10/28 Districts WK: Manheim Twp sweeps, McNally-Crofford CRs D3 (story)|3 SUB-15, Cville/Radnor D1 Don Rich Oct 24, 2006

10/23-28 DISTRICTS WK+ SUMMARY:

PIAA DISTRICT 3 postponed their meet from Sat to Mon at noon because of flooding on the new Hersheypark course made parts impassable. When the race was on, Manheim Township captured both AAA team titles. Vince McNally (Manheim Township won both AAA titles, but it was a school-first for the PA#3 girls - photo by Megan Zeller) and Lara Crofford set course records that will be safe until Saturdy. Germantown Friends prevailed over LaSalle in the PA INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS CHAMPS. At the PIAA DISTRICT 10 CHAMPIONSHIPS, Harbor Creek\'s Lauren Zarger soloed. It was a double sweep by two schools at the PIAA DISTRICT 9 CHAMPIONSHIPS in both AA and AAA. Elk County Catholic was AA Champs and Bradford dominated AAA. At the PIAA DISTRICT 6 CHAMPIONSHIPS, Carly Seymour led her Central Cambria team to a AA team title. On Friday, a day after the Emmaus girls posted their quick times at Lehigh, Radnor came along in the PIAA DISTRICT 1 CHAMPIONSHIPS meet to run a faster team avg by 19 seconds per girl. Unionville\'s Paul Springer led Boyertown\'s Jason Weller and Coatesville\'s Kyle Dawson across the line, all under 15. The Coatesville guys were just as dominating as the Radnor girls. On Thursday at PIAA DISTRICT 7 on a John Papa-renewed Cooper\'s Lake course, times were a lot faster than Tri-States. The North Allegheny\'s guys dominated AAA. The Emmaus girls made a statement with an 18:58 team average at PIAA DISTRICT 11 on Thursday. Parkland moves both squads to states. Easton nearly makes it, but Chanelle Price rips an 18:07. Isaac Dunkelberger and Alexa Griffiths four-peat and three-peat in AA. Lewisburg girls and Danville boys win titles in PIAA DISTRICT 4. In PIAA DISTRICT 5, AA Meyersdale won the girls title, while the Bedford boys were victorious. Engineering & Science won the PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS. Robeson\'s Shatievah Lewis took the individual title. Central won the boys\' title. On Wednesday in PIAA DISTRICT 2 meet, a changing of the guard as Dallas does not advance. A newcomer, Alexandra Hackett of Wyoming Seminary, wins in AA. Scranton Prep\'s boys tops again. Abington Heights boys repeat. Honesdale has the perfect race to take AAA girls. At the PCL NORTHERN DIVISION CHAMPS LaSalle\'s boys dominate. The St. Hubert girls were victorious. In the PCL SOUTHERN DIVISION, it was the Cardinal O\'Hara boys and girls sweeping. At the INTER-AC CHAMPS , it was the Malvern Prep boys and Notre Dame girls. In the FRIENDS\' LEAGUE, Germantown Friends swept the individual and team titles. Philmont Christian swept the top five spots at the KEYSTONE CONFERENCE CHAMPS. Last week, at the PIAA DISTRICT 12 MEET Robeson\'s Shatievah Lewis posted a quick 19:32 to win, but the Engineering & Science girls were AA qualifiers. Girls\' High won the AAA. Masterman boys were the AA champs and Central was AAA champ. In PIAA DISTRICT 8, Allderdice swept both team titles.

