By Alex Frazier
Once again this year the Suburban One League showed that it is one of the toughest leagues in District One as well as across the state.
The SOL took the top three places and five of the top 10 in District One. North Penn won the district again with Council Rock North coming in second and Upper Dublin, third. Pennridge was ninth and Hatboro-Horsham rounded out the top 10.
Ten of the top 20 individuals were from the SOL. Although the league didn’t place any runners in the top four, Council Rock North’s Dan Wallace led a group of four runners that finished fifth (Wallace), sixth (Brad Miles, North Penn), seventh (Sam Bernitt, North Penn), and eighth (Sean Keefe, Council Rock South).
Also among the top 20 were Upper Dublin’s Mike Palmisano (10th), North Penn’s Brian Quintrell (11th), Hatboro-Horsham’s Seth Hibbs (15th), Upper Dublin’s Paul Reilly (16th) and Matthew Lorenzo (17th) and Council Rock North’s Chris Campbell (20th).
And at the state level, three SOL teams finished in the top six. North Penn won its second straight title, while Upper Dublin finished fifth and Council Rock North, sixth.
Three SOL runners took home medals; Brad Miles (North Penn) finished seventh, Sam Bernitt (North Penn) was 10th and Dan Wallace (Council Rock North) was 13th.
Cardinals clipped – Paul Vandegrift was expecting a stronger finish for his Upper Dublin team, even though the Cardinals equaled last year’s fifth-place finish at states.
“It was not quite the finish I hoped for,” he said.
It was just the second time Upper Dublin had qualified a team to states in school history.
At leagues Upper Dublin won the American Conference and a week later dropped their average time on the Lehigh course by seven seconds to take third.
At one point at the beginning of the season, Upper Dublin was ranked first in the state, primarily based on the fact that the Cardinals had lost just one senior in the top five. No. 1 runner Mike Palmisano, Matt Lorenzo, Paul Reilly and Pat Reilly were all returning.
“It just adds to the ambivalence,” said Vandegrift. “There was no reason to think that we shouldn’t be first.”
But on second thought added, “No reason why we shouldn’t have been at least second. North Penn was really consistent and ran with confidence.”
In the pre-state meet at Hershey at the end of September, his runners had an opportunity to run the state course. As it turned out, in that race they averaged four seconds faster than at states.
Vandegrift had a couple of possible explanations for the sub-par performance.
Palmisano, who had been consistent all year, had an off race at states. Vandegrift expected him to finish in the top 10, and he was on target to do that when he was in eighth place at the two-mile mark. But near the end he collapsed and only with great effort managed to finish 21st.
Vandegrift placed some of the blame on the course.
“It wasn’t so much the hills,” he said, “but that it is so much harder than the other courses we run.”
He noted that the course couldn’t handle the number of runners on it. With so many runners and so many tight turns, a runner can get trapped and not be able to move out.
“It’s not really an excuse,” he said, “but the course could be fairer.”
If it was any consolation, the Cardinals did finish ahead of Council Rock North, which had beaten them at districts.
“I was proud of the guys all season,” said Vandegrift. “It’s sad that the guys won’t be able to look back with the pride and closure that they should. The guys worked hard, they really did. Besides states, they were really clicking.”
Vandegrift loses six of his top seven runners to graduation this year.
“Next year will tell if I’m a good coach or not,” he said. “I’ll be starting from scratch.”
On the positive side, the Cardinals won the SOL jayvee race, so he should have some exciting new runners.
“We’ll be decent,” said Vandegrift, “but I don’t know if we’ll make it back to states or not.”
