By Alex Frazier
What was expected to be a close battle for the District One Girls Cross Country Championship proved to be a day in the park for the North Penn girls, who took Council Rock North 116-166.
That, despite an injury that could have been devastating.
North Penn sophomore Heather Selheimer, who finished second in the Continental Conference in last week’s SOL championship, injured her ankle on the course and limped to the line in 19th place. Her time of 18:55 was 12 seconds off last week’s pace.
Clearly, she was distressed after leaving the medical tent.
But freshman Rachel Brown turned it up a notch and finished sixth with a personal best time of 18:34, which was nine seconds faster than Selheimer’s of a week ago.
“Everyone on our team did good,” she said. “I was just trying to stay up with the people who beat me last week. I didn’t want to waste myself at the beginning and then I tried to pick people off as I go.”
Brown said that it helped that she was familiar with the course, having run it for the first time last week.
“I knew where every mile was and how to pace myself,” she said.
Brown had her eye on another freshman, Pennridge’s Tori Gerlach, who ended up finishing 25th.
“She helps push me,” said Brown, who only beat Gerlach last week by a slim second.
Pennridge coach Bill Smith was pleased that Gerlach made states on her first attempt.
“It’s a trip to the state meet,” he said, “and that’s what you want to do here. As a coach, you always want more, but she did good. You can’t predict at this district meet. It was also the first time she ran with 350 kids.”
Unfortunately, Gerlach will be going to states alone, as last year’s qualifiers Nicole Mehlman (51st), Marie McKenna (85th) and Janelle Ketterer (117th) didn’t make the cut.
Upper Dublin freshman Sarah Holl will be one of six SOL freshmen, besides Gerlach, Brown, Pennsbury’s Ann Herman, Hatboro-Horsham’s Casey Uhrich and Central Bucks South’s Rachel Bachman, making their first trip to states.
Holl finished in 13th place in a time of 18:44. A week ago at the league meet she placed second in the American Conference with a time of 19:05.
“It was good,” she said. “I wanted to do a little better than I did.”
Nerves and a huge field may have contributed.
Holl said she didn’t get out fast enough in the mass start.
“It was really hard to move around people,” she said. “I saw a couple of girls fall.”
Nevertheless, she dropped 21 seconds from the previous week.
She credited her time drop with more competition.
“I didn’t want to go out too fast and then pick it up at the end,” she said. “I think I did that.”
One runner who went to states last year won’t be making the trip. Hatboro-Horsham junior Kaylee Irwin finished out of the running in 43rd place (19:19).
“It was a good race,” she said, “but I didn’t do exactly what I wanted to. I got my time from last time, so I can’t complain.”
She improved her time from leagues by six seconds. It was a personal best for the year.
“I got out pretty fast, but they were going really fast,” Irwin said of her start.
After she got her stride, she picked off at least 10 runners in the second mile.
“I’m glad I did that,” she said.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
•••
Boyertown’s Elizabeth Simpson blew the Class AAA field away, finishing in 17:58. But there were three SOL runners trying to chase her down.
Although Plymouth Whitemarsh had hoped for an outside chance to go as a team, they finished a distant 12th. But the Colonials were proud of the effort by second-year runner Katie Gorman, who finished second overall in 18:09, a whopping 33 seconds better than last week.
“I felt real good,” said Gorman. “I’m happy with my time. I’m happy with my place. I’m pretty satisfied overall with today.”
She even came in ahead of Council Rock North’s Lindsay Rheiner, who turned in the best time in all of the Suburban One League last week.
“At the very beginning at the mile, I was in second and then around the stadium, she took over and I was pacing off her,” said Gorman. “In my head, I was pretty much settled that I was going to get third place and then I kind of saw myself picking it up and her not picking it up so much. I was like, ‘I’m going to go for second, I have enough left,’ so I took it right out of the cornfield and just kept going, trying to make up any ground I could on Simpson.”
Gorman has had lots of experience following Simpson in both track and cross country and hopes to use her as a measuring stick next week at states. She finished 40th last year and hopes to move up into medal contention this year.
“It’s good to have her,” said Gorman. “She strings me along with her. It will be nice to have her there next week at states because it’s a big meet and I know this girl. I’m going to try to stick with her and see what I can do.”
It will be Gorman’s last high school cross country race.
