Spence solos 17:37

Neely Spence (Shippensburg) started the weekend off with a bang yesterday by running away with the Paul Short Invitational. What a way to open up in her first meet of the season. Her 17:37 performance was almost a minute better than second place finisher, Stephanie Fulmer (18:29), St. Pius X. Cumberland Valley won the girls race, while Germantown Friends won the boys division.

Villanova won the College Men's title, lead by the individual win of Bobby Curtis. Princeton used a tight pack (34-second spread) that ran up front (4-6-10-12-13) for a big victory in the Women's race. Defending NCAA champ, Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech), won the individual women's title.

Paul Short Results

Dyestat XC Regional Team Rankings

Week 3 of the HS regional rankings. After last weekend's races, there has been a shakeup in the Northeast . PA now has four boys teams ranked, German Town Friends (3), North Allegheny (5), North Penn (8), Holy Ghost Prep (9).

In the girls rankings, Emmaus moves up one spot to number three after their strong fourth place finish at the Bowdoin Park Classic, while they were missing their #2 girl.

Northeast
Southeast
South
Midwest
Heartland
Southwest
Northwest
California
New York

Weekend Preview

Big meets all across the country this weekend. As October creeps closer the competition continues to step up as the athletes begin to prepare for the championship part of the season which runs from late October through the early part of December. Here is a list of some of the high profile meets going on outside of PA this weekend.

Nike Pre-Nationals
Griak Invite
Cowboy Jamboree
Standford Invite
Ocean State Invite
Maymont Festival
McQuaid Invitational

Eastbay Coach of the Week

The first of 10 to be honored in 2007 XC is Greg Echols of Mountain Brook AL, by SE Regional Editor Brett Honeycutt.

Coach of the Week Archive

Dyestat's Interval Sessions #2

The DyeStat Interval Sessions are an opportunity to get to know some of the top male and female high school harriers from around the country.

Trevor Dunbar AK
Katie Flood IA

Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational

There is a great lineup of races set for State College this weekend at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational . Penn State will look to build upon their early success this season as they square off against a solid field that includes Columbia who is ranked #4 in the Northeast for both women and men.

In the HS division, State College will do battle with a host of teams from PA, NY, and WV. The HS girls race will be very intriguing as Central Cambria and Lewisburg have a rematch.

In the Club division, Rick Koubek, Matt Kisenwether, Matt Lanagan, and Greg Lackey will go after the team title.

Franek and Zarzeczny Earn Big ten Runner of the Week Honors

Bridget Franek and Lucas Zarzeczny were named Big Ten Runners of the Week after their impressive races at the Iona Meet of Champions. It is the second time this season Franek was honored. It is Zarzeczny's first time receiving the award in his young career as a Nittany, and he is the second Nittany Lion to be honored this Fall, Brian Fuller won the week of September 3rd.

The Long Green Line

THE LONG GREEN LINE is a feature-length documentary that tells Newton’s story using the 2005 cross country season at York High School that marks his 50th year of coaching. Newton has led his team to 24 state championship titles. This year, they’re going for number 25.

PennTrackXC.com Top 10-Week 4

There has been some shakeup in the top 5 of the PennTrackXC.com Top 10 weekly rankings. After Pre-States, the small schools made everyone take notice. On the girls side, Central Cambria moved up 5 spots to number 3 and Lewisburg entered the poll at number 5, after being unranked all season. For the boys, Holy Ghost Prep moved up 4 spots to number 4 after their impressive run in Hershey.

MileSplit.us National team Rankings

The first MileSplit.us National Team Rankings were released today. The boys teams from Germantown Friends and North Allegheny debuted at 9th and 10th respectively.

Big Meets in the Mid-Atlantic

Several important meets in the Mid-Atlantic region this weekend. The most critical ones in PA are Spiked Shoe Invitational at Penn State, Carlisle Invitational hosted by Carlisle High School, and Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh.

The Spiked Shoe Invitational features Central Cambria vs. Lewisburg, Round 2.

Final K-September 22nd Weekend

PennTrackXC's recap of the exciting racing weekend, featuring the pack attack of small schools, and legendary coaches who are still churning out the champions.

Tommy Stealth

Former Penn State XC and Track captain and standout, Tom McGlynn, is getting ready for the Olympic Marathon Trials. Excellent Flocasts video detailing his training group's progress.

Tom started the Focus-N-Fly running group and also coaches with the Farm team, based in Palo Alto, CA.

Nittany Lion Women ranked 29th

The Penn State women cracked into the top 30 this week after their impressive victory at the Iona Meet of Champions. The women's team moved up two spots to number three in the Mid-Atlantic regional rankings, and the men moved up one spot to number four in the rankings.