10/21 CONF/LEAGUE WEEK #8: Spence, Bower, Coatesville, Radnor/Emmaus dominate. NEW PIX TUE. Don Rich Oct 17, 2006

10/21 CONF/LEAGUE WEEK #8 SUMMARY:

Results posted for Washington County Coaches, Ed Narkiewicz, Freedom, Mid-Penn, Pioneer Athletic, Southern Chester County, Tim Cook JV, Ches-Mont, Tri-State Coaches, Lebanon-Lancaster League, Bicentennial League, PIAA District 12, Schuylkill League, Lehigh Valley, SOL American, SOL National, SOL Continental, Northern Tier, Central League, Shikellamy Classic, Colonial, D10 Regions 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6, Laurel Highlands, PIAA District 8, YAIAA, Berks County, AACA, Ludwig\'s Corner 5K...All the rest from Wed, Thur, Fri & Sat are needed.(Photo: Josh Christopher wins the mud-challenge at Tri-States 10/19)

10/14 WKND: Springer-Seymour shine, Germtwn Fr top PA team in NY|Radnor & Haven win|Tennent DQs Don Rich Oct 12, 2006

10/14 WEEK #7 SUMMARY:

Carly Seymour and Paul Springer run big-time races at the MANHATTAN INVITATIONAL, where Germantown Friends was the top PA boys team. Hatboro-Horsham\'s Dan Hibbs won one of the Varsity races. At the DELCO CHAMPIONSHIPS at Rose Tree Park, the Strath Haven boys won their first-ever team title. Radnor survived a fall from one of their top five to win the girls race comfortably. General McLane swept the team titles at the ROCKY GROVE INV. Even without Katherine Ward, the State College girls defended their home course in the STATE COLLEGE INV, taking five of the top 12 places. The Lions also captured the boys\' race with just 22 points 2-3-4-5 finishes. A little controversy at the WILLIAM TENNENT INV ended with three DQs in the girls varsity race... but there was a positive story in all this. Upper Dublin won both team titles. At Thursday\'s MINGO CLASSIC, Gateway was the team champ for both boys and girls. (Cover Photo: Frances Koons, Villanova/Allentown Central Catholic, 2nd at NCAA D1 Pre-Nationals - photo by Tim O\'Dowd, www.irishrunner.com)

Four days after winning Steel City, it\'s Coatesville over Henderson again in their dual meet... Don Rich Oct 11, 2006

Oakbourne Park in West Chester is Henderson\'s home course. It\'s tough. And dual meets provide an opportunity for teams to control their point totals with more precision. Beat the guy you have to beat, and you don\'t lose a lot of points like in an invitational. But this year, Coatesville appears unstoppable in PA. (Henderson had two challengers, but Coatesville was too strong 2-6)

10/7 WKND: Coatesville 40-WCH 127. Weller 15:47.7-Dawson 15:54.5 @ Steel C | Zarzeczny 15:14 @ Pgh Don Rich Oct 06, 2006

10/7 WEEK #6 SUMMARY:

