To view photos of all of Friday’s action, visit the Photo Gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Ben Reese
BETHLEHEM: Drew Magaha knew what he wanted even before he got to the Suburban One League cross country championships.
The Upper Moreland senior arrived at the Lehigh University campus with two consecutive American Conference championships already on his mantelpiece. That left only one more for the three-peat.
Well, add another trophy to the case. Magaha coasted to his third straight American crown, running the three-mile course in 15:50. He beat second-place finisher Francis Ferruzzi of Upper Dublin by more than a half-minute.
"This was kind of like the race between regular season and districts," Magaha said. "So you have to be a little more conservative with it.
"But I was still taking it seriously because I won sophomore year and junior year, so the three (wins) meant a lot to me."
Magaha's biggest concerned seemed to be finding a happy medium while running.
"I was trying to find a balance between being conservative and still winning. I think I did it pretty well."
He did set one more goal for himself in the SOL championship. He wanted to finish under 16 minutes.
"I had a sub-16 time in mind," he said "Last year, I went 16:03 here at this race. My goal was to break 16 this year and I broke it four times now (this season). So the sub-16 goal was pretty much what I was going for."
While Magaha won the race, Wissahickon captured the National team crown. The Trojans put five runners in the top 15, led by senior Sam Brooks, who turned in a 16:54, good enough for third place.
The first race of the day went to Pennsbury's Connor Harriman in the National Conference. Harriman's 16-minute flat time edged out Mac Emery of Council Rock North by seven seconds.
"I went out with Mac Emery of Council Rock North," Harriman said. "He had a couple of surges like he started to get a little gap on my and I had to hurry back.
"I took the lead with a little less than half a mile to go. It was kind of like neck and neck the whole time until about maybe 200 or 300 to go when I really kicked and got a little gap and held to the finish."
Emery led North to the team title, 20 points less than Pennsbury. With Emery in second, the Indians grabbed third, fourth, 14th and 16th for the team triumph.
The best time of the day was turned in by Hatboro-Horsham's Conner Quinn, who outkicked teammate Sam Hibbs to the finish line for a 15:47 clocking. It was the second straight year that Hibbs has finished second in the SOL Continental Conference championship race.
"We (he and Hibbs) always work off each other," Quinn said. "It really helps with training."
Halfway through the race, the Hatter duo was battling with North Penn's pair of Jack Macauley and Dan Davis. But Quinn soon took control.
"I got the lead for good right when we got to in the cornfield (which is part of the Lehigh course and marks the two-mile mark)," Quinn said. "I was going pretty strong and I knew Jack Macauley of North Penn was right behind me so I knew I had to push because he has a better kick that I do.
"We have a really strong league and a lot of good guys so it feels really good to win."
Macauley, Davis and Chris Trimble grabbed third through fifth for the Knights, leading them to the Continental team title. North Penn also took 11th and 13th.
For a merged list of results for the three SOL conferences, click on the following link: http://www.runhigh.com/2011RESULTS/R102111AH.HTML
For a complete list of the National Conference results, click on the following link: http://www.runhigh.com/2011RESULTS/R102111AB.HTML
For a complete list of the Continental Conference results, click on the following link: http://www.runhigh.com/2011RESULTS/R102111AF.HTML
For a complete list of the American Conference results, click on the following link: http://www.runhigh.com/2011RESULTS/R102111AD.HTML
For a complete list of the boys’ junior varsity results, click on the following link: http://www.runhigh.com/2011RESULTS/R102111AK.HTML
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