“I want to go out with a bang,” she said, “run it all out.”
North Penn’s Christy Cohick was also aiming to beat Rheiner. However, she couldn’t quite keep up with her and had to settle for a fourth place.
Cohick held a slight lead on Rheiner at the mile, but couldn’t hold on.
Still Cohick had to be pleased after finishing near 80th last year.
”I didn’t know what to expect after last week,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how well it was going to go or how many girls were going to be here.”
Actually there were 392 that finished the race.
Needless to say it was a madhouse at the start.
“It’s always the hardest part for me because I’m not a sprinter,” said Cohick. “Everyone else goes out fast and I try to keep up.”
•••
While the top two teams were obvious coming into the race, the next three were not.
Any of six or seven teams could have been going to states.
When the dust cleared, Central Bucks South and William Tennent made the cut. At first, Tennent placed fourth and South was fifth.
But it was discovered that Tennent’s third runner started the race without her singlet, and though she was able to get it on in the course of the race, she was disqualified, and it cost the Panthers a place as South and Tennent flip-flopped places. Fortunately, it didn’t cost them a state berth.
“I would have been heartbroken,” said coach Craig Shapiro, who shouldered the blame for the mistake.
“It was my fault as a coach,” he said. “I need to make sure she has it.”
Results for the Class AAA girls were held up for a long time while the protest was settled.
“There was a lot of drama,” said Shapiro. “It was a lesson. You have to come to the line prepared and with all your gear on and ready to go.”
But he and his team can still be happy because it is the first time in 20 years they qualified for the state meet.
“It’s obviously exciting to make it,” said Shapiro. “The girls ran really well. I was impressed with their times. We had a lot of depth and the top kids ran really well. “
No. 1 Anne Areias finished 20th and No. 2 Jackie Conklin was 27th.
“She had her best race ever,” Shapiro said of Conklin. “In fact all our varsity runners got PRs. That really helped us.”
A good showing at their own invitational and at last week’s SOL race propelled the Panthers to states.
“The girls were ready for today,” said the coach. “
Emily Chappell led Central Bucks South with a 16th place finish in a personal best time of 18:50.
“I kept a good pace for the first mile and then I tried to take off,” she said. “It worked, but I was exhausted at the end. I gave it my all and I’m happy. I wanted to secure my place at states. This race is so large that you have so many girls to run with and it really helps to have that much competition.”
She will be making her third trip to states this year. Her highest finish has been 84th.
Chappell’s goal is to finish in the top 50 this year.
“And feel good about it,” she added.
South doesn’t have any “superstars.” Rather it was the Titans’ depth that contributed to a strong finish.
•••
The North Penn girls will be under the gun next week from the likes of Emmaus and Liberty.
Brown may feel even more pressure, depending on how Selheimer recovers.
“I’m nervous, but I think it will be a good experience and our team should do pretty good,” she said.
“Last year we came in 16th,” said Cohick. “I’m pretty sure it will be much better this year.”
Top five teams
1. North Penn 116
2. Council Rock North 166
3. Downingtown East 251
4. Central Bucks South 356
5. William Tennent 363
Top SOL qualifiers (not including all team members)
1. Katie Gorman, Plymouth Whitemarsh (2nd), 18:09
2. Lindsay Rheiner, Council Rock North (3rd), 18:15
3. Christy Cohick, North Penn (4th), 18:24
4. Rachel Brown, North Penn (6th) 18:34
5. Ann Herman, Pennsbury (8th), 18:35
6. Juliann Fricke, Council Rock North (9th), 18:37
7. Sarah Holl, Upper Dublin (13th), 18:44
8. Emily Chappell, Central Bucks South (16th), 18:50
9. Heather Selheimer, North Penn (19th), 18:55
10. Anne Areias, William Tennent (21st), 18:58
11. Jenny Guidera, Central Bucks East (22nd), 19:01
12. Martina Drew, Neshaminy (24th), 19:04
13. Tori Gerlach, Pennridge (25th), 6:09
14. Alison Ludwick, Pennsbury (26th), 19:05
15. Meg Elgin, Central Bucks East (31st), 19:07
16. Casey Uhrich (Hatboro-Horsham (34th), 19:10
17. Kathleen Stewart, Council Rock South (35th), 19:11
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