At the STEEL CITY INVITATIONAL, Coatesville delivered another message to the XC community - this team is among the best in the US. The Red Raiders scored just 40 points. Boyertown\'s Jason Weller defended his Steel City title. West Chester Henderson won the girl\'s title by just two points over a surprisingly strong Northern York squad, which started with just three points behind the one-two by Rachel Wong and Katie Meck. At the WESTMORELAND COUNTY COACHES MEET on Thursday, Natalie Bower, Latrobe, and Josh Christopher, Penn-Trafford, set course records. At the WALT DISNEY WORLD CLASSIC in Orlando, Florida, the Wyomissing girls captured 2nd in the 2A race. At the 21ST HARRIER CLASSIC in Pottstown, Stephanie Fulmer of St. Pius X won, but Oley Valley put three in the top eight to beat Methacton. Owen J. Roberts won the boys title. At the CUMBERLAND COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS @ East Pennsboro HS, Big Spring runners went one-two finish, but Cedar Cliff placed five in the top eight for the win. The Cedar Cliff boys held off Red Land. Elk Lake won the girls race, while the Lake Lehman boys were paced by 2nd and 4th place finishes at the ENDLESS MOUNTAINS INV. Claudia Harris of the Solebury School won THE GEORGE SCHOOL INV. Patrick DeSabato of Friends\' Central nipped Penn Charter\'s Dylan Isaacson. Sophomores Chelsea and Shaina led District 7 Trinity to a win at the GROVE CITY INV, where McDowell used a nice pack behind 4th place Dan Marchini. Lauren Zarger won on her home course at the HARBOR CREEK DIRTY DAWG INV. Michael Stolar, the Mercyhurst senior, won the boys race, but it was the North East boys that won the team title. The Mount Lebanon girls ran one of their freshman in the JV race at Carlisle. On Saturday at the PITTSBURGH CENTRAL CATHOLIC INV, they promoted her to varsity. Samatha Carl then promoted herself to the #1 spot on the team for the day, finishing 10th. 35 seconds later, there were five (yes five) more Lebo girls across the line. Their #1, Natalie Bower, kept her winning going. In the boys\' A race, Lucas Zarzeczny of Avonworth, broke away from Pittsburgh Central Catholic\'s Scott Van Kooten midway, and cruised to what is probably a course record of 15:14. Matt Jacob led the North Allegheny boys to the win. Bradford placed five in the top 13 at the RIDGWAY INV, paced by a win by Sarah Lonzi. The boys were also strong, taking five of the top 18 spots. Smethport senior Ben Hahn won the race comfortably. Hatboro Horsham\'s Kerry Swayne won the Girls A race at the SALESIANUM INV. But the North Penn athletes took the team title. Gwynedd-Mercy captured the Girls B race. In the Boys A race, LaSalle held off hosts Salesianum 68 to 81. Wissahickon junior Nick Crits was the only boy under 17 for the day, finishing in 16:59.91.

Vince McNally impressed everyone with his race at Carlisle - except himself. Don Rich Oct 03, 2006

Let\'s say you train all summer. You log higher mileage than you\'ve ever run. You feel great and you come into the season with high expectations and a feeling of anticipation. In 2005 during your sophomore year, you ran a PR 5K of 15:02. You finished 3rd in the state. You then ran a 4:15.49 1600 in the spring after losing five weeks to injury and racing on only five weeks of training.

9/30 WKND: Radnor close in NY|Cville 30@Carl|Spence 17:47, Emmaus girls @ Lehigh|Springer 2nd in NJ Don Rich Sep 29, 2006

Earlier in the week, Bethany Walker won for the 2nd time in four days, taking the MIDWESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE title. On Friday at the PAUL SHORT INVITATIONAL, Neely Spence, the Shippensburg junior running for her high school for the first time, made her 5K PA HS Invitational debut a memorable one, winning in a stunning 17:47, and looking like she had more to give. Emmaus, the young team with big goals, looked every bit the part as they won the team title. Strath Haven's Rob Speare won a dual over Tom Mooney of Council Rock South (Photo is a 1.75 miles). Quince Orchard of Maryland won the team title with 158 points and Germantown Friends was second with 163. At the MCDONALD'S MAYMOUNT XC FESTIVAL in Richmond, VA, Baldwin took gold in the, pardon the reference, Gold Seeded Boys race. On Saturday in New York at WARWICK VALLEY, Radnor came within 9 points of upsetting US#1 Hilton, 59-68. At the CARLISLE INVITATIONAL, Coateville scored 30 behind Kyle Dawson's 15:17.9. Manheim Township girls win. Lara Crofford 18:16. At the COUGAR INVITATIONAL in New Jersey, Colts Neck's Tom Forys won the head-to-head over Unionville's Paul Springer by 11 seconds, running 14:58. At the 3.0 MCQUAID INVITATIONAL in New York, it was a perfect day for some fast times. The fastest PA time of the day came from a freshman from Notre Dame Green Pond (Easton), as Allison Constant ran 18:04. Bradford's Sarah Lonzi ran 18:15. In the boy's races, Smethport senior Ben Hahn ran 15:13.6. North East finished 2nd in the team competition. The Strath Haven girls took on the tough Hereford 3.0 course in Maryland at the BULL RUN INVITATIONAL and came away with a 2nd place in the Medium Schools race. The Meadville boys took the top three spots and put four in the top 16 to win the COCHRANTON INVITATIONAL. Zac Ross ran 15:49. The Meadville girls captured 2nd to Titusville. Titusville's Laura Koller won in 19:54. At the COUNCIL ROCK INVITATIONAL, the host North boys dominated by placing four in the top nine behind the 16:38 by Matt Wikler. Josh Izewski of Central Bucks East took 1st in 16:02. Sarah Simonetti continued her wins with a solo 18:38 to lead her Pennridge team to the title by two points over Central Bucks South. At the MERCERSBURG ACADEMY INVITATIONAL, James Finucane took 3rd for the hosts. Anne Spencer was 14th for the host girls. Both teams finished 9th. Cedar Cliff took a drive to Bloomsburg and came away with team gold in both the girls' and boys' races at the NORTHEAST INVITATIONAL. Kassie Meholick led thei girls with a 4th place 19:17 on the challenging course while the boys were led by the 16:53.0 of Jared McGahen. Lakeland senior Mark Bucklaw won in 16:13.0, edging Crestwood sophomore Robert Micikas by less than a second.

