Sports
Warriors sweep top honor at District One championship
West Chester Henderson boys and girls eye state title
It may not be a know fact, but cross-country is a sport that is all about respect. Respect for the amount of work required to ready for the season, respect for the number of miles a runner will log over a week of preparation, respect for the course, and most importantly, respect for the competition.
At the PIAA District One championship held at Lehigh University, the ladies squads form West Chester Henderson and Unionville High School, who have battled throughout the season in the Ches-Mont league gave new meaning to the word respect.
In the ultimate class move, the Henderson girls led by Janie Augustyn and Amanda Eisman then turned around and awarded the District One class AAA Championship trophy to the Indians, citing the fact that Unionville beat them cleanly.
Find out what's happening in West Chesterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“They were the true winners,” said Henderson senior Augustyn. “We wanted to win here today, but they beat us fair and square. We don’t care what the score said when they separate the groups, they deserve to have the trophy. If nothing else, it will make it interesting at Hershey."
“They (Henderson) are legendary,” said Indians senior Kris Abens, as the meeting of the mutual respect concluded. “For them to do something like that speaks a lot about what kind of team they are. It also says a lot about how strong the Ches-Mont league is.”
Find out what's happening in West Chesterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In a race that had more than 300 runners at the start line, miraculously the Indians were able to work their way to the front as a group, feeding off of the pace set by sophomore Courtney Smith, who claimed a class AAA runner up medal and junior Anne Berkenmaeir, who finished seventh in AAA, the top two finishers, en rout to a combined time of 1:34:45.
“I think we were able to fly under the radar a bit,” said Unionville junior Berkenmaeir. “I don’t think any one expected us to finish in the top three or qualify for states. We knew we could do this and have been running better each week. It is so exciting to be going to the state meet next week, that course is more hilly, which I think will help us.”
As the battle moves to Parkview course at Hershey next Saturday for the PIAA Pennsylvania state championship, the Warriors and Unionville will have to find a way to break up the pack of runners from defending state champ Pennsbury, who claimed the District One title.
“The start here is always crazy,” added Abens. “The important thing is to try to get to the front before the chute there with out burning yourself up early, you just have to have patience and work through traffic, even though it is tempting to go out to fast.”
For complete stats and run down from the race click on www.runhigh.com.
On the boy’s side of the ledger, the Warriors claimed the District One title in the class AAA pool, while also snagging the top spot in the combined AAA and AAAA, qualifying for the state championships with a combined time of 120:78 defeating Great Valley 89-148 and class AAAA monster North Penn 89-155.
Led by a trio of sophomores, Tony Russell (15:43, 6th AAA), Sam Hough (15:58, 10th) and Seamus Collins (16:14, 20th), Henderson’s pack strategy was too much for the field to handle as they coasted to win.
“We knew we had a pretty good shot at this,” said senior Charlie Grab, who finished 27th out of more than 300 runners. “The start is tough here because there are so many runners across the line. We just stayed patient and ran our race, by the two–mile mark we were right where we wanted to be as a team. It is great to go to states and win the championship here in my senior year, we have a great bunch of guys who really run for each other.”
At one point Henderson had six runners in the top 30 in an elite field and will take the same line up to Hershey next week for the PIAA championship run.
Combined AAA and AAAA results Bolded are state qualifiers
PLACE TEAM
1 Pennsbury 69
2 Unionville 130
3 West Chester Henderso 132
4 Downingtown East 158
5 North Penn 252
6 Central Bucks East 277
7 Great Valley 292
8 Council Rock North 318
9 Avon Grove 354
10 Boyertown 355
1. Pennsbury
5 Ann Herman, Sr 18:05
6 Sara Sargent, Jr 18:20
17 Erin O'Connell, Fr 18:47
18 Erica Gray, So 18:48
23 Elizabeth Wedekind, Jr 18:55
143 Jackie Kahill, Jr 20:36
184 Hannah Papazian, Jr 21:03 Total Time = 1:32:54
Total Places = 69
2. Unionville
7 Courtney Smith, So 18:24
21 Anne Birkenmaier, Jr 18:53
31 Olivia Young, Fr 19:04
34 Sam Collins, So 19:10
37 Emily Fisher, So 19:16
74 Gretchen Mills, Fr 19:50
146 Kris Abens, Sr 20:38
Total Time = 1:34:45 Total Places = 130
3. West Chester Henderso
8 Stephanie Aldrich, Jr 18:29
20 Janie Augustyn, Sr 18:53
25 Amanda Eisman, Sr 19:01
27 Michelle Tracy, Sr 19:03
52 Sierra Middleton, So 19:36
57 Maddie Bixler, Fr 19:42
90 Anna Radford, So 20:06
Total Time = 1:35:00 Total Places = 132
Combined AAA and AAAA girls finishers
1 Tori Gerlach, Sr 17:39 Pennridge
2 Meghan McGovern, Sr 17:44 North Penn
3 Hannah Grossman, Sr 17:46 Strath Haven
4 Marissa Sheva, Fr 17:58 Pennridge
5 Ann Herman, Sr 18:05 Pennsbury
6 Sara Sargent, Jr 18:20 Pennsbury
7 Courtney Smith, So 18:24 Unionville
8 Stephanie Aldrich, Jr 18:29 W C Henderson
9 Sophia Meehan, Sr 18:29 Haverford
10 Amber Hontz, Fr 18:30 Bayard Rustin
11 Kate Scott, Jr 18:33 Council Rock North
12 Katelyn Callaghan, Jr 18:37 Downingtown East
13 Biz Weiler, Sr 18:39 Downingtown East
14 Elise Claffey, Fr 18:39 Great Valley
15 Caitlyn Sheva, Jr 18:41 Pennridge
16 Kara Steinke, So 18:47 Methacton
17 Erin O'Connell, Fr 18:47 Pennsbury
18 Erica Gray, So 18:48 Pennsbury
19 Meghan Iatarola, So 18:48 Central Bucks West
20 Janie Augustyn, Sr 18:53 W C Henderson
21 Anne Birkenmaier, Jr 18:53 Unionville
22 Sarah Holl, Sr 18:54 Upper Dublin
23 Elizabeth Wedekind, Jr 18:55 Pennsbury
24 Anja Weiler, So 18:57 Downingtown East
25 Amanda Eisman, Sr 19:01 W C Henderson
combined AAA and AAAA BOYS 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
6 Haverford Township Hs 283
7 Central Bucks East 359
8 West Chester East 381
9 Pennsbury 393
10 Pottsgrove 409
1. West Chester Henderson
6 Tony Russell, So 15:43 5:04
10 Sam Haugh, So 15:58 5:09
20 Seamus Collins, So 16:14 5:14
26 Bobby Rimkis, Jr 16:17 5:15
27 Charlie Grab, Sr 16:19 5:16
34 Mike Salach, Sr 16:26 5:18
57 Aj Chaborek, Jr 16:41 5:23
Total Time = 1:20:28 Total Places = 89
