The SOL Championships were held on a muddy track at Lehigh University on Friday. Links to all of the conference races have been posted on the boys’ and girls’ Cross Country home pages. To view photos of all of Friday's races, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Rick Woelfel
BETHLEHEM- The top runners in Suburban One made their mark at Lehigh University on Friday. Made their mark in the mud that is.
Rain turned portions of the course at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus into a bog, but the athletes seemed relatively undeterred by it all.
The Pennsbury girls certainly were.
Despite not having lead runner Sara Sargent available because of illness, the two-time defending state champions ran away from the rest of the field in the National Conference girls’ race.
The Falcons, who went undefeated during the SOL dual-meet season, finished with 20 points. Council Rock North was a distant second with 48 meet points and 51 championship points (teams had three points added to theirs score per each dual meet loss).
Rock North’s Kate Scott won the individual race in a time of 18:55, but Pennsbury took the next seven places, with the seven runners finishing within 56 seconds of each other. Maddie Sauer had the quickest team among the Falcons, hitting the line in 19:00. She was followed by freshman Olivia Sargent (19:27), junior Erica Gray (19:29), senior Liz Wedekind (19:34), freshman Hannah Molloy (19:37), sophomore Erin O’Connell (19:54) and freshman Bailey Balmer (19:55).
“It was awesome,” Wedekind said. “We really worked together. We just wanted to come here and win it.”
Scott handled the sloppy conditions with few problems, although she did have some concerns.
“I was worried one of my shoes would come off or something,” she said, but nothing like that happened.”
Council Rock North prevailed in the National Conference boys’ race, with the Indians’ Ross Wilson and Mac Emery finishing one-two after winning a battle with Pennsbury’s Connor Harriman and Sam Webb.
Wilson hit the line in 15:49, which matched the best time of the day.
“Both the Pennsbury kids are really tough,” Wilson said. “They both have really good kicks so we knew we had to take it out hard. With about three quarters of a mile to go we kind of pulled away from them.”
The Indians finished with 31 championship points. Pennsbury, which bested the Indians in a dual meet, was next with 44.
The most closely contested battle of the day came in the Continental Conference boys’ race as Central Bucks East shaded North Penn for the conference title.
The Patriots finished with 85 championship points, to 87 for the Knights. Central Bucks West was third with 89.
The Bucks actually won Friday’s meet with 80 points, but the Patriots captured the championship on the strength of their superior dual-meet record (6-1 in the league). It was East’s first league title since 2001.
The Patriots’ top finisher was freshman Jake Brophy, who placed third in 16:32. Alec Brand wound up sixth in 16:55.
East also got solid efforts from deeper in the pack. Luke Ryan wound up 18th, While Conner sands was 24th and Billy Rollo 29th. By contrast, North Penn’s third, fourth, and fifth runners placed 19th, 25th, and 31st, respectively, a circumstance that turned out to be the difference in the meet.
“This is a huge thing,” Ryan said. “I’ve been on this team for four years. Freshman year we came close…Sophomore and junior years we got second in the met and third overall.”
Defending state champion Conner Quinn from Hatboro-Horsham won the individual race. The senior opened up a lead just past the mile mark and won in a time of 15:49,
Central Bucks West set the standard in the Continental Conference girls’ distance race. The Bucks, who went undefeated during the league season, finished with 30 points to North Penn’s 59, placing five runners in the top 10 in the process.
The quintet finished in a span of 47 seconds. Maddie Villalba was second in 18:58, Emory Griffin was fifth in 19:18, Lindsey Gerlach was sixth in 19:25, Meghan Iatarola was seventh in 19:26, and Gretchen Krause, the only senior among her team’s first five runners, was 10th in 19:45.
“Our strength as a team is really our pack,” Krause said. “We run together all the time, we work out together. We do everything together, which really creates such a strong bond between all of us. I think we’d lay down our lives for each other.”
Pennridge sophomore Marissa Sheva won the individual race in 18:33, despite some issues with the mud.
“It was really sloppy,” she said, “but that made it more interesting. I pretty much tried to focus on the win, and not time because of how sloppy it was. I knew that would mess with my head a little bit.”
Upper Dublin shaded Wissahickon in the joust for the American Conference girls’ title. The Flying Cardinals, who came into the meet in second place behind Upper Merion in the standings, won the meet with 42 points and the league title with 48. Wissahickon was next with 52 championship points, while the Vikings were third with 71.
The Cards put four runners in the top 10, led by Isabele Uribe who was third in 20:45.
Wissahickon freshman Lotte Black won the race in 20:03, followed by Hannah Gilliam of Cheltenham in 20:31. Black was running in training shoes as opposed to spikes, but was able to deal with the wet conditions.
“I don’t think they helped,” she said, “but they didn’t make it any worse either.”
Black’s was the last varsity race of the day and conditions were less than pristine.
“In the first mile, it was wet,” she said. “In the third mile, it was more slippery.”
Upper Merion held off Upper Dublin in the American Conference boys’ race. The Vikings didn’t lose a league dual meet and finished with 45 championship points. Upper Dublin, which suffered its only loss at the hands of the Vikings, was second with 50, while Plymouth Whitemarsh was third with 75.
Upper Dublin senior Francis Ferruzzi won the individual title in 16:30. Christian Sanders of Upper Merion was next in 17:00.
Ferruzzi rook the lead for good early in the race, although he had to be cautious because of the conditions.
“My coaches wanted me to race from the start,” he said. “ I went out a little slow today because the course was so sloppy.”
SOL runners will return to Lehigh next Friday. The District One championship races are scheduled for the Goodman Campus course, beginning at 9:30.
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