Patriots Runners Finish Eighth in State, as Willig Medals

HERSHEY—When the Great Valley boy’s cross-country squad took to the hills of the Parkview course, which borders Hersheypark, they were joined by some of their closest friends from District One as they pursued the class AAA PIAA State team championship.  

The Patriots had their work cut out for them, fighting through nearly 400 runners in an uphill sprint to the first hard right turn just 400 meters into the race.

The Hershey course was anything but sweet. Its combination of hairpin turns, narrow bridges and daunting hills did not allow for the trademark team strategy of working through traffic together.

Led by senior Ned Willig, who claimed the ninth-place individual medal with a time of 16:19, and Billy Wolffe (17:04, 70th overall), Great valley as a team was fifth at the one-mile mark, before being surpassed by fellow district mates North Penn and Archbishop Ryan, who actually finished in a tie at 132. But due to the sixth-place finisher tiebreaker, the Knights emerged from the fray as the state champions.

District One combatants Council Rock North (229 pts) and West Chester Henderson (195 pts) also finished ahead of the Pats along with district seven’s North Allegheny (144 pts) and Mount Lebanon (153), as Great Valley came away with an eighth place finish in the state with 248 points.

“It was brutal out there,” said junior Daniel Dudt. “There was so many guys there at the start, then when we got down through the woods there, a kid had fallen. Guys were falling over him and that really messed things up. Later I even saw a lone shoe laying on the course. Wow, this was tough.” 

Pennsbury, who won the title for the second year in a row, dominated the ladies class AAA field of more than 120 teams and 370 runners. At one point, they had five runners in the top 20 positions. Freshman Elise Claffe must have felt like an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as she lost sight of teammate Caroline Moyer (120th overall, 20:35) in the mass of humanity that was the starting line.

Getting gobbled up by five district one teams that were competing for the team championship, Claffe was able break free and ran to a 35th place finish overall with a time 19:34.

“This course is tough,” said the ninth-grader, following her first ever circuit at the challenging course.

“We have hills at home, but nothing like here. It was pretty intimidating to see all of those girls at the start. I usually don’t like going out that fast, but once I got into it, I was able to keep it going with out burning myself out. I have Caroline here with me, but that first part of the race was just unbelievable with everyone trying to get to that first turn.” 

 Boy's class AAA finals

1* North Penn (1)          132    

2* Cardinal O'Hara (12)    132      

3 North Allegheny (7)     144      

4 Mount Lebanon (7)       153      

5 Wc Henderson (1)        195     

6 Council Rock North (1   229     

7 La Salle College (12)   236      

8 Great Valley (1)        248   

Patriots finishers  

8. Great Valley (1)   

6  Ned Willig, Sr             16:19       

36  Billy Wolffe, Jr           17:04       

58  Aidan Cunniffe, Sr         17:28       

64  Matt Willig, So            17:35       

84  Daniel Dudt, Jr            17:49      

104  Kyle Kilroy, So            18:08      

119  Garrett Zatlin, So         18:18   

Total Time = 1:26:14     Total Places = 248