Germantown Academy sophomore number one Robert DiDonato is just a few seconds away from completing an undefeated dual meet season. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Over the last few years the girls of Germantown Academy have won cross country championships in the Inter-Ac League and in the Pa. Independent Schools meets, and this fall the GA boys are making some noise, as well.

In a league tri-meet last Wednesday, the Patriots eked out a pair of victories by razor-thin margins against all-male Haverford School and Malvern Prep, and that completed an undefeated run through the league dual meets for Germantown.

Individually, GA sophomore Robert DiDonato was unbeaten in dual meet competition this fall, including in a non-league team loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. He won last Wednesday’s race on his home course in 16 minutes, 47 seconds, while Malvern freshman Zach Brill was the runner-up in 17:02.

The three-team race was scored as three separate dual meets, and the Patriots would need every place and every point they could get, as they defeated Malvern, 27-28, and Haverford, 26-29. Malvern’s Friars won head-to-head against the Fords by the same score they lost to GA, 27-28.

DiDonato is new to the GA cross country team this season, having played soccer in the fall of his freshman year. He came out for the track team last spring and immediately showed promise. He wound up placing third in the 3200-meter run at the 2018 Inter-Ac championship meet.

In the Inter-Ac cross country championships a year ago, the Patriots’ top finisher was Matt Sandifer, who placed fifth. Now a junior, Sandifer has been a reliable number two runner for the Pats this fall, and in last week’s meet he placed third in 17:03, right behind Malvern’s Brill and well ahead of Friars sophomore Collin Hess, who took fourth place in 17:55.

The first man in the 18-minute bracket, and the first Haverford runner across the line, was senior Mickey Fairorth, fifth overall in 18:24. A little behind him in sixth place was another Fords senior, Khalil Brand (18:39). One of Haverford’s top performers throughout the season ran an extra loop on part of the GA course by mistake and finished well out of scoring position, but there’s no real remedy for this in the rules.

In seventh and eighth place came the number three runners for Malvern and Germantown Academy. Drew Brill, Zach Brill’s eighth-grade brother, ran a time of 18:42 for the Friars, and GA freshman Alexander Badami clocked in at 18:47.

Just after Malvern had 11th-grader Jack Guardiola placed ninth in 18:54, Haverford got back in the mix as two of its juniors secured the next two spots. They were Lleyton Winslow (18:55) and Sawyer Hoyt (19:00).

GA’s fourth and fifth man had yet to finish, and the Patriots needed them to arrive pretty quickly. The school’s course finishes on the GA track at the end of a straightaway, and here Haverford junior