This week’s notebook highlights Wissahickon’s Lotte Black and Hatboro-Horsham’s Casey Comber and includes the SOL’s top performers.
By Scott Huff
Wissahickon sophomore Lotte Black may not know how good she really is, but the defending Suburban One League American Conference runner is good – very good.
“Lotte doesn’t know how good a runner is she or really how good she is capable of being,” said Wissahickon head cross country coach Heidi Butt. “I have to sit down with her every once in a while to set goals. We are getting to the part of the season with the league meet, the district meet, and the state meet coming up the next few weeks.
“Lotte has the natural ability to compete at a high level,” added Butt. “She is very easy to be around, very easy to coach, and has the work ethic to be able to work hard alone.”
Black ran a wonderful race Wednesday as she collected a first place finish and just missed the Wissahickon course record of 18:33 set by Trojan grad Erin Franklin (2001).
“Lotte is running at a pace as a sophomore that has been run by some of the recent legends in Wissahickon cross country,” said Butt. “Erin Franklin (Wake Forest) – Paige Miller (Duke-2000) – some of the best in the school history. That is quite an accomplishment.”
Black is the odds-on-favorite to repeat as SOL American Conference champion – although nothing is being taken for granted.
“Barring injury or illness, she should do very well at the league meet,” said Butt. “And she should also do well at districts and be able to return to states this year.”
“My expectations are to win at the league meet and be able to qualify again for states,” said Black. “I finished 37th at districts last year, and I hope to be able to improve on that this year.
“Right now, I get a chance to train with the boys team in order to get ready for the big meets at the end of the year,” added Black. “I love competition, and running with the boys is a challenge because of the pace that they run.
“I think I get my competitiveness from my family,” continued Black who has both a younger sister and brother. “We all compete at all kind of things – and none of us likes to lose.”
And don’t look for Black to lose on October 18at the Suburban One League American Conference championships.
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Hatboro-Horsham junior Casey Comber had himself one great prep for the upcoming championship meets with a first place finish in a tri-meet with Souderton and Central Bucks East on Wednesday. In the event, the Hatters bested Souderton 15-49 and CB East 25-30.
Comber set a course record with a clocking of 15:43, which broke the 2009 record recorded by Matt Kaycon. And in the record setting performance, Comber also edged highly touted sophomore Jake Brophy of Central Bucks East. Brophy clocked in just a second behind Comber at 15:44.
“Casey is an unbelievable competitor,” said Hatboro-Horsham head coach Russ Coleman. “I think that Casey learned a lot about cross country running with Connor Quinn the last few years. Connor (who runs at Penn State this year) had a great work ethic and a strategy for the race that Casey seems to follow.
“Casey has high expectations,” added Coleman. “And he seems to be running his best at the right time of year. He wants to be successful, and he is excited about his chances to compete in the league meet, districts, and hopefully again at states.”
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The following statistics are provided by the website MilesSplit.us – Penn Track XC. Listed are the top 3 runners – female & male - from the Suburban One League. All times are recorded from invitational events run thus far this 2013 season. The ranking in the state is listed in the [x].
Class of the Class 2013 – Seniors
Girls: Kaelyn Heinicke (Council Rock North) [11]; Brianna Mengini (North Penn) [17]; Erica Gray (Pennsbury) [25].
Boys: Ross Wilson (Council Rock North) [9]; Austin Cooper (Upper Merion) [27]; Tristan Marcelis (Wissahickon) [39].
Class of the Class 2013 – Juniors
Girls: Marissa Sheva (Pennridge) [2]; Ali Valenti (North Penn) [5]; Elizabeth Morris (Central Bucks East) [6].
Boys: Casey Comber (Hatboro-Horsham) [9]; Brian Arita (Council Rock North) [29]; Connor Sands (Central Bucks East) [31].
Class of the Class 2013 – Sophomores
Girls: Elizabeth Huuki (Central Bucks East) [6]; Lotte Black (Wissahickon) [7]; Maddie Villalba (Central Bucks West) [10].
Boys: Jake Brophy (Central Bucks East) [1]; Lukas Marcelis (Wissahickon) [9]; Eli Segal (William Tennent) [33].
Class of the Class 2013 – Freshman
Girls: Tate Dawson (Central Bucks East) [3]; Hannah Morris (Central Bucks East) [9]; Syndi Stovall (Springfield) [22].|
Boys: Brian Mass (Central Bucks West) [31].
The following statistics are provided by the website Miles.Split.us – Penn Track XC. Listed are the top 5 teams from each conference and the top 5 runners – female & male – from each conference.
Suburban One League National Conference
Female Teams: Pennsbury; Council Rock North; Council Rock South; William Tennent; and Bensalem.
Female Individuals: Kaelyn Heinicke (CR North); Oliva Sargent (Pennsbury); Erica Gray (Pennsbury); Kelsey Brady (CR South); and Hannah Molloy (Pennsbury).
Male Teams: Council Rock North; William Tennent; Council Rock South; Abington; and Bensalem.
Male Individuals: Ross Wilson (CR North); Brian Arita (CR North); Kyle Francis (Bensalem); Mike Kane (William Tennent); and Robert Simmons (CR North).
Suburban One League Continental Conference
Female Teams: Central Bucks East; North Penn; Central Bucks West; Pennridge; and Souderton.
Female Individuals: Marissa Sheva (Pennridge); Elizabeth Huuki (CB East); Ali Valenti (North Penn); Tate Dawson (CB East); and Maddie Villalba (CB West).
Male Teams: Pennridge; Central Bucks East; Central Bucks West; Hatboro-Horsham, and Quakertown.
Male Individuals: Jake Brophy (CB East); Casey Comber (Hatboro-Horsham); Joey Logue (Pennridge); Connor Sands (CB East); and Alexander Balla (Quakertown).
Suburban One League American Conference
Female Teams: Upper Dublin; Upper Merion; Wissahickon; Plymouth Whitemarsh; and Cheltenham.
Female Individuals: Lotte Black (Wissahickon); Lucille Ionescu (Upper Dublin); Coleen Butler (Upper Merion); Zeinab Bakklah (Upper Merion); and Adelle Ionescu (Upper Dublin).
Male Teams: Upper Merion; Wissahickon; Plymouth Whitemarsh; Upper Dublin; and Cheltenham.
Male Individuals: Austin Cooper (Upper Merion); Tristan Marcelis (Wissahickon); Lukas Marcelis (Wissahickon); Dan Shalala (Plymouth Whitemarsh); and Zakaria Khattabi (Upper Merion).
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