Sports
Patriots Qualify for States, Finish Second in District One
Willig brothers lead the way as Great Valley racks up the medal count.
BETHLEHEM—Opponents must have been doing double takes as they traversed the course winding through the foothills on the campus of Lehigh University that sparkled with fall colors. After witnessing Great Valley High School senior Ned Willig passing them, a sense of déja vu had to occur another Willig, younger brother Matt, passed, too.
The elder Willig, who competed in states last spring in the mile, finished second over in the district with a time of 15:34. He was eclipsed only by old nemesis Upper Moreland’s Drew Magaha, who blistered the field of more than 300 runners with a 15:16 circuit.
“It’s great to come here and do well personally,” said Ned Willig. “But to finish second as a team and qualify for states is more important than any thing I can do individually. We race in a tough conference all year, and to come here and run this well, it really says something about our runners and coaches.
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The Patriots set the tone early, as a pack of Great Valley runners battled to fight through the mass of runners heading for the chute that leads to the first half -mile of the course.
“It’s tough to not go out too fast,” said Matt Willig. “It’s pretty intense to look across that line and see all of those runners and know you have to get to the bottle neck first or have to pass them on the course, without wiping your self out early.”
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At one point in the race, around the two-mile mark, the Patriots had five runners registering in the top 25 places overall, before ending the run with four runners in the top 30 and finishing second place overall in the district just behind league rival West Chester Henderson in the combined AAA and AAAA classification, claiming the District One silver medal. With the runner-up finish, Great Valley qualified as a team to compete next Saturday’s PIAA state championship to be run at 10:30 a.m. at the Parkview course in Hershey.
The Great Valley ladies finished seventh overall in the combined scoring and third in the class AAA championship. Freshman Elise Claffey, the fastest finisher with a time of 18:41, led the quintet of Patriots through the course with junior Caroline Moyer finishing 16th at a time of 19:19, medalling with her teammate and qualifying along with Claffey for next week’s state championship run.
Villa Maria Academy, which finished 19th overall as a team, with senior Rachel Fulton posting the quickest time at 21:05, in the class AAA girls championship run.
Class AAA girls
Bold indicates state qualifiers
3. Great Valley 115 19:34
5 Elise Claffey, Fr 18:39
16 Caroline Moyer, Jr 19:19
27 Samantha Harbison, Sr 19:45
33 Elizabeth Norcini, Sr 20:02
34 Tabitha Wismer, Fr 20:04
60 Kari Lownes, Fr 20:44
133 Sarah Kochinsky, Jr 22:25
19 Villa Maria Academy 504 21:44
71 Rachel Fulton, Sr 21:05
86 Alex Ahern, Sr 21:33
96 Lauren Murphy, Sr 21:39
125 Emma Luengo, Jr 22:12
126 Emily Krueger, Sr 22:12
137 Megan Ritz, So 22:31
140 Megan Reyher, So 22:44
Boys combined AAA and AAAA results
Bold indicates state qualifiers
PLACE TEAM POINTS
1 West Chester Henderson 89
2 Great Valley 148
3 North Penn 155
4 Council Rock North 237
5 Holy Ghost Preparatory 274
2. Great Valley
2 Ned Willig, Sr 15:34
15 Matt Willig, So 16:10
29 Garrett Zatlin, So 16:22
37 Billy Wolffe, Jr 16:27
65 Daniel Dudt, Jr 16:46
89 Aidan Cunniffe, Sr 16:57
109 Kyle Kilroy, So 17:07
Total Time = 1:21:17 Total Places = 148 PL
SC FINISHER TIME TIME PC TEAM
1 Drew Magaha, Sr 4:53 15:16 4:55 Upper Moreland
2 Ned Willig, Sr 4:57 15:34 5:01 Great Valley
15 Matt Willig, So 5:01 16:10 5:13 Great Valley
29 Garrett Zatlin, So 5:03 16:22 5:17 Great Valley
