Approaching the finish line, SCH sophomore Matthew Miles (right) was able to hold off a late charge by GA junior Danny Ritz. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher The boys' cross country teams at …
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by Tom Utescher
The boys' cross country teams at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and Germantown Academy are both doing some rebuilding this fall after graduating their lead runners from a year ago. Even when GA had Peter Butler finishing as runner-up at the 2016 Inter-Ac League championships and SCH had Noah Chandler place third, the Patriots and the Blue Devils finished behind the three Main Line schools in the league in the team standings.
Malvern Prep boasted the individual winner and Haverford School captured the team title, and both are all-male institutions than can draw on a large pool of athletes.
On this side of the Schuylkill, regular-season dual meets give squads like GA and SCH the chance to compete on a more level playing field. While the Blue Devils put three runners in the top 10 in last Tuesday's meet at GA, the host Patriots placed three within the top five, which helped them emerge with a 23-37 victory.
Each school was led by a sophomore; Matt Sandifer of GA won the race in 18 minutes and 14 seconds, and SCH received second place from Marco Goldberg, who clocked in at 18:41.
In early non-league meets, SCH had followed Goldberg's lead to a victory over Philmont Christian Academy and Collegium Charter, while GA succumbed to Plymouth Whitemarsh High School despite an individual win by Sandifer. The teams also had different outcomes in their Inter-Ac openers, with GA defeating Penn Charter while SCH lost to Malvern.
Sandifer won his third straight dual meet last Tuesday, but after Goldberg grabbed second place for Springside Chestnut Hill, the Blue Devils also took third place thanks to a PR performance of 19:17 by a third 10th-grader, Matt Miles.
Although Miles edged out Germantown junior Danny Ritz (fourth in 19:18), the meet would swing in the Patriots' favor as four of Ritz's teammates crossed the line in order after him. Junior Kevin Lamb (19:35) was fifth and senior Oliver Haddow (19:36) was sixth, and then senior Nick DiBello became GA's fifth scorer with his seventh-place finish in 19:52.
Sandifer's older brother Drew, a senior, completed this five-man Patriot parade, securing eighth place in 19:56. Both the elder Sandifer and his classmate Haddow are newcomers to the cross country team, and each ran under 20 minutes for the first time on Tuesday.
Visiting SCH lodged a third runner in the top 10; senior David Moslow was just a hair behind Drew Sandifer and was awarded the same time (19:56), which was a new PR for him.
In 10th place at 20:44 was GA's Brad Azizi (a team captain along with DiBello), and Patriots freshman Noah Jenckes was 11th in 21:10.
A pack of Blue Devils followed in places 12 through 16: freshman Peter Humphreys (21:12), sophomore Trevor Meyer, freshman Isaac Becker, junior Haotian Cao (all timed at 21:57) and junior Simon Kioko (22:09). Humphreys, Becker, Cao and Kioko all turned in personal-best times.
GA senior Max Fralic was 17th in 22:30, SCH junior Kenneth Barrist placed 18th in 22:52 and rounding out the top 20 were a pair of Patriots, freshmen Gregory Kraynak (23:19) and Colin Brereton (23:21).