September 21, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Roman runners win fourth title at CHA Invitational
by TOM UTESCHER

A purple tide swept across the campus of Chestnut Hill Academy last Saturday, a phenomenon that’s been an annual occurrence since 2003.

Cross country runners from Roman Catholic High School, wearing their now-familiar purple singlets, finished first, fourth and tenth at the 2006 CHA Invitational, and two more Cahillites placed in the top 20 as Roman took home the team trophy for the fourth year in a row.

Several damp days leading up to the event made the three-mile course a little slick in spots, and no one came close to the winning time from the 2005 event, a mark of 15 minutes, 53 seconds established by Matlack Gillin of Springfield High School. Roman senior Geoff Benefield won the 2006 race in 16:41, helping his squad finish with 48 points, while Philmont Christian Academy scored 74 to repeat as the runner-up team.

While Gillin was a solitary winner in ‘05, last weekend Benefield had Cheltenham High School junior James Rogers just four seconds behind him, and in a duel for third place, Philmont 11th grader Wes Shope (16:48) edged out Roman senior Tom Dolan (16:49).

Another upperclassman, Haverford School’s Rafe Pilling, placed fifth in 16:53, and the first finisher for meet host CHA was junior Ned Cunningham. He was sixth overall in 17 minutes and four seconds, improving upon his 2005 performance at the Invitational in both place (ninth) and time (17:48).

Haverford was third in the team scoring with 81 points, followed by Cheltenham in fourth place with 108. Chestnut Hill duplicated its fifth-place finish of a year ago, although this time around the Blue Devils shared that spot with Valley Forge Military Academy, each scoring 150 points.

Springfield High School junior Mike Vido wound up seventh in the race at 17:06, and his Spartans squad was also seventh in the team standings, with 176 points. Rounding out the 12-team field were Delaware County Christian Academy (254 points), Cardinal Dougherty (278), Church Farm School (293), Friends Select (320), and Masterman (330).

CHA’s Cunningham, who was the early leader in the race, narrowly missed his goal of finishing under 17 minutes.

“He went out just a little too fast, or he might have done it,” noted Blue Devils coach Paul Hines. “He keeps improving, so he’ll get there. A lot of our other guys ran their best times today.”

The second and third men to finish for Chestnut Hill made it into the 18-minute bracket; Mike Rhoads checked in 23rd overall at 18:14, and fellow sophomore Mike Fitzgee was 37th in 18:48. The other runners in CHA’s top seven were senior Mike Christianson (48th), junior Pete Miller (51st), sophomore Kevin Maguire (65th) and freshman Ryan Ansel (68th). Two Blue Devils seniors did not run in the meet; Mo Young, normally the number three runner on the team, was being rested due to a minor injury, and Pete Cardoso, the regular number four, had an academic commitment.

RACE RESULTS

1 RC Geoff Benefield 16:41

2 CHS James Rogers 16:45

3 PMC Wes Shope 16:48

4 RC Tom Dolan 16:49

5 HS Rafe Pilling 16:53

6 CHA Ned Cunningham 17:04

7 SHS Mike Vido 17:06

8 PMC Wes Tomer 17:06

9 VFM Mike Barrow 17:13

10 RC Sean Angiolillo 17:19

11 HS Mike Petrakis 17:26

12 CHS Cameron Asa 17:29

13 PMC Owen Struck 17:29

14 RC Vincent DePiano 17:30

15 SHS Evan Hill 17:39

16 PMC John French 17:42

17 HS Neal Otte 17:47

18 SHS Matt Finn 17:48

19 RC Pat Baumgardner 17:57

20 HS Dylan DeVlieger 18:03