All-league selections –
National Conference
Runner of the Year – Sean Keefe, Council Rock South
First team
Sean Keefe, senior, Council Rock South; Dan Wallace, senior, Council Rock North; Chris Campbell, sophomore, Council Rock North; Kyle Klapatauskas, senior, Bensalem; Brian Schwoebel, senior, Abington; Mike Maloney, junior, Council Rock North; Willie Swinney, junior, Bensalem
Second team
Steve Pope, senior, Council Rock North; Doug Rheiner, senior, Council Rock North; Eleazer Cardosa, junior, Abington; Steve Meckler, senior, Council Rock North; Adam Creamer, senior, Bensalem; Jaison Zachariah, senior, Bensalem; Kyle Moran, sophomore, Abington
Third team
Steve Kandetzke, junior, Council Rock South; Ryan Kirlin, senior, Council Rock South; Hunter Smith, sophomore, Council Rock South; Dan Beck, junior, Council Rock South; Tim Haines, junior, Neshaminy; Connor Simpson, junior, William Tennent
Honorable mention
Phil Wahlman, junior, Council Rock North; Alex Cichitti, sophomore, William Tennent; Jason Reale, senior, Abington; Joe Krawczyk, junior, Bensalem; Jason Caporale, sophomore, Neshaminy; Dan Dreeman, junior, Council Rock South; John Simila, freshman, William Tennent.
Continental Conference
Runner of the Year – Brad Miles, North Penn
Sportsmanship Award – Hatboro-Horsham
First team
Brad Miles, junior, North Penn; Sam Bernitt, junior, North Penn; Nick Scarpello, junior, Central Bucks West; Tom Mallon, junior, Central Bucks South; Brian Quintrell, senior, North Penn; Seth Hibbs, senior, Hatboro-Horsham; Jordan Dawson, senior, Central Bucks East
Second team
Dominic Camasso, senior, North Penn; James Faucette, senior, Pennridge; Keith Comly, junior, Central Bucks East; Donnie Noble, senior, Souderton; Tim Stauring, senior, North Penn; Ryan Knouse, junior, Pennridge; Greg Wesh, senior, Hatboro-Horsham
Third team
Pete Holman, senior, Hatboro-Horsham; Brian Kuntzmann, senior, North Penn; Jeff Dickson, senior, Central Bucks South; Brady Desko, senior, Pennridge; Jarrett Carr, senior, Central Bucks West; Sam Hibbs, freshman, Hatboro-Horsham; Wes Coopersmith, senior, Pennridge
Honorable mention
Alex Izewski, sophomore, Central Bucks East; Nick Olindo, sophomore, Pennridge; Matt Poiesz, senior, Central Bucks South; Wyatt Jones, senior, Central Bucks West; Dave Manion, senior, Central Bucks South; Chris Montague, sophomore, Hatboro-Horsham; Matt Bee, sophomore, Central Bucks West
American Conference
Runner of the Year – Mike Palmisano, Upper Dublin
First team
Mike Palmisano, senior, Upper Dublin; Paul Reilly, senior, Upper Dublin; Matthew Lorenzo, senior, Upper Dublin; Patrick Reilly, senior, Upper Dublin; Matt Finn, Springfield, senior; Sam Stortz, Upper Dublin, senior; Justin Knoebel, Wissahickon, junior
Second team
Stew Conrad, senior, Upper Moreland; Steve Clement, senior, Wissahickon; Dimitric Brailoiu, senior, Cheltenham; Ryan Callahan, sophomore, Cheltenham; Stephen Rowland, senior, Upper Moreland; Paul Choi, senior, Upper Dublin; Sal D’Angelo, junior, Springfield
Third team
Ezra Rothman, senior, Cheltenham; Andrew Gourley, senior, Upper Dublin; Anthony Lancaster, senior, Plymouth Whitemarsh; James O’Toole, senior, Upper Merion; Scott Thistle, senior, Wissahickon; Jason Port, senior, Wissahickon; Sean McAnany, junior, Upper Moreland
Honorable mention
Mike Quinn, junior, Plymouth Whitemarsh; Jake Thornton, sophomore, Plymouth Whitemarsh; Chris Coleman, senior, Cheltenham; Greg Moore, senior, Plymouth Whitemarsh; C.J. Wacker, junior, Plymouth Whitemarsh; Scott Vierick, sophomore, Springfield; Dillon Farrell, sophomore, Wissahickon
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