all 5 runners and they needed some good fortune from the rest of the talented PCL.

LaSalle got the chance to see just how realistic their goal would be at the PCL Championships on October 20^th. It was less than a week out from districts and featured essentially all the same teams on the same exact course. Plus the team would be racing their first major invite with their leader Tom Coyle.

Coyle came to play in his return to action, finishing in 4^th place overall behind only three O’Hara boys. As expected, O’Hara rolled to the team title with 6 of the top 7 spots. But for LaSalle, the real focus was on everyone else. Coyle, Andrew Stone and another returning healthy athlete in Matt Greco all defeated the non-O’Hara runners. However, Jack Magee (11^th) and Evan Quain (16^th) were not quite as impressive. Magee was beat out by 4 seconds against Archbishop Wood’s Jonathan Schmidt while Quain lost to Father Judge’s Eric Murray and two members of Bonner. Plus, there was other talent in the Philadelphia Public League that would be showing up for districts.

However, the move to three classifications proved to not be all bad. Philly Public Champion Matt Ferry of Science Leadership was in Class A. The Bonner boys, Will McDermott and Kevin Montgomery, as well as Jon Schmidt were all in Class AA along with Public runner-up Raheem Henry. So when all those guys were removed it meant LaSalle’s top from PCL were ahead of all non-O’Hara AAA athletes. All they needed to do was hold those spots and have Evan Quain make up 10 seconds on Father Judge’s Murray.

Then things took a turn. Matt Greco, the team’s #3 runner at the PCL Championships, suffered a collapsed lung which rendered him unable to compete at the District Championships. That meant Brendan Billotta, the team’s #6 man from PCLs would need to step up and fill his place. The good news was Billotta had been one of the team’s top runners back in September. He had more than enough potential to shake off that bad day and bounce back to be the hero at Districts.

With a mountain of pressure on each of their runners, the LaSalle boys got on the course. Coyle, who had been some 20 seconds off the lead at PCLs, went out aggressive and set the tone for his teammates. He ran with the front pack from O’Hara and trusted his heart to overcome any deficiencies in his lungs or legs. All 7 O’Hara boys were at the top of the standings as expected, but Billotta, Stone and Magee all ran in the next group, well ahead of the closest non-O’Hara opponent. That was 4. But things were less certain for #5. Father Judge’s Murray and St. Joe’s Prep’s Isaiah Fisher both had runners ahead of LaSalle about midway through the race.

As the race continued, the top pack whittled away until only Coyle and O’Hara’s Kevin James remained. Then, filtering in behind this pair was the rest of the O’Hara top 6. Then, for LaSalle, the real race began. Billotta first. Then Magee. Then Stone. There were gaps emerging, but the LaSalle top 4 was all where they needed to be. As the back hills of Belmont Plateau had unfolded, the top Father Judge runner had folded back into the pack, but now a second St. Joe’s Prep runner had risen to take his place. These two stood between Evan Quain and his mission to help send his team to states.

After plenty of nervous pacing from the LaSalle supporters, Tom Coyle was the first to come out of the trees and head for the finish line. The defending district champion was all smiles as he came through the final straightaway with his tongue hanging out. Coyle broke the tape just under 16 minutes, a full 20 seconds faster than a week earlier and defended his title. He was heading back to states, ready to go for another individual medal. But how many of his teammates would he be bringing with him?

As Coyle waited, he watched six straight O’Hara runners cross the finish line, from Kevin James at 16:04 through to Matt Hayes at 16:32. Only then did Brendan Billotta breakthrough for the second LaSalle position. With a massive bounce back performance, Billotta hit the tape just south of 16:40. It was a 47 second turnaround and filled the big hole left by Greco. Stone and Magee followed him a little over 10 seconds later. And thankfully they didn’t have to wait long for their #5.

With a huge close over the final piece of the race, Evan Quain outlasted Jadon Sargent and Isaiah Fisher for St. Joe’s Prep and crossed the line 12^th overall, behind 7 O’Hara boys and his 4 LaSalle teammates. Quain’s time of 17 minutes was nearly 12 seconds better than his time the prior week. Even if the PIAA hadn’t wanted to give it to them, the LaSalle boys fought through an up and down season and took it anyway. They were going to states.

