By Alex Frazier
The road toward another state title began Friday for the North Penn boys at the Suburban One League Championships.
If Brad Miles’ and his teammates’ performance at Goodman Field on the campus of Lehigh University is any indication, they are well on their way.
Miles led the Continental Conference field from wire to wire, finishing with the fastest time in all three conferences as he clocked a 15:38.
Six Knights finished in the top 20 overall.
“They ran well,” said coach Ron Jaros. “They ran relaxed. For most of them, it was a PR from last year.”
“Our team just packed it up and ran hard all together,” said Miles. “So we know what we can do at states.”
Council Rock South senior Sean Keefe kept North Penn from sweeping the top three times of the day. Keefe, who won the National Conference race, turned in a second best time behind Mills of 15:43.
“The time was pretty good,” said Keefe, who came into the meet undefeated in the National Conference. “It was a PR. I maybe wanted a couple of more seconds, but it was windy.”
A four-year runner for the Golden Hawks, Keefe almost considers Lehigh his home course.
“I think we added it up and I ran my home course one more time,” he said. “We feel comfortable here.”
Miles ran with Sam Bernitt, Brian Quintrell and Dominic Camasso for the first mile as they led the way for the rest of the conference. But he broke from the group just after the mile mark.
“I felt pretty good, so I just picked it up a little bit,” he said. “I wanted to be in the low 15:30s. I’m running pretty strong right now, but place was more important because our team just wanted to run really hard today.”
Miles, a junior, is just a second year runner, having converted from soccer. He ran the course twice last year.
“I was planning on playing soccer in 10th grade, but the guys convinced me to run,” he said. “I didn’t make any final decision until the day of practice. I have no regrets at all. I love the sport.”
His previous experience with running had been in track, which he started in seventh grade.
“I got a taste of it last year,” he said. “I like this course. It’s fast. It was a little windy today. At certain points you were running into a headwind, which slows you down a bit, but it wasn’t too much of a factor today.”
Upper Dublin took the top three spots in the American Conference.
Mike Palmisano, Paul Reilly and Matt Lorenzo took a lead on the rest of the field by the mile mark.
“Pretty much all year they’ve been running together,” said Cardinal coach Paul Vandegrift. “It was not an unusual result there.”
“We just wanted to run as a pack and whatever your feelings were just go for it,” said Palmisano, who finished first in 16:01. “I felt all right. At the end I was just cruising in.”
His PR is 15:40.
“I was hoping for a big drop,” he said.
A four-year runner, Palmisano finished second last year.
Next week, Upper Dublin is hoping to be one of the five teams to make it to states. North Penn and Council Rock North will most likely be shoo-ins to go. Perkiomen Valley will be another team contending.
“Those are the three teams I’m worried about,” said Vandegrift. “Obviously North Penn because they have a very good top five and Perk Valley has three really strong guys up front. And (Council Rock North coach) Dave Marrington is always able to put it together at the end.”
Suburban One League Cross Country Championships
Team standings (in order of running)
Continental Conference
1. North Penn 28
2. Hatboro-Horsham 82
3. Pennridge 84
4. C.B. East 100
5. C.B. South 104
6. C.B. West 118
7. Souderton 147
National Conference
1. Council Rock North 28
2. Bensalem 61
3. Council Rock South 67
4. Abington 85
5. Neshaminy 136
6. William Tennent 144
7. Pennsbury 190
American Conference
1. Upper Dublin 16
2. Wissahickon 84
3. Cheltenham 92
4. Springfield110
5. Upper Moreland 111
6. Plymouth Whitemarsh 113
7. Upper Merion 198
8. Norristown 240
Individual results (including all conferences)
1. Brad Miles, North Penn, 15:38
2. Sean Keefe, Council Rock South 15:49
3. Sam Bernitt, North Penn, 15:49
3. Dan Wallace, Council Rock North, 15:49
5. Nick Scarpello, C.B. West, 15:58
6. Tom Mallon, C.B. South, 15:59
6. Brian Quintrell, North Penn, 15:59
8. Mike Palmisano, Upper Dublin, 16:01
9. Paul Reilly, Upper Dublin, 16:02
9. Chris Campbell, Council Rock North, 16:02
11. Seth Hibbs, North Penn, 16:04
12. Jordan Dawson, C.B. East, 16:08
12. Jordan Klapatauskas, Bensalem, 16:08
14. Dominic Camasso, North Penn, 16:09
15. Matthew Lorenzo, Upper Dublin, 16:11
16. James Faucette, P, 16:12
17. Keith Comly, C.B. East, 16:18
17. Donnie Noble, Souderton, 16:18
19. Brian Kuntzman, North Penn, 16:19
20. Bryan Schwoebel, Abington, 16:20
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