9/23 WKND: Radnor rolls|Walker,Hahn@S-ville|NY+NJ top PSU|Gibson 5th@GA|Beegle in VA|Carly 18:18|PIX Don Rich Sep 22, 2006

9/23 HIGHLIGHTS: The Radnor girls revved up for their trip to NY next weekend by nearly sweeping the Small Schools race at the BULLDOG INV @ Rose Tree Park with a 28-sec spread, while Conestoga's Hannah Kligman tore up the course in 18:14 in the Small Schools race. Bethany Walker and Ben Hahn win at the SHARPESVILLE INV. NY's Saratoga Springs girls and NJ's Colts Neck boys dominate individual and team racing at the SPIKED SHOE INV, where Trevor Vanackeren of Liberty was 2nd. Neshannock's Kacey Gibson was 5th in the Race of Champions at GREAT AMERICAN. At Penn State-Altoona in the LION INV, Carly Seymour led her Central Cambria team to the win with her course record. Gettyburg's Bryan Beegle ran the best time of the day in winning his race at the WILLIAM & MARY INV in VA. The Mt. Lebanon girls won, but the boys were four short of Seneca Valley at the NORTHERN INV. Bradford dominated the team competiton at their home BRADFORD INVITATIONAL. Sarah Lonzi defended her home mud in a course record-tying 19:10. The Boyertown boys team took the top two spots at the CONRAD WEISER INVITATIONAL, with Boyertown senior Jason Weller leading the way. But Owen J Roberts squeaked by in the team scores. North Penn was led to victory by the 1st place of Jennifer Schofield. At the LACKAWANNA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' INV, Lakeland Mark Bucklaw and Kyle Pepson were 1-2, but Bishop O'Hara took the next three spots and won the team title. Honesdale won the girls' title.

9/16 WKND: Seymour rocks Altoona|Emmaus big @ N Leh|Aldrich sub-16 @ Briarwood|NA Pack-Attack|PIX! Don Rich Sep 15, 2006

HIGHLIGHTS: Central Cambria\'s Carly Seymour toured the tough ALTOONA course in a record 17:53. Emmaus sophomore Lindsey Graybill led her team to a dominating win at the NORTHERN LEHIGH . At BRIARWOOD at Belmont Plateau, West Chester Henderson came up short against NY\'s Chaminade, but Chris Aldrich went 15:58. Conestoga\'s Hannah Kligman had 30-seconds on the competiton by the mile and ran the best time of the day at 19:40. At the SLIPPERY ROCK INVITATIONAL Neshannock\'s Kacey Gibson and Avonworth\'s Lucas Zarzeczny won the AA races, the fastest tims of the day. The 27-second spread pack-attack from the North Allegheny guys dominated the AAA race. The Lebo girls won AAA, while General McLane swept AA. Jason Weller\'s 16:06 leads all runners in leading his team to a win at the CHRIS FRETZ INV where the Perk Valley girls defended home turf. Noelle Blank and Samantha Bower lead Greensburg-Salem with top finishes at the BOARDMAN OH SPARTAN INV. CB West took CB East and CB South in their CENTRAL BUCKS INV. On the muddy CONNEAUT LAKE 3.2m course, Titusville\'s girls and Cranberry\'s boys were victorious. Seneca girls. Corry boys win @ PENN STATE-BEHREND. Roman Catholic won the CHESTNUT HILL INV behind Geoff Benefield. Lara Crofford and Amanda Raudabaugh led Big Spring to the home win at the BULLDOG INVITATIONAL New York teams invaded the MONTROSE INV, but two PA boys kept them out of the top spots individuallly.

