True act of sportsmanship, great performances highlight Girls X-Country District 1 meet at Lehigh
By Dave Conard, Correspondent, UnionvilleTimes.com
The Unionville girls' cross country team took second at the combined AAA/AAAA District 1 meet at Lehigh — but because of a quirk of the scoring rules, were placed behind West Chester Henderson for the AAA title (overall winner Pennsbury won the AAAA title) — but Henderson presented the trophy to Unionville.
BETHLEHEM — It may not be a known fact but cross-country is a sport that is all about respect.
Respect for the amount of work required to ready for the season, 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 through out the season in the Ches-Mont League, gave new meaning to word respect.
In a strange quirk as a result of a “unique” scoring system, Unionville who finished second overall in the combined AAA and AAAA grouping, two points ahead of the Warriors, which is what qualifying for the state meet is based on, actually also was relegated to a runner up finish in the class AAA scoring finishing two points behind Henderson.
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.
300 runners take off at the starting gun for the District 1 Girls' Cross Country meet.
“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.”
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 Berkenmaier, who finished seventh in AAA, the top two finishers, en rout to a combined time of 1:34:45.
“I think were able to fly under the radar a bit,” said Unionville junior Berkenmaier. “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 the 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.
Combined AAA and AAAA results Bolded are state qualifiers
PLACE TEAM POINTS PLACES OF FINISHERS AVG. TIME SPREAD
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