As a group of just 5 runners, LaSalle headed out to states. Because they had qualified as 5 individuals, they would not be able to make any substitutions to the line-up (meaning that Greco couldn’t have come back, even if he was healthy enough) and they would also not be able to add a 6^th or 7^th runner to the line-up for insurance purposes. The same 5 guys that heroically extended their season an additional week would need to find a way to duplicate that performance and stay perfect.   

Despite the fact that they had no margin for error, LaSalle went out hard through the first mile of the race. They were in 4^th place in the team standings, ahead of a strong crop of D1 teams as well as WPIAL power North Allegheny. Coyle was mixing it up in the lead pack while Stone and Magee were out under 5 minutes as well. Bilotta was out as the team’s #5 runner at 5:08.

A mile later, LaSalle was still holding it together strong in 5^th place. They had 180 points, keeping them well clear of the madness that was ensuing for spots 6 through 10. North Allegheny and CR North each had an edge over them, but LaSalle kept them in sight. Coyle, who at the midseason checkpoint wasn’t even racing, was leading the team scoring in 7^th place overall. His teammates were all at 11 flat or under through 2 miles and Andrew Stone was hovering in 30^th place, within spitting distance of a medal.

LaSalle approached the finish, still battling hard to the end. Coyle managed to hang on to his hot start and place 11^th overall and 6^th in team scoring. Then Andrew Stone, in perhaps the surprise of the day, unleashed that 1:52 800 speed and blasted to the finish in 23^rd place. That locked up an individual state medal for Stone and put him just 1 spot behind district runner-up Kevin James. Stone had run 18:32 at the Foundation Invite in Hershey at the end of September. He had now finished the season with a 16:28. That’s over a 2 minute improvement! It was also a massive drop from his District 12 time at Belmont (16:51) and even his PCL mark (16:43). In fact, it was Stone’s fastest invitational 5k ever.

Jack Magee came through in 36^th in the team scoring, cracking the top 70 individuals with his 17 flat mark. Although it wasn’t quite as big as Stone’s drop, Magee still cut over a minute from his Foundation time. Evan Quain, the key domino at Districts, crossed just 11 seconds later with a terrific 45^th place finish in team scoring. That was ahead of the 4^th runner from CR North and the 5^th from North Allegheny.

Bilotta didn’t have quite as big of a day as he was maybe hoping after districts, but LaSalle’s #5 runner survived tough conditions at the start and, when the team absolutely needed him to get to the line as their only remaining runner, he sprinted down the home stretch and rounded out the line-up with a 17:49. The lone junior on LaSalle’s qualifying team finished 84^th in the team standings which put LaSalle at 5^th in the team tally with 185 points. The team that wasn’t even supposed to make it here, was now #5 in the state in what was considered one of the best years in recent history. With just 5 guys available, LaSalle was only 45 points away from the #3 spot, which would have matched their preseason ranking.

Everything seemed to be thrown in this team’s path, but nothing could stop LaSalle from Hershey.

The Big Question

After every state championship ends, people will almost immediately start to ask “who’s next?” Typically, it’s an open discussion. Fans have teams they are passionate about, but the speculation is far from definitive. In the summer of 2012, there was no such thing as speculation. There was no open discussion. There was only Henderson vs. O’Hara.

By the end of the 2011 Cross Country season, O’Hara had established itself as a state power. They had been third at Hershey in 2010, only a few points behind Henderson, and then had missed out on state gold in 2011 by less than a second. Entering the 2012 season, they were bringing back four of their top five runners while also adding a state-qualifying transfer in Garnet Valley’s Nick Smart. 

After losing states on a sixth man tie-breaker, the concern for O’Hara would undoubtedly be depth. They had placed 4 runners in the top 50 at Hershey, but due to sickness and injury, they didn’t have the 5^th man they needed to close the deal. Smart would be looked at as a key rotation player, but breakout track star Jim Belfatto also was in the mix. He was O’Hara’s top JV runner at the PCL Championships and ran PRs of 1:57 and 4:30 in the spring.