Radnor drops one spot in first week of NTN rankings... with most idle. Don Rich Sep 15, 2006

The US#14 Radnor girls, pre-season ranked #4 in the Northeast, were dropped in the first real week of rankings to NE#5 after winning the Centaur Invitational... even though the three teams ahead of them and the one below them saw no action. Reason sited was 5th girls was far back. Coatesville remains NE#1 after dominating the Big Valley and Gettysburg Invitationals on consecutive weekends.

9/9 WKND: XC anyone? Clark wins big, a Coatesville rout|RW&B sees WPIAL reversal|Radnor wins|PIX! Don Rich Sep 08, 2006

PA#1\'s win. Coatesville is the real deal. The Manheim Township girls surprise everyone. Sydney Clark emerges as a new star at GETTYSBURG. Radnor girls win at CENTAUR, as Sarah Simonetti and Jason Weller are victorious. In Pittsburgh at the RED, WHITE & BLUE CLASSIC, it\'s Lucas Zarzeczny over Scott VanKooten and Samantha Bower over cuz Natalie. North Allegheny and Mount Lebo reverse team titles. Plus Henderson at TRIPLE THREAT, Cedar Cliff girls at LEBANON VALLEY, Carley Seymor shows off her team at FOREST HILLS... plus coverage of the CLIFF ROBBINS MEMORIAL, MILL STREET RUN, Paul Springer at CENTRAL BUCKS EAST, Kacey Gibson at BIG RED, Haverford Township boys\' at ABINGTON, Lancaster Mennonite at the TWIN VALLEY RAIDER RELAYS, and Ambridge at the CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PA INVITATIONAL.

Photo Galleries from Viking, Big Valley, McDowell + Video from Shamokin Don Rich Sep 02, 2006

Five Photo Galleries and Select Pix by Don Rich of the 9/1 John Sharp Viking Invitational @ Tamanend Park... Five Photo Galleries and Select Pix by Karen Ward of the 9/2 Big Valley Invitational @ Indian Valley Middle School... and Seven Photo Galleries by Carl Strub of the 9/2 McDowell Invitational. Plus Craig Lowthert Video from the Shamokin Purple & White

Coatesville US#4, Radnor US#14 - and Speare, Woodruff look to make impact in 2006... Don Rich Aug 28, 2006

The 2006 Harrier Top 25 was released today, and PA#1, NE#1 Coatesville\'s boys are ranked #4 in the US. For the girls, PA#1, NE#7 Radnor\'s girls are ranked US#14. Well-deserved. Now it\'s time to run the races.... And today I got to my first of two scrimmages, and saw two athletes who have improved from this past spring... Rob Speare of Strath Haven, and Alycia Woodruff of West Chester East.

New PIAA State Champs course won\'t be ready for a pre-states... but... Don Rich Aug 25, 2006

PIAA Associate Executive Director Dr. Robert Lombardi said today that a hoped-for race opportunity on the newly designed Hershey Parkview XC course will not be possible for 2006. But, he says, the PIAA is still trying to work out details for an inspectiion/walkthrough/workout opportunity weeks in advance of the state championships. Cover photo: the first kinda nasty hill is right at 1600 meters