To view meet photos, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
A listing of all the results – courtesy of Penn Track - is posted on the Boys’ Cross Country home page.
By Alex Frazier
Rarely does one team overtake another in the Suburban One League Championshps, but that’s exactly what happened Friday at the SOL Boys Cross Country Championships at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus.By virtue of beating the archrival Indians in the dual meet (by a single point), Council Rock South held a three-point lead over North coming into the meet.
But Council Rock North overcame that by finishing nine points ahead of the Golden Hawks in the league meet to win the National Conference, 41-49. William Tennent finished third (91), Pennsbury fourth (135), Abington fifth (142), Neshaminy sixth (162) and Bensalem seventh (163).
The Continental Conference was another hotly contested race between Hatboro-Horsham and North Penn, both of whom came into the race with 6-1 records.
Hatter runners Sam Hibbs (second), Connor Quinn (fourth) and David Kraiss (sixth) all placed ahead of North Penn’s first runner Jack Macauley (seventh) to win the title 55-75. Pennridge came in third (83), Central Bucks East fourth (93), Central Bucks South fifth (103), Central Bucks West sixth (148), Souderton seventh (163) and Quakertown eighth (254).
In the American Conference, Wissahickon placed five runners in the top 11 to finish first in the meet and the league with 33 points. Cheltenham, which placed its five runners in the top 13, fell a bit short and had to settle for second with 50 points. Upper Dublin finished third (72), Plymouth Whitemarsh fourth (118), Upper Moreland fifth (150), Upper Merion sixth (170). Norristown did not have a team.
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Senior Chris Campbell led Council Rock North to the finish line in a personal best time of 15:40.
“I went out conservative and picked it up as I went along,” he said.
He started out running with William Tennent’s Alex Cichitti, but then pulled out to about a 20-meter lead just before the two-mile mark. He ended up finishing up 24 seconds ahead of Cichitti, who came in second.
“I like this course a lot,” said Campbell. “It’s my favorite besides my home course.”
Campbell credited the competition with South for helping him run faster.
“They made this meet not as easy as we thought it was going to be,” he said.
Campbell got into cross country partly because his mom was a runner and encouraged him and also to stay in shape for basketball.
But, as what happens to a lot of runners, he became addicted and dropped basketball in 10th grade.
Campbell is undefeated in races this year and hopes to remain that way after next week’s district meet.
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In both the Continental and American Conferences, the winner was not on the winning team.
Central Bucks East’s Alex Izewski nipped Hatboro-Horsham’s Sam Hibbs by two seconds in a time of 15:42 to earn his first league title.
“I just was just trying to get out fast,” he said, “and then cruise basically for the next two miles to help the team.”
Hibbs took over the lead around the two-mile mark, but Izewski passed him in the last mile.
“It was good competition to have,” he said. “It was a great race, a good tune up for next week.”
Like Campbell, Izewski is also undefeated. He won the Archbishop Invitational and the C.B. East Invitational in addition to all the dual meets.
Izewski grew up swimming but converted to cross country as a freshman when his older brother encouraged him to come out.
“I came out and fell in love with the sport,” he said.
And then it was bye-bye swimming.
Next week Izewski looks forward to returning to the same course.
“I like having leagues and districts at the same place,” he said. “It gives you a good preview for next week.”
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There was no team title on the line for Upper Moreland’s Drew Magaha.
No team title, but he was the defending American Conference champion.
Last year as a sophomore—and first-year runner—Magaha came out of nowhere to claim the title.
Magaha’s win was even sweeter since his season hadn’t gone too well.
“It was a crappy season,” he said. “I got sick a lot (sinus infection) and hurt a lot (knee). I wanted to see what I could do in this race and do better than last year.”
Wissahickon’s Dillon Farrell led for most of the race. Magaha passed him with about 400 meters to go and never looked back, finishing 19 seconds ahead of Farrell in 16:03. His winning time last year was 16:12.
“I wanted to kick it in at the end and finish the season on a good note and extend my season a little more,” he said. “I’ve been working real hard for the past couple of weeks trying to get up where I was before.”
Next week, Magaha’s goal is to finish in the top 10 and finish under 16 minutes.
“I want to beat guys like Hibbs and Campbell,” he said. “It’s going to be tough, but I think I can get top 10.”
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