While it’s hard to top O’Hara’s 2011 heartbreak, the van ride home for Henderson couldn’t have felt much better. After dominating the District 1 championships over North Penn, the talented squad finished a distant 5^th at the state championships. Sophomores Tony Russell and Sam Haugh had beaten all the runners from North Penn at Lehigh, but on the Hershey hills their front-running didn’t measure up.

But Henderson was returning their top 4 from the district championship, a meet where they were led by 3 sophomores. Plus, they were adding back Reiny Barchet who, while a freshman on Henderson’s 2010 team, was the best 9^th grader in the district. During the 2012 track season, he showed that he still hadn’t lost a step – running 9:28 for 3200 and placing as the top sophomore at District 1. Plus Henderson had their own track x-factor in AJ Chaborek. The rising senior had run 1:54 for 800 and 9:40 for 3200, speaking to his incredible range and his potential to shine in XC. There was a long list of potential stars on the Henderson roster. The question surrounding the Warriors was whether their core was experienced enough to run clutch on the big stage.

What many Henderson supporters pointed to was the sophomore to junior jump. It’s been a popular concept surrounding the high school running conversation throughout the decade and essentially hypothesizes that, generally speaking, a runners biggest improvement comes from their sophomore to junior season. It makes sense in a lot of ways. If you think about it physically from a maturity standpoint, physiologically from a training perspective, mentally from an experience perspective. And the numbers bear it out as well. If you compare the number of sophomore state medalists to junior/senior state medalists the difference is astronomical.

The merits of the sophomore to junior jump were on display from the jump. Tony Russell, the top sophomore in District 1 in 2011, charged out the gates looking the fittest he’d ever been. In the opening meet of the season, Russell ran 15:41 on the hilly Belmont Plateau to essentially tie for first at the Briarwood Invtitational against pre-season #2 and defending AA state champion Brendan Shearn. With O’Hara’s Dan Savage already having posted a top 5 finish in the state, the emergence of Russell was a real game changer in the Henderson-O’Hara debate.

Also a real game changer: the two teams actually raced each other. In 2010 and 2011, Henderson had played their cards very close to the vest and didn’t race a Pennsylvania Invitational for essentially the entire season. But in 2012, Henderson went to the Briarwood Invite to take on the reigning PCL Champions from O’Hara in their opponents backyard.

Running on the familiar course layout, O’Hara overcame the strong front running of Tony Russell by taking 4^th, 5^th and 6^th in the overall standings. In an interesting twist, sophomore Kevin James was O’Hara’s #1 runner and Ernie Pitone actually game in as their #2. Then their prior year #1 Dan Savage. The three finished with 4 seconds of one another and the times were all very fast (under 16:08).

The statement from the top 3 was enough to lock up victory, but O’Hara’s 4-5-6 also came to play. Chris Pastore was 12^th in 16:22, Jim Belatto was 14^th in 16:35 and Matt Hayes was 16^th in 16:38. Only Reiny Barchet (10^th) broke up the O’Hara pack. In the end, the final score for the meet was 36 to 92 as O’Hara ran away from Henderson for the statement victory.

Although this had to be confidence building for O’Hara, Henderson didn’t let it get to them. The score would have been closer if their #3 man Bobby Rimkis (who was DQed in a battle to the line with Pastore), had finished the race. The team was also missing junior Sam Haugh who had been the team’s #2 runner in Barchet’s absence the prior year. Haugh was out with an injury, but there was hope he’d be back for the post season. All the same, the much talked about depth for Henderson was not on full display as O’Hara proved to be the deeper team in mid-September.

Both teams went separate ways to close out the month of September, each toeing the line in one of the most prestigious mid-season check points. O’Hara’s encore came first as they traveled to the Hershey course for the Foundation Invite. The boys rolled again, scoring just 40 points against the 41 team field and posted a 30 second spread. Kevin James was once again the top dog for O’Hara, placing 3^rd overall with Savage one spot behind in 4^th. The squad posted 6 to 15 finishers, again showing that they had the depth to survive a bad day unlike the prior year.

