Denny Dyroff recaps the SOL Boys’ Cross Country Championships at Lehigh University on Friday.
By DENNY DYROFF
LOWER SAUCON -- The Suburban One League will be well-represented by its three individual conference champions at next week’s District One Class AAA Cross Country Championships -- Bensalem’s Rahi Shah, Wissahickon’s Lukas Marcelis and Central Bucks East’s Jake Brophy.
Leading the way will be Brophy, who successfully defended his title at Friday’s Suburban One League Continental Conference Championships. Brophy was one of five runners who ran sub-16:00 races on the course at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus -- but he did it 25 seconds faster than any of the others.
Brophy’s winning time was 15:07. Central Bucks West’s Rock Fortna was runner-up at 15:32 followed by 
Souderton’s Connor McMenamin (15:44), Central Bucks West’s Brian Iatarola (15:54) and Central Bucks South’s Matthew Scarpill (15:58).
Brophy, who won gold medals at the conference, district and state championship meets last year, was the runaway favorite to defend his conference crown.
“I couldn’t afford to take it easy today,” said Brophy, a national-caliber runner. “Anyone can have a good day. And, I knew that Rock (Fortna) and Connor (McMenamin) would run well today.
“I was shooting for 15-flat today so I was happy with my time. My p.r. (personal record) was 15:08. The mile today was around 4:47. I think I maintained the same pace the whole way. In hindsight, I think I should have gotten out a little faster.
“Being the defending champion was extra motivation. The best part of my race was the first mile. It felt nice to just get out. I hadn’t gone all out like that before in any race this season.”
Fortna, also a senior, said, “Everything went as planned. I can’t complain. It’s a fast course and I dropped 12 seconds off my p.r. Jake is an extremely talented runner. It’s motivation to see how long I can stay with him.
“Today, he was ahead the whole time. He went out hard. Once he got away, I was racing for second. I had Brian (Iatarola) at my side and we did the best we could for the team. We won it last year and had another undefeated season this year. So, we knew it was ours for the taking as long as we worked hard.”
West placed all of its scorers in the top nine to win the meet with 29 points while Central Bucks East was second with 63. The Bucks’ other scorers were Ben Smullen (sixth), Declan McDonald (eight) and Brian Mass (ninth). Rounding out the Top 10 were Central Bucks East’s Joshua Goetz (seventh) and Hatboro Horsham’s Jared Bixler (10th).
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The best finish of the day came in the National Conference race when Shah sprinted past Neshaminy’s Rusty Kujdych at the very end. Shah clocked a 15:52 while Kujdych posted a time of 15:53.
“I tried to stay with the lead pack with the Pennsbury runner (Eric Kersten) and the runner from Neshaminy (Kujdych),” said Shah, a senior. “I was with them for the first two miles. They started throwing surges in the second mile. With 500 (meters) to go, I was tied with Eric, and Rusty was starting to go.
“I got past Eric on the last big hill and then got Rusty in the last 30 meters. I’m sure he heard me coming. On that last surge, I saw him starting to slow up and I went for it. It was my best kick of the year. It was a great feeling to win.”
Council Rock North captured the title with 37 points followed by William Tennent with 73 and Pennsbury with 76. North’s scorers were Ben Heintz (fifth), Tim Haas (sixth), Ryan Campbell (seventh), Bryan Keller (eighth) and Ethan Koza (11th).
Other individual Top 10 finishers were Council Rock South’s Joe Maguire (third), Pennsbury’s Kersten (fourth) and William Tennent’s Sean Rahill (ninth) and Evan Huton (10th).
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Marcelis, a Wissahickon senior, returned home from the Lehigh Valley with a pair of American Conference gold medals. One was the individual medal he won when he crossed first with a time of 16:08 -- 25 seconds faster than runner-up Riley Hannon from Upper Dublin.
The other gold was awarded as part of the Trojans’ title-winning team performance. Wissahckon snagged the championship trophy with 32 points while Cheltenham was second with 49 and Upper Dublin third with 54.
“This is usually a good meet for me,” said Marcelis. “I won it last year, was third as a sophomore and seventh as a freshman. It was a very relaxed race for me today. It felt good. I was comfortable. I wanted to be under 16:00 but I was a little over that.
