Heard Around the Track
November 1, 2001
By Ira Josephs
INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Coaches, runners scout
state course
Cliff Robbins, the girls' cross-country coach at Council
Rock, and the team were there. So was Coatesville senior Kelly
O'Connell and Haverford High coach Jim Jensen.
They traveled to Hershey last weekend to check out the course
for Saturday's PIAA state championships. The Indians also
watched Saturday's PIAA District 3 meet as Cumberland Valley
won the team title and Hershey's Angie Saterstad took the
individual crown.
Saterstad appears to be one of just a handful of runners capable
of challenging Council Rock sophomore Jess Cickay, the District
1 champion, for the individual title.
"I was telling [Jess], in all my years of coaching, I had
never had an occasion to scout," Robbins said. "We wanted
to go there and run the course, but it was good to see the girl
from Hershey run."
Council Rock beat North Penn four times this season, but the
Maidens won the District 1 title and the Indians placed second.
Both teams should be in the mix for the state title. Rock senior
Lindsay Blum, who gamely ran through a hip injury at districts
to place 57th in a field of 342, could give the Indians a huge
boost if healthy.
"She was at school at 6 a.m. for a pool workout Monday,"
Robbins said. "It has nothing to do with enthusiasm or motivation.
Finishing 14 points from North Penn with the kid hurting is not
that bad."
Along with Cickay and Blum, Council Rock also will look to Meryl
Nash, Jen Shouldis, Adrianna Coletta, Amy Harris and Kelli Burke.
In North Penn's pack are Cheryl Dingman, Lauren Kinsey,
Jamie Taggart, Lauren Marino, Elizabeth Monachello, Robyn Slocum
and Jessica Yoon.
Also representing District 1 in the Class AAA race are Haverford
High, Great Valley and Villa Maria Academy.
Teams outside District 1 with state title hopes include Allentown
Central Catholic, the District 11 champion; Parkland, the defending
state champion and District 11 runner-up; North Allegheny, the
District 7 champion; and Mount Lebanon, the District 7 runner-up.
"I don't think there's anybody out there head
and shoulders above the rest," Robbins said.
Along with the competition, the course will be a factor. It
begins and ends on an airfield runway across the street from HersheyPark,
and features steep hills, sharp turns, narrow paths, and different
types of terrain. Where a team is positioned on the starting line
could affect its finish, and getting out fast could be a necessity.
"I think it's a fair course if you're out in
front," Robbins said. "I think for Jess Cickay it will
be a great course. It's a matter of luck where a team gets
on the starting line."
Cickay and O'Connell will challenge for the individual
title with Hershey's Saterstad; Lauren Bricker of Hempfield,
the District 7 champion; Stephanie Madia of North Allegheny, the
District 7 runner-up; and Paula Giguere of Parkland, the District
11 champion. Don't count out Wissahickon's Erin Franklin,
who placed fourth at districts.
"It's truly going to be a matter of relaxing,"
Robbins said of Cickay's chances.
O'Connell, who won the Steel City championship last month,
will be running in her fourth state meet. She placed eighth last
year.
"It should be really exciting," O'Connell said.
"There are a lot of good runners, and whoever runs smartest
is going to win. I think the course will be to my advantage because
we work on hills. It may not be my favorite course, but I'll
use it to my advantage."
Great Valley, which placed fourth in District 1, is returning
to states for the second straight year. The Patriots, who placed
sixth last year, also qualified from 1987 to 1991.
"I think it's wide open," Great Valley coach
Paul Gring said. "I think you have to have us in the mix
if we run the race we're capable of."
Haverford High didn't just sneak into the state meet;
the Fords placed a solid third in a loaded District 1 field.
"We weren't surprised," said Jensen, the Fords'
coach, who surveyed the course during a visit to relatives. "We
figured if nobody was looking for us, we'd catch somebody
who was asleep. We're hoping to do very well at states."
In Class AA competition, Lynn Morelli, the St. Basil Academy
freshman and District 1 champion, and New Hope-Solebury's
Joanna Marlow must face Jesi Christensen of Greenville, the defending
state and District 10 champion.
The clear favorite for the Class AA team title is Wyomissing,
the District 3 winner and two-time state champion. Gwynedd-Mercy
Academy, the District 1 team winner, could break into the top
five.
Ira Josephs' e-mail address is
ijosephs@phillynews.com.
Ira Josephs' e-mail address is ijosephs@phillynews.com.