National Polls

Men's Regional Poll

Women's Regional Poll

Footlocker National Individual Rankings

Pennsylvania has three athletes ranked in the top 10 Foot Locker Power Rankings. Vince McNally (Conestoga Valley), is ranked 6th on the boys side, while Neely Spence (Shippensburg), 3rd, and Carly Seymour (Central Cambria), 6th, give PA a strong 1-2 punch on the girls side.

Bob Firman Invite

Luke Puskedra steals the shows as he crushes the course record with a 14:49 effort. In the boys elite race, Crater (OR) held off North Central (WA) 121-124 in the team competition. While in the girls elite race, Mountain Brook (AL) beat Davis (UT) and Trabuco Hills (CA) 64-80-125 for the team title.

Complete Bob Firman Invite Coverage

Tussey mOUnTiNBACK

The Nittany Valley Half Steppers fell a little short in their quest for the record, but their time of 5:05:22 was good enough for the victory. Team Kisenwether had a strong showing, finishing 19th out of 171 competitors.


Overall Results

Results by Category

Iona Meet of Champions

Penn State Men's and Women's teams had great days at the Iona Meet of Champions . The women's team was victorious and the men's team finished in third. The women were led by sophomore Bridget Franek's 5th place finish in 21:51, while freshman Lucas Zarzeczny's 8th place in 25:35, was the top finish on the men's side.

Juniata College Eagle Invitiational

Ben Hatch (Bellwood-Antis) finished in ninth place in the high school boys race. The race was won by Jim Spisak (Bishop McCort) in 16:46. Spisak is establishing himself at the top guy in District 6, AA or AAA. Sherando High School from Virgina won the team title.

Kelley Killinger finshed in 74th place in the high school girls race. Letitia Propst from Elkins High School won the race with a 20:07. Bishop McCort won the team title

AA makes a strong statement at Pre-States

Wow! What a meet in Hershey! The meet was split in two divisions, Gold (large schools) and Blue (small schools).

In the Girls Blue Division, Central Cambria and Lewisburg ran away from everyone. Central Cambria scored a narrow victory 69-82 over Lewisburg. Carly Seymour (Central Cambria) delivered her one point with the fastest time of the day, 18:17, but Lewisburg put 3 girls in the top ten to make it a close team finish. Even more impressive, had this race been combined, Central Cambria and Lewisburg would have finished first and second, respectively, as well, and Lewisburg still would have put 3 girls in the top ten.

Current PennTrackXC.com #1, Emmaus, was in New York for the Bowdoin Park XC Classic, site of the NTN regional. They finished fourth behind Voorhees (NJ), Greenwich (NY), and Shenendehowa (NY).

In the Girls Gold Division, North Allegheny (101) would set up the table for a possible sweep of Boys and Girls Gold titles, by holding off Cardinal O'Hara (103) by two points and Greater Latrobe (110) by nine. Jess Cygan (19:17) from Liberty was the individual champion. State College finished in tenth place, led by Tirzah Stashko's 23rd-place finish.

In Boys Blue Division, Holy Ghost Prep used strong front running (3 in the top ten) to beat North East, 55-76. Robert Micikas (16:44) of Crestwood used the last mile to pull away from Eric Arnold of Holy Ghost Prep for the individual victory.

North Allegheny lived up to its #2 PennTrackXC.com ranking and won convincingly over the field scoring 85 points, in the Boys Gold Division. Hatboro-Horsham finished in second with 130. Mark Denin of Boyertown lead the whole race and recorded the fastest time of the day with a 16:05. State College finished in 15th place, led by Kyle Ragan in 48th.

In the combined race though, it gets a little interesting. North Allegheny would have beat Holy Ghost Prep by one point 137-138, with North East finishing in third with 188.

PennTrackXC.com's Full meet coverage

Meg Sowa Wins 5k

Meg Sowa runs 19:20 to win the 15th Annual Navy Federal 5k. She beat former State College High and Penn State xc and track standout, Lou Hohnka-Oswald (nee Hohnka), for her first victory.

Meg Sowa, running with Scott Munro, on her way to victory

Top Entrants for Men's Olympic Marathon Trials

More than 160 men have qualified to compete in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in New York City on November 3. In this field, the top tier consists of two experienced campaigners and an exciting new talent, while the second tier has an old lion, a former champion, and a throwback to a previous era.

Top Entrants

NTN Regional Rankings-Week 2

Pennsylvania is well represented in the Northeast rankings after some great showings over the first few weeks. North Allegheny and Germantown Friends are second and third respectively, while Cedar Cliff, Coatesville, Cumberland Valley, Henderson, Mt. Lebanon, West Chest East, and West Middlesex are all bubble teams for the boys.

