Scott Huff previews Saturday’s PIAA state championship meet.
By Scott Huff
A fine contingent of runners from the Suburban One League will be making the trek to Chocolate Town to compete in this Saturday’s PIAA state championship meet in Hershey. And any capturing of medals would be sweet.
There are a pair of teams from the SOL in competition for the girls championshipas both Pennsbury and Central Bucks East qualified by virtue of their team performances at the District One championship meet held at Lehigh University last week. The Falcons (56 points) captured a second place finish behind first place Unionville (39), while the Patriots finished in fourth place (163).
The top seven runners from each school are needed to qualify for a team championship.
The Pennsbury team consisted of Olivia Sargent (sophomore - # 3 finish); Hannah Molloy (soph. – 5); Erica Gray (sr. – 15); Maddie Sauer (soph. – 16); Merideth Towomey (soph. – 17); Bailey Balmer (soph. – 33); and Anna Croser (jr. – 132).
The Central Bucks East team consisted of Tate Dawson (fresh. – 7); Elizabeth Morris (jr. – 25); Megan Willcoxen (sr. 31); Hannah Morris (fresh. – 38); Jackie Kinhead (jr. – 62); Louise Huuki (sr. 65); Elizabeth Huuki (soph. – 70).
Central Bucks East head coach Sam Losorelli says: “This is the second time in school history that we were able to take a girls team to states, and the girls are very excited. District One is a great district, and the two teams we placed behind in districts will be the two teams that are going to be the favorites out at states. Both Unionville and Pennsbury should run well again – and I think that we can place right behind them. Senior Megan Willcoxen has shown great leadership, and both the Morris sisters (Elizabeth & Hannah) and the Huuki (Louise & Elizabeth) girls have been very good. Of course, Tate Dawson has become our strongest runner, and Jackie Kinhead is important for us to be a good team from top to bottom.”
There are a pair of teams from the SOL in competition for the boys championshipas both Council Rock North and Pennsbury qualified by virtue of their team performances at the District One championship meet held at Lehigh University last week. The Indians (200 points) finished in third place behind first place West Chester Henderson (60) and Conestoga (173), while the Falcons finished in fourth place (297).
The Council Rock North team consisted of Ross Wilson (sr. – 2nd place); Brian Arita (jr. – 27); Robbie Simmons (sr. – 32); Sean Grisword (jr. – 46); Jesse Lautman (jr. 93); Tim Hass (fresh – 176); and Ben Heintz (soph. – 178).
The Pennsbury team consisted of Sam Webb (jr. – 8); Alex Sauer (jr. – 26); Liam O’Connell (sr. - 42); Dan Tokar (jr. – 70); Thomas Wick (soph. – 151); Dan Mink (fresh. – 219); and Grant Shaporo (soph. – 220).
Council Rock North head coach Dave Marrington says: “Our goal every August is to be able to take a full team out to states, and we’re thrilled that it happened again this year. We would like to compete and be one of the top five teams in the state. It looks like either West Chester Henderson or North Allegheny will be at the top with Cardinal O’Hara right behind them. The key to any cross country team is how the fifth runner finishes. Ross Wilson is going to somewhere near the top, while Brian Arita, Robbie Simmons, and Sean Griswold should be strong. Jesse Lautman, Tim Hass, and Ben Heintz have been very good and fifth through seventh runners, and we’ll just have to wait and see how we run on Saturday.”
There were 20 girls from the Suburban One League that finished in the Top 40 from the District One championship meet and will compete for the individual Class AAA championship.
3. Olivia Sargent – Pennsbury - sophomore
5. Hannah Molloy – Pennsbury - sophomore
7. Tate Dawson – Central Bucks East – freshman
8. Kaelyn Heinicke – Council Rock North – senior
9. Marissa Sheva – Pennridge – junior
11. Maddie Villalba – Central Bucks West – junior
13. Kaitlin Poiesz – Central Bucks South – senior
15. Erica Gray – Pennsbury – senior
16. Maddie Sauer – Pennsbury – sophomore
17. Merideth Towomey – Pennsbury – sophomore
18. Lotte Black – Wissahickon – sophomore
19. Brianna Mengini – North Penn – senior
25. Elizabeth Morris – Central Bucks East – junior
26. Lindsey Gerlach – Central Bucks West – junior
27. Phoebe Clowser – North Penn – junior
29. Brynee Mulloy – Central Bucks South – junior
31. Megan Willcoxen – Central Bucks East – senior
33. Bailey Balmer – Pennsbury – sophomore
35. Melanie Vlasic – North Penn – senior
38. Hannah Morris – Central Bucks East – freshman
Pennridge junior Marissa Sheva says: “I feel a lot better (recovering from mononucleosis) than I did last week as far as the sickness goes, now it is all about getting back in shape. I was really excited about the way that I ran last week at districts (9th place finish) with an 18:27, and I’m even more excited about running at states. This, of course, was not the best time of year to be coming back from an illness, but at least it isn’t spring track. I will be much more aggressive this week than I was last week – I feel better and I know better what I can do. I have an idea of where I would like to finish at states – let’s just say that I will run better than I did at districts.”
There were 19 boys from the Suburban One League that finished in the Top 46 from the District One championship meet and will compete for the individual Class AAA championship.
2. Ross Wilson – Council Rock North – senior
4. Jake Brophy – Central Bucks East – sophomore
8. Sam Webb – Pennsbury – junior
9. Casey Comber – Hatboro-Horsham – junior
13. Kyle Francis – Bensalem – senior
14. Alexander Balla – Quakertown – senior
15. Ryan Grace – North Penn – senior
20. Dan Shalala – Plymouth Whitemarsh – senior
25. Austin Cooper – Upper Merion – senior
26. Alex Sauer – Pennsbury – junior
27. Brian Arira – Council Rock North – junior
29. Ryan Tung – North Penn – junior
32. Robert Simmons – Council Rock North – senior
35. Joey Logue – Pennridge – senior
41. Andrew Hannah – Council Rock South – sophomore
42. Liam O’Connell – Pennsbury – senior
43. Steven Davis – Bensalem – senior
44. Jesse Coleman – William Tennent – senior
46. Sean Griswold – Council Rock North – junior
Council Rock senior Ross Wilson says: “I am really excited about running this week in states. I don’t feel that I ran my best race last week (second place finish) and I have higher expectations at states. The top five runners in the race will all be about 5-10 seconds apart at the end of the race, and I hope to be in that pack. The course at Hershey is more difficult than the one at Lehigh with the hills, but I train and run well on hills. I want to get out faster – faster than last week – and a goal would be to finish at least in the top three.”
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