This week’s notebook looks at the impact of the internet on cross country and takes a look at the SOL Continental Conference squads.
By DENNY DYROFF
The internet has been accused of creating an information overload– a situation that has permeated many aspects of our lives.
Even scholastic cross country has been affected.
If you go back about a decade, coaches around Pennsylvania could only gauge their competition from other districts by looking at the previous year’s results from the district and state meets and determining which top-scoring runners were underclassmen.
Now, there are numerous websites that will provide readers with more information than they’ll ever need — complete race results from every invitational meet in the state, lists of competitors who have run times meriting national consideration and feature stories about the state’s premier runners from Erie to Ridley and from Wilkes-Barre to Aliquippa.
The sites will even tell you how the state’s top teams — and top runners — are ranked in the region and in the nation. Hey — you can even find results from “virtual meets.”
According to http://pa.milesplit.com’s virtual 2015 Class AAA state meet, Downingtown West’s Aislynn Devlin will be the individual state champion. Pennsbury’s Olivia Sargent will be runner-up and will be joined in the Top 12 by two teammates — Hannah Molloy at fifth and Mary Webb at 12th. And, the Falcons will win the state title — more than 200 points ahead of runner-up Cardinal O’Hara.
“I like going on the web to see who I want to beat,” said Molloy, a Pennsbury senior. “It’s nice because I get to see how people around the country are running. I started looking at the national rankings when I was a sophomore.
“What I read doesn’t really put extra pressure on me individually. It might add some pressure on us as a team. Hopefully, we’ll get back to the Nike Nationals again this year and finish in the top three.”
According to the experts and their computers, Pennsbury is the top-ranked team in Pennsylvania and one of the best in the Northeast Region. The “Saucony Flo 50 Rankings” lists Pennsbury as the 12th-best team in the country.
Last weekend, the Pennsbury girls placed second behind Fayettesville-Manlius (ranked third nationally in the same poll) in the prestigious Eastern State Race at the Manhattan College High School Cross Country Invitational in New York.
Sargent was the Falcons’ top finisher (eighth) followed by Molloy (16th), Webb (23rd), Meridith Twomey (40th) and Maddie Sauer (41st). Sargent, Molloy and Webb all ran times that met the national silver standard.
However, not everyone is enamored with the internet and its glut of cross country running information.
“Personally, I hate the internet,” said Bensalem coach Mary Ellen Malloy. “I think the kids get over-infatuated with it. They’re more concerned with who is doing what than they are with what they should be doing.
“I’ve heard that somebody has rankings that go 5,000 deep. Who cares? I tell my kids not to even bother with the internet. How can you compare the course at Mill Street with the course at Van Cortlandt Park? It only makes sense for a runner to compare rimes on the same course from year-to-year.” Oh yeah — this weekly notebook is ranked seventh in the state, 12thin the region and 23rdnationally — LOL!
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With just over a week remaining until the Suburban One League Championships, it’s time to recap some of the highlights for each of the SOL teams so far this year.
This week, we’ll review the Continental Conference.
Central Bucks East— The Patriots have produced good efforts all season. Jake Brophy won gold medals at the Viking Invitational, in the Championship race at Briarwood and at the Foundation meet. The boys’ team took first at Quad and Briarwood, third at Viking and sixth at Foundation.
The girls were second at the Viking Invitational (with Tate Dawson second and Hannah Morris third), third at the Quad-X meet, fourth at the Foundation meet (Dawson, eighth; Morris, 10th) and fifth in the Briarwood Championship race.
Central Bucks West— The CB West boys posted wins over Hatboro-Horsham and North Penn in the final meet of the regular season to log their second consecutive perfect Continental Conference regular season, The Bucks now have won 14 straight dual meets.
This season, the Bucks’ top individuals are a pair of state-caliber runners — Maddie Villalba, who was second the Championship race at Briarwood, eighth at the PTXC7 and ninth in the Paul Short Invitational Brown Race; and Rock Fortna, who was gold medalist last weekend at the 60th Annual William Tennent Invitational and silver medalist in both the Championship Race at Briarwood and the Viking Invitational.
The boys logged team victories at the Viking Invitational, the Briarwood Championship, the Council Rock Invitational and the William Tennent Invitational while the girls took third at both the PTXC7 and the Briarwood Championship.
Central Bucks South— CB South finished third in the girls’ race at the Council Rock Invitational while the boys’ squad placed eighth. Individually, the Titans were led by Matthew Scarpill, who crossed in fourth place at the Rock Invitational
Hatboro-Horsham— The Hatters’ boys’ team finished fourth at last weekend’s William Tennent Invitational with 131 points and was topped only by a trio of some of the best teams in the SOL — Central Bucks West (37), Council Rock North (95) and William Tennent (129). Hatboro-Horsham was led by Matthew Allen, who finished in eighth place.
Earlier in the season, they placed fifth at the Briarwood Invitational’s elite event — the Championship Race.
In the girls’ portion of the 60th Annual William Tennent Invitational, Hatboro-Horsham’s Alyssa Quinn came through with an impressive bronze medal finish. The Hatters posted a Top 10 finish in the team standings when they placed ninth. They were the fifth-best finisher from District 1 Class AAA.
North Penn— North Penn’s girls’ squad has been producing strong team showings at big invitational meets all season. At the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational in central New Jersey, the Maidens took first place in the team standings and the top three places in the individual standings.
Ariana Gardizy snagged the gold medal, Phoebe Clowser won the silver medal and Olivia Dyer nabbed the bronze medal. All three turned in performances that met the national silver standard. Rebecca Wilson (14th) and Jenna Webb (22nd) were the team’s other scorers in the crowded race (122 runners).
At the Manhattan College High School Cross Country Invitational in New York, the Maidens finished third in the Varsity A race, behind Bay Shore and Mamaroneck. Their scorers were Clowser (4th), Gardizy (5th), Dyer (7th), Lauren Matulevich (49th) and Mikaela Vlasic (58th).
The North Penn girls’ squad won the team title of the 42ndAnnual Salesianum Invitational Varsity Championship 5K at Brandywine Creek State Park in northern Delaware and again took the top three individual medals with Gardizy, Clower and Dyer.
In the boys’ Varsity Championship Race at the Salesianum Invitational, North Penn finished fourth The knights were paced by Colin Grace (10th), Zach Thomas (11th), Nick Cataldi (14th), Brendan O’Toole (16th) and Delphin Monga (25th).
Pennridge— Pennridge’s boys’ team got the season off to a good start by placing fourth at Viking Invitational.
At the 60th Annual William Tennent Invitational Tucker Deskow led the team with a 10th-place finish and the Indians took sixth place.
The Pennridge girls finished 20thin their race at the challenging Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University.
Quakertown— The Panthers’ Hudson Delisle finished 13that the 60th Annual William Tennent Invitational and helped his team place eight overall. On the girls’ side, Quakertown’s Shelby Daugherty also nabbed the “lucky” 13thposition in the standings.
The boys’ team also posted a 23rd-place finish in the Brown Race at the Paul Short Invitational. The Panthers’ girls’ squad placed 31stin their race at the highly-competitive Paul Short Invitational.
Souderton— Souderton’s Connor McMenamin finished first in a field of 143 runners at the 2015 Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational. His time of 15:41 was two seconds off the course record and is the #4 time in the entire state this year. The Indians finished 11thout of 19 teams.
Earlier this month, Souderton’s girls finished 25thin their race at the huge Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University.
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