A few hundred meters from the finish, GA's Peter Butler (center) leads Noah Chandler of Springside Chestnut Hill (left) and Elias Lindgren of Episcopal Academy. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Individual outcomes and team results diverged for area boys' cross country runners last Monday at the Inter-Ac League Championships.

Germantown Academy and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy each placed two runners in the top dozen at Belmont Plateau, and Penn Charter had its leader in that group as well, but in the final team standings the Patriots, Blue Devils, and Quakers from this side of the Schuykill ended up behind the three teams from across the river.

A strong pack running team all season, Haverford School saw its top competitor come in fifth, but the Fords would position a total of six runners among the first 18 to cross the line. They outdueled defending champ Episcopal Academy for the 2016 title, 58 points to 63, while 79 points garnered third place for Malvern Prep, who had junior Peter Borger become the individual champion with a time of 17 minutes, 14.30 seconds.

With Peter Butler snagging second place in 17:47.60 and fellow senior Alejandro Gonzalez taking sixth in 18:08.00, GA was nipping at the heels of the Malvern Friars, coming in fourth in the team standings with 83 points.

SCH senior Noah Chandler earned third place in 17:54.50 and freshman Marco Goldberg was 11th in 18:50.40, helping the Blue Devils score 103 points to finish fifth ahead of Penn Charter (120). Senior Harper Pollio-Barbee gave PC a top-10 finish (eighth in 18:16.60), but it was some time before the next Quaker crossed the line.

The weather was unseasonably warm, but at least the wooded middle mile of the Belmont course provided some shade for the harriers.

Although Malvern's Borger won easily by more than half-a-minute, he ran the entire course without a race number attached to his singlet. He was officially disqualified immediately after the race ended, but the athletic directors of the Inter-Ac schools convened and reinstated him in the top spot.

Haverford, led by fifth-place senior Anthony Calvelli (18:06.10), had its athletes relatively tightly bunched in many races this season, but keeping on pace wasn't as easily for individuals on teams whose athletes tended to be more widely spaced.

Chandler of SCH commented, "For a couple years I've run pretty close with Butler from GA and that kid Elias from Episcopal. I had an idea of where they would be and my main goal was just to stick with the front pack."

Malvern's Borger moved ahead on his own, but by the end of the race the next three runners had only spread out a little. Butler, Chandler, and fourth-place Episcopal junior Elias Lindgren (17:57.30) all completed the course within a 10-second span.

An even tighter trio followed; Calvelli was two seconds ahead of GA's Gonzalez and John Powers of Malvern, who were awarded a tie for sixth place and shared the same time of 18:08.00. After PC's Pollio Barbee secured eighth place, the top 10 was rounded out by two juniors, Will Merhige of Haverford and Philip Tobar of Episcopal.

SCH freshman Marco Goldberg rounds the final turn at Belmont. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Three area seniors were in, or close to, the top 20. Placing 19th and 21st were Germantown Academy's Gavin Rees (19:23.20) and LeRoy Moser (19:31.20, sandwiched around Jamie Alden of Springside Chestnut Hill (19:27.60).

SCH's Chandler was pleased at moving up to third place after coming in eighth in 2015, but his true place is on the track.

"The 800 and the mile are more of my specialty," pointed out the senior, who played baseball for his school up through his freshman year. "Running cross country is still important in terms of helping you build that base layer of fitness. The when you get into indoor track and get ready for the outdoor season you really start to focus on speed and getting that leg turnover."

At the 2016 Inter-Ac track championships last spring, Chandler was runner-up in the 800 meters to Malvern's Colin Wills, who has graduated. The defending league champ in the 3200, current GA senior Owen Ritz, was the Patriots' top cross country runner at the start of the fall season. He did not race last week at Belmont, having been sidelined for medical reasons several weeks before.

Results for area runners not mentioned above: Germantown Academy - sophomore Kevin Lamb (35th; 20:40.20), senior Braden Cody (36th; 20:56.90). Penn Charter - juniors Blaise Ciarrocchi (25th; 19:59.70) and Luke Brogan (27th; 20:10.90), freshman Luke Jaspan (28th; 20:11.50), sophomore Timur Serbest (32nd; 20:29.60), freshman Jordan Patton (37th; 21:03.80), junior Jordan Steinhouse (38th: 21:13.60). Springside Chestnut Hill - seniors Jan Alex (30th; 20:18.20) and Noah Shoup (39th; 21:22.60), freshmen Matt Miles (40th; 21:32.90) and Trevor Myer (41st; 23:50.70).