On the girls side, Emmaus is ranked fourth, the bubble teams from PA are Central Cambria, Greater Latrobe, Lancaster Mennonite, North Allegheny, Radnor, and St. Basil Academy.

Hopefully the the PA teams will continue their strong seasons and several of them will qualify to Nike Team Nationals.

Complete Regional Rankings

Big Racing Weekend Ahead

WOW! The racing slate is jammed pack this weekend. There are a local athletes lacing up their kangaroo slippers to do battle.

1st Annual Juniata College Eagle Inivitational - Ben Hatch and Kelley Killinger, both of Bellwood-Antis, will be heading to Fort Roberdeau for the multi-state meet.

Inaugural Hershey Cross Country Invitational- State College Boy's and Girls's Teams will be attending. Pre-states Is Here! There are over 40 teams running in the 2 division format, featuring about a dozen teams ranked in the PenntrackXC.com weekly rankings.

Tussey mOUnTaiNBACK - Matt Kisenwether and family, Bob Radzwich, Rod Stahl, Erik Scott, Andy Cunningham, Karl Shellenberger, and Erik Werner are two teams that are gunning for the title in the 7th edition of the 50 mile relay race.

Race Agaisnt Racism Run/Walk - Greg Lackey and Matt Lanagan will be taking a fast tour through campus during their Saturday morning 5k.

Iona Meet of Champions - Penn State Men's and Women's Teams. The meet will feature some tough competition from the Northeast, including the Iona men, who are ranked third in the country.

Please cheer all these athletes on and their competitors as they strive for greatness. I will post results throughout the weekend.

NTN Regions in Review

Summary of the Top Ten in each NTN region, week ending Sept. 15.

Northeast
NY Boys
NY Girls
Southeast
South
Midwest
Heartland
Southwest
Northwest
CA Boys
CA Girls

Big Meet in Boise

Bob Firman Invitational in Boise features 12 ranked teams from 4 regions as entries are up 1,000 runners to 2,700.

Race Preview

Dyestat's Coverage

PennTrackXC Top 10

PennTrackXC has released Week #3. And there is some change at the top. With Germantown Friends School impressive showing in Connecticut, they moved into the number 1 spot over North Allegheny who was idle last week.

Week #3 Poll

PennTrackXC.com Rankings

Here is week #2 state rankings from PennTrackXC.com.

Road To San Diego

Well this looks to be one of PA's strongest years from an individual standpoint in a long time. There are several boys and girls who have a legitimate shot of not just making Footlocker Nationals, but being top 15-20 when they are there. A few even have a shot to win. With this is in mind, we are toying with idea of doing the Road to San Diego. We will focus on these top athletes and monitor their season, interview them, film their workouts, and more. Stay tuned for more details as we work out the kinks.

Chasing Glory

Yes Chasing Glory is Matt Taylor again. This project is covering the buildup to the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials in New York. There is new information Monday through Friday. The trailer is amazing.

Chasing Kimbia Season 3

Matt Taylor is at it again. He is working on Season 3 of Chasing Kimbia. This season will be interesting because, Fasil Bizuneh joined the group and he is preparing for the US Olympic Trials.

Matt Taylor ran for North Allegheny HS before starring at Yale. He was an integral part of the "dyNAsty" at North Allegheny as they dominated the WPIAL during his tenure. And if you asked me, I will say he is real stand-up guy. Bonus point if anyone knows what movie that last line is from. You might remember him from his Chasing Tradition fame, which basically launched his career in this field.

Pre-States

The Inaugural Hershey Cross Country Invitational is set for Saturday, September 22nd at the Hershey Parkview course. It's time for PA's first-ever Pre-States.

Final K

PennTrackXC is doing a feature, The Final K, on top PA athletes throughout the season. It gives us all a better insight to the leading athletes and teams in the state.

NTN Regional Rankings

Several PA teams are looking to make a splash at Nike Team Nationals this year following Coatesville's victory last year.

Regional Rankings

Dyestat's Interval Sessions

Meant to bridge the midweek interval between the meet-intensive weekends during the season, the DyeStat Interval Sessions are an opportunity to get to know some of the top male and female high school harriers from around the country. Each week, we'll head out for a quick interval session with one boy and one girl making headlines on the national cross country scene this fall.

Kevin Williams, CO
Christine Babcock, CA

Brian Sell and the Hansons get ready for the Trials

Brian Sell and his Hansons teammates are preparing to make their assualt on the Olympic Trials in New York. Sell was ranked number one in the marathon in the US by Running Times in 2006.

The XC Season is upon us

Well the XC season has arrived. Ahh what a great time of year. I will do better with keeping my blog up to date this season. I am attending the Big Valley Invite. The first big meet of the season is always exciting. Let's see what the day has in store for all of us xc fans out there.