Meanwhile, Henderson traveled to Carlisle where all eyes would be on rising phenome Tony Russell as he took on the state’s top sophomore from 2011, Brent Kennedy out of Kiski in D7. But the race didn’t pan out as expected. Russell not only finished well off the front in 9^th, but his fellow junior Reiny Barchet actually crossed the line first for the Warriors. Barchet took 3^rd overall in 15:50, a breakthrough that helped Henderson hold off NJ Power Don Bosco Prep 60 to 73. Henderson posted 3 top 16 finishes in the deep meet, helped by a massive breakthrough from sophomore Alex Knapp, finishing as the team’s #4 runner just 3 seconds behind Rimkis.

During that same weekend, O’Hara also wanted to test themselves against out of state competition. They traveled to Great American for the second straight season, this time placing in 3^rd place overall. Christian Brothers Academy, the best team in the Northest Region, won the meet handily with 60 points. O’Hara finished at 161, helped by 3 top 20 finishes. Dan Savage finished as the team’s #1 runner in the meet and looked to be rounding into form as O’Hara’s familiar front-runner. A week later, Savage finished #1 at DELCO with a blazing 15:47. His teammates took the next 3 spots as Chris Pastore had his best race of the season. The team finished with 19 points.

Henderson had their chance against Christian Brothers at the Manhattan Invitational on October 13. The Henderson boys were defeated by a similar margin as CBA won the meet with 94 points and Henderson grabbed the silver medals with 200 points. Tony Russell was back to his old self, beating all of the CBA runners with a 4^th overall finish in the champions race. His time was 12:24.7, one of the fastest in state history. One thing was clear: when Russell was on his “A” game, he was developing into an all-time great.

But the Henderson depth was still a bit of a question mark. Reiny Barchet dropped a sub 13 minute time on the 4k layout, but no one else in the “H” jersey finished within 45 seconds of their front-man. Bobby Rimkis, Eric Stratman and Seamus Collins rounded out the scoring 5. The good news was Sam Haugh was back in the line-up and finished just behind Stratman and Collins as the team’s #6. If he continued to improve with extra race experience, Henderson would add a valuable piece to their pack.

While Henderson and O’Hara hadn’t gone head to head in over a month, the team’s match-ups against CBA seemed to indicate the gap was shrinking as the squads headed into championship season. At Ches-monts, here Henderson beat future state qualifiers West Chester East 45 to 75, you could start to see that Henderson was playing the long game. Bobby Rimkis, the team’s usual #3 man, and Seamus Collins, a key cog in the team’s success the past two seasons, both sat out of Ches-monts. Eric Stratman and Sam Haugh stepped up into the 3-4 spots admirably and Alex Knapp closed out the victory in 17^th. The familiar presence of Barchet and Russell combined for a 1-2 finish.

Meanwhile, O’Hara held nothing back at PCLs. The Philly Catholic League title is incredibly important to the team’s in that league and O’Hara knew they had a chance to post one of the lowest scores in meet history. Savage got his revenge on the Belmont course where he was twice denied gold in 2011 by dropping a 15:56 and winning the meet. Ernie Pitone and Kevin James were 2^nd and 3^rd to complete a sweep over defending champ Tom Coyle (coming back from injury). Then, Matt Hayes, Chris Pastore and Jim Belfatto took spots 5 through 7 over 800 standout Andrew Stone. The final tally for O’Hara was 17 points with 6 of the top 7 overall spots in the meet and a 16:13 average time. It was a truly historic performance in a truly historic conference.

That meet seemingly cemented O’Hara as state favorites and they were able to put things in a bit more cruise control at districts. They still managed 6 of the top 7 spots against a very good LaSalle team, but Savage was the team’s 3^rd man across the line and Pitone was their 5.

In the always loaded District 1, Henderson would, in theory, have to put a bit more into the race if they were going to leave with a set of gold medals. Yet it turned out that Henderson was more than ready for the challenge. With Tony Russell once again locked in, Henderson took 1^st individually and 1^st as a team. Russell’s time of 15:11 was faster than the prior two district champs and 4 Henderson runners broke 16 minutes. They posted a score of 67 points to easily knock off a strong CR North contingent.   

But once again, what was most notable was who was not racing. Henderson held Sam Haugh, Eric Stratman and Alex Knapp (the 3-4-5 from leagues) out of the District championship. If any one of those guys had raced and finished with Collins, they would have posted 5 performances under 16 minutes and scored close to 50 points. An already historic day would have become even more impressive.

