PA Week Sept 20

by Don Rich, PennTrackXC.com, the site for PA news.

| Briarwood | Bloomsburg | Slippery Rock | Lakeview | Altoona | Allegheny | Chestnut Hill | Chris Fretz |

Steve Hallinan is best of 3 record breakers at Belmont Plateau,
Frances Koons, Chris Spooner win at Bloomsburg

the boys start at Bloomsburg
Chris Spooner	Frances Koons

Highlights

Briarwood - Steve Hallinan, Cardinal O'Hara, and Ian Gottesfeld and Greg Williams of Henderson, all broke Chris Dugan's course record at Belmont Plateau in the Briarwood Classic. Unfortunately for the defending AAA state champ and his teammate, on this day, Hallinan was better. With 200 meters remaining in the race, Hallinan took off and finished in 15:42, breaking the 15:48.5 mark set by Southmoreland's Chris Dugan in 1996. Gottesfeld finished in 15:47.0, with Williams .3 back. Mainland (NJ) won the team title with 74 points, ahead of LaSalle (114) and O'Hara (121). In the girls' Championship race, Hatboro-Horsham dominated a strong field behind the 5th place 19:45 by Kerry Swayne. St. Hubert's Amy Kelly won in 18:59.

Bloomsburg - Harrier pre-season mention Frances Koons, Allentown Central Catholic, went 1:10 faster on a "slightly faster" course this year at Bloomsburg University, winning in 18:39. Lewisburg's Chris Spooner also ran alone, going 16:14. Ian Fitzgerald, the North Hills senior who was the runner-up at the Penn Relays 3000, won again on the hilly Slippery Rock course, pulling away from Jame O'Toole, Mount Lebanon, to win in 16:09. And at the Lakeview Invite, Jed Christiansen, Greenville, went 15:18 solo for the win.

Briarwood Invitational

Briarwood Invitational 5K @ Belmont Plateau - Hallinan breaks Dugan's
course record + beats Gottesfeld and Williams - Steve Hallinan, Cardinal
O'Hara, and Ian Gottesfeld and Greg Williams of Henderson, all broke
Chris Dugan's course record at Belmont Plateau. Unfortunately for the
defending AAA state champ and his teammate, on this day, Hallinan was
better. With 200 meters remaining in the race, Hallinan took off and
finished in 15:42, breaking the 15:48.5 mark set by Southmoreland's
Chris Dugan in 1996. Gottesfeld finished in 15:47.0, with Williams .3
back. Mainland (NJ) won the team title with 74 points, ahead of LaSalle
(114) and O'Hara (121).In the girls' Championship race, Hatboro-Horsham
dominated a strong field behind the 5th place 19:45 by Kerry Swayne. St.
Hubert's Amy Kelly won in 18:59. In the Division I larger schools races,
Mike Syrnick of Central was 3rd in 16:50 as Ridgewood, NJ went 1-2 and
the team win. Jessica Cickay was 2nd in 20:01 as West Springfield, VA
won the team title. In the Division II smaller schools races,
Carroll's Mike Tilger was 1st in 16:30, as Great Valley won the team
title with 40 points. Unionville's Katie Thaeder went 19:32 as Pearl,
NY won the team competition.

Northeast Invitational @ Bloomsburg University - Chris Spooner and
Frances Koons cruise to comfortable wins @ Northeast Invite @ Bloomsburg
- A foggy morning gave way to clouds and sun on a new course at
Bloomsburg University. And it wasn't close in the boys and girls varsity
races. Lewisburg and Allentown Central Catholic, behind their #1
runners Chris Spooner (16:14) and Frances Koons (18:39), won team
titles, with Spooner's team totaling just 64 points, and the Koons' team
tallying just 63.

Slippery Rock Invitational 5k @ Slippery Rock University - Mount
Lebanon's James O'Toole is getting familiar with racing Ian Fitzgerald.
He stayed with the state 3200 champion past 4,000 meters until getting
gapped. Fitzgerald finished in 16:09 to lead his team to a surprisingly
easy win over O'Toole's Mount Lebo squad by a score of 34 to 115. In
girls AAA, Indiana's Marissa Umbel played a waiting game, letting Penn
Hills sophomore Katie Grimm build a small lead, before reeling her in to
win by 24 seconds in 19:26. Missing senior Amy Ruffolo, soph Kelley
O'Brien was asked to step up. She did, going 20:08 to finish 3rd and
lead her North Allegheny team to a 102 to 118 win over Mount Lebanon. In
boys AA, Eisenhower took all comers behind Grant Allen's 2nd place
16:47. Brian Soder was never challenged, going 16:18 for the win for
the Harbor Creek senior. In girls AA, Erin Cranmer-Hart, a Slippery
Rock senior, travelled the layout in 19:54 for the individual win while
leading her team to the title by nine points over General McLane.

Lakeview Invitational 5k - Jed Christiansen smokes a 15:18 @ Lakeview
Invitational - Greenville's Jed Christiansen runs 15:18 to easily
distance himself from the field, while Hickory's Kara Morris went 19:21
to win the girls' race and lead her time to the title. Union City wins
the boys team title.

Altoona Invitational 5k - David Mock, Westmont Hilltop, and Sonya
Hinish, Bishop Guilfoyle, returned to home territory after strong races
at State College 9/13 to take the Altoona Invite. The challenging grass
and wooded trail is a new layout following construction, so both set new
course records, Mock in 16:58 and Hinish in 20:52. Altoona's boys placed
three in the top ten for 53 points behind the 2nd place finish of senior
Wayne Hooper in 17:30. Oakland Catholic dominated the girls' race with
four in the top seven. They were led by the 3rd place 22:02 of sophomore
Mary Hamilton.

Allegheny Classic 5k - Richard leads McDowell again, this time at
Allegheny Classic - Erin Richard is having a great start to her first
season of cross country, winning another invitational and helping
McDowell come out on top in a very tight team race. Her 19:10 was 19
seconds better than 2nd as McDowell tallied 95 points, with Peters
Township five back, Taylor Alderdice six back, and Brush just ten back.
Fort LeBoeuf's Bruce Hordusky went 16:43 for the win, but it was the
four-five finishes of Cathedral Prep's Adam Kaiser in 16:56, and Eric
Diluzio in 17:00 that led their team to 67 points, 23 better than
Franklin Regional.

Chestnut Hill Invitational 5k - Roman Catholic places four in top eight
to win Chestnut Hill Academy Invitational - Roman Catholic places four
in top eight to win Chestnut Hill Academy Invitational - Roman
Catholic's Dan Keefe was 2nd in 16:46 and was joined by three teammates
in the top eight, to lead his team to the title with 33 points, 43 less
than Haverford School. Ian MacTavish of Germantown Friends won
individual honors in 16:17.

Chris Fretz Invitational 5K - Roberts leads Perkiomen Valley in home
Chris Fretz Invitational - Sara Roberts the helped her team defend their
home turf with a first place 20:29 as Perkiomen Valley held off Radnor
45 to 54. Radnor's Josh Misheiky won the boys' race in 17:42, but Owen
J. Roberts, with three in the top ten, won the team title by eight over
Radnor with 51 points.

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