October 19, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

GFS boys x-country runs best among PA schools

The Germantown Friends School Boys cross-country team placed a remarkable 13th overall (best among PA schools) out of some 280 high school teams mostly from the northeast, but some from as far away as Colorado and California, in the prestigious Manhattan Cross Country Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. The Tigers placed 4th in their race (probably the toughest of the 7 varsity boys races on the day), but the three teams that beat them ended up 1st, 2nd, and 11th overall.

The GFS team is currently ranked 6th among boys high school teams in the statewide Top Ten coaches weekly poll. Following is the write up of the Manhattan Invitational from PennTrackXC.com.

The best race on the day by a PA team came in the Varsity Boys E race, as Germantown Friends took 4th with 135 points behind a 12:44.68 8th place by Max Kaulbach and 13:07.22 13th place by Jake

McKenzie. Isaac Ortiz was 30th in 13:25.02 and Jasper Sneff-Nanni was 40th in 13:46.75. Their 5th runner was within ten seconds, giving them the 13th best team average of 13:25, good for 13th on the day in all races. And their next two came in within nine seconds. Coach Rob Hewitt is excited about the possibilities for this team this year... but especially next. The top three are juniors, and the 5-7 are also underclassmen. “It’s the same group of guys who have been here for the last two years. Now in their third year, they are getting confidence they are ready.” Their goal for this meet – after announcing their talent with a surprising win at the 9/29 Paul Short Invitational – was to have the best PA team average. That mission was accomplished.