Entering states, Henderson was really tricky to read. They were coming back to Hershey course which most had only raced once on which very few had really proven they could handle the hills and the pressure. Yet it was clear that this team was vastly improved from the year before. They averaged 16:06 at Districts in 2011 and 15:41 at Districts in 2012. Plus, you had this weird feeling that once Henderson put all their cards on the table at states (after saving guys the previous two weeks), they were going to go up another level.

O’Hara entered the state meet with a much different aura. This team had raced essentially the same scorers every week. They were deeper through six guys than they were the year before. That much was definitely clear. Plus, they had those three seniors leading the way. Dan Savage, Ernie Pitone and Chris Pastore had all been on the varsity team that lost on the tie-breaker at states in 2011. They had all spent an entire year thinking about the heartbreak of that moment. Now, they were staring down their most formidable opponent of the two year stretch, trying to avoid the same fate.

It was very clear that Henderson wanted to win this meet and had the talent to do so, but I kept thinking back to those three senior leaders. I didn’t expect Henderson to fold up in the same way they had the season before, but I did think, at some subconscious level, the juniors could have the thought “there’s always next year”, looking ahead to a group of seniors that would be the best since 2006’s national champions from Coatesville. It’s hard to really feel like there’s no time like the present until there is no more future.

Finally, on the morning of November 3^rd, 2012, the debate would come to an end. For the first time in meet history, there were six races on State Championship Saturday. That meant there were five races worth of pressure-filled, anxious moments before the gun finally sounded.

As expected, the O’Hara boys got out hard. Dan Savage was in second place at the mile, leading the chase pack behind the bold front-running of sophomore Colin Abert. Kevin James was in 9^th and Ernie Pitone was in 13^th. All three guys were in front of Henderson’s first runner, Tony Russell, who had settled into the middle of the lead pack. Reiny Barchet and Henderson’s lone senior Bobby Rimkis were in 25^th and 26^th. The standings at the one mile were O’Hara 46-Henderson 71. Both teams were in the lead two positions.

As the race progressed to two miles, Russell started to inch up the field. He was in 9^th place at the two mile mark, less than a second ahead of the three-person O’Hara pack of James, Savage and Pitone. Reiny Barchet was in 16^th place and Rimkis was holding tight to 25^th. It was a six-point advantage for O’Hara through the first three.

Behind them, the battles were still tight. Chris Pastore was in 36th place, one second ahead of Henderson’s Sam Haugh. Meanwhile both Seamus Collins and Eric Stratman were ahead of O’Hara fifth man Jim Belfatto, all with identical two mile times of 10:29. The standings at two miles had closed. O’Hara still led, by the margin was down to just 4 as the standings read 68-72.

The battle continued to rage over the final mile. Both sides were incredibly hungry as the left the Aloha hills and began to surge ahead for poop-out. They approached the final hill with many competitors from the two rival teams running side by side. But running all alone was Tony Russell. Henderson’s #1 man had absolutely crushed the final mile and stormed away from everyone to not only win the state championship, but to break the course record with a time of 15:45. One in the clubhouse for Henderson.

At the bottom of poop-out hill, I estimated the standings for both teams. Henderson had made moves, helped by Sam Haugh and Seamus Collins surging through the pack into the top 40. They now had 67 points. O’Hara was trailing, sitting with 69 points. Their top three was still ahead of Henderson’s, but Pastore and Belfatto needed to draw even with Henderson’s 4-5 if they were to have a shot.

Coming off the hill, the finishing stretch was absolutely wild. The noise was deafening and it was hard to keep track of anything that was happening. Savage was slipping a bit, but Ernie Pitone rose to the moment. He pulled his teammate home and, for the first time, finished as O’Hara’s #1 runner. It was a clutch finish by Pitone and gave his squad two finishers in the top 10 overall.