“The first mile was pretty slow -- 5:02. I was running with the Upper Dublin kid (Hannon) and my teammate Andy Harman. I started going at around a mile-and-a-half and no one came with me. By the end of the second mile, I knew I was going to win.”
The Trojans put their five scorers in the top 15 -- Marcelis (first), Harman (third), Ben Hoyer (sixth), Cameron Christopher (seventh) and Matt Maiale (15th).
Individuals filling out the Top 10 were Upper Dublin’s Hannon (second) and Danny Michels (10th), Upper Merion’s Noah Falasco (fourth) and Cheltenham’s Wolfgang Schanbacher (fifth), Will Griffen (eighth) and Andrew Crosby (ninth).
National Conference (Top 20)
1. Rahi Shah* Bens 15:52
2. Rusty Kujdych* Nesh 15:53
3. Joe Maguire* CRS 16:08
4. Eric Kersten* Penns 16:09
5. Ben Heintz* CRN 16:16
6. Tim Haas* CRN 16:16
7. Ryan Campbell* CRN 16:24
8. Bryan Keller* CRN 16:26
9. Sean Rahill WT 16:33
10. Evan Hutton WT 16:34
11. Ethan Koza CRN 16:39
12. Sam Earley CRN 16:46
13. Dylan McHenry WT 16:48
14. Christian Troemel Aton 16:50
15. Ryan Merriman Pbury 16:53
16. Matt Kraus WT 16:54
17. Andrew Zawodniak CRS 16:55
18. Jorge Linares Pbury 17:00
19. Thomas Wish Pbury 17:07
20. Dan Mink Pbury 17:10
*National Elites
National Conference Team Standings
1. Council Rock North 37
2. William Tennent 73
3. Pennsbury 76
4. Council Rock South 103
5. Abington 128
6. Bensalem 150
7. Neshaminy 153
Continental Conference (Top 20)
1. Jake Brophy* CBE 15:07
2. Rock Fortna* CBW 15:32
3. Connor McMenamin* Ston 15:44
4. Brian Iatarola* CBW 15:54
5. Matthew Scarpill* CBS 15:58
6. Ben Smullen* CBW 16:01
7. Joshua Goetz* CBE 16:02
8. Declan McDonald* CBW 16:14
9. Brian Mass* CBW 16:15
10. Jared Bixler HH* 16:16
11. Matthew Allen* HH 16:17
12. Brendan O’Toole* NP 16:23
13. David Endres CBE 16:31
14. Joe Breen Ston 16:33
15. Tucker Desko Pridge 16:35
16. Hudson Delisle Qtown 16:37
17. Logan Mazullo CBW 16:44
18. William Schulz CBE 16:44
19. Alec Hofer CBW 16:46
20. Colin Grace NP 16:48
*National Elites
Continental Conference Team Standings
1. Central Bucks West 29
2. Central Bucks East 63
3. Hatboro-Horsham 102
4. North Penn 108
5. Pennridge 137
6. Souderton 143
7. Quakertown 171
American Conference (Top 20)
1. Lukas Marcelis* Wiss 16:08
2. Riley Hannon UD 16:33
3. Andy Harman Wiss 16:37
4. Noah Falasco UMer 16:45
5. Wolfgang Schanbacher Chelt 16:47
6. Ben Hoyer Wiss 16:52
7. Cameron Christopher Wiss 16:58
8. Will Griffen Chelt 17:03
9. Andrew Crosby Chelt 17:06
10. Danny Michels UD 17:06
11. CJ Young Chelt 17:13
12. Troy Green UD 17:14
13. Drew Ilik UD 17:15
14. Doug Luba PW 17:17
15. Matt Maiale Wiss 17:25
16. Asad Grant Chelt 17:32
17. Dylan Ross UD 17:35
18. Jacob Fields Chelt 17:37
19. Josh Zimmerman Wiss 17:38
20. Will Christensen Chelt 17:50
American Conference Team Standings
1. Wissahickon 32
2. Cheltenham 49
3. Upper Dublin 54
4. Upper Merion 117
5. Plymouth Whitemarsh 118
6. Upper Moreland 177
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