From about 15^th through 27^th, the kicking was absolutely wild. CR North’s James Zingarini, a miler at heart, surged from a bubble position among the medals, into the top 20. Cumberland Valley’s Alec Kunzweiler used his superior 800 speed to get into the medals. Andrew Stone, another 800 specialist through down a big kick for LaSalle. All this was unfolding around Reiny Barchet, Kevin James and Bobby Rimkis. James Zingarini of CR North passed Barchet just before the line, taking one point away from Henderson. Kunzweiler sprinted ahead of James and held on, taking one away from O’Hara. Rimkis, the lone senior in Henderson’s armada, tore down the straightaway as fiercely as he could, delivering a clutch performance. He was just one second by O’Hara’s Kevin James and ahead of CR North’s Mac Emery. Through three runners, the score was O’Hara 22 – Henderson 27. The Warriors trailed, but they knew their biggest advantage was still finishing the course.

With the top 30 already in the clubhouse, the race was reaching the point where waves of guys were crossing the line every second. Hampton’s Brian Shields who had run about 4800 meters of the race in a medal position, came off poop-out hill completely pooped-out. He was fighting valiantly with the heart of a true cross country runner to make it to the finish line.

Haugh and Collins were the next jerseys expected in the clubhouse from the team title race. Pastore and Belfatto were trying desperately to shrink the gap. Coming toward the chute, there were familiar faces three across. Haugh-Collins-Pastore. All three guys were sprinting hard to the line knowing that this could be it. The championship could swing right here.

Lying in between them was the collapsed figure of Brian Shields. Pastore swung wide to avoid him, Collins began to run to Haugh, disrupting both of their cadences. They were all right on top of the finish. Each desperately leaning, the trio crossed the line at essentially the exact same time. It would be difficult to sort out and there were a multitude of points in play.

Henderson now had 5 in the clubhouse. Depending on how the Pastore-Collins-Haugh finish was sorted out, their final score would either be 68, 69, or 70. This meant O’Hara was sitting with 42, 43 or 44, still with one runner to go.

Ken Leidal of Downingtown West crossed the line two seconds after the madness ensued. He was team scorer number 23. The next spot went to Chris Cummings of West Chester East. That was team scorer number 24. As people still crunched the numbers, Jim Belfatto came sprinting into view, running stride for stride with West Chester East’s Eric Diestelow, chased by North Allegheny’s Cordon Luoco and Scott Seel. It was going to be tight, but ultimately Diestelow crossed first, then it was Belfatto in team scoring spot number 26.

So what did this mean? Depending on the result of the skirmish the final score was one of Henderson 68-O’Hara 70, Henderson 69-O’Hara 69, O’Hara 68-Henderson 70. It was going to be that close. And as Eric Stratman crossed in the 29^th team scoring position and Alex Knapp crossed in the 31^st, Henderson now had a 6^th and 7^th in the clubhouse meaning the tiebreaker would go to them if needed.

It was a long, arduous wait to find out the exact results of the state meet. Everyone knew it was incredibly close, regardless of the final number. Outside of eventual national champions Coatesville in 2006, no one in any boy’s classification had scored 70 or less points since 1996. Now there were two teams with the chance to do it. The team that did it in ‘96? Ironically, West Chester Henderson.

An explosion of noise from the Henderson faithful meant that the District One boys had done it. It was revealed that the battle to the line was scored Haugh-Pastore-Collins, meaning that Henderson had won on a 69-69 6^th man tiebreaker. The ultimate heartbreak had been created for the boys from O’Hara. Two incredible teams that were one blow of the wind away from being back to back state champions.

After North Penn won the title on a tie-breaker in 2011, Penntrack posted a recap stating that it had only happened two times before in the history of the state championship meet. Now it happened in back to back years to the same team. Over a two year stretch, O’Hara had 5 state medalists and 9 top 50 runners. They posted a score of 69 points at a state championship. It was truly an incredible team and one that will be remembered among the all-time greats.

But Henderson would be remembered as the state champions in 2012. That’s how the history books would always reflect it. And that would be the answer to the Henderson and O’Hara debate.

Or so we thought.

Part II will be out this coming Friday with new posts in-between … enjoy 2012 week!

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Dual Meet Scoring

Russell

Savage

Pitone (5)

Barchet (5)

James (10)

Rimkis (11)

Haugh (18)

Pastore (18)

Collins (27)

Belfatto (28)

Henderson 27, O’Hara 28

All Classifications Merged

O’Hara 90, Henderson 91

It was really that close and it really lived up to the hype. What an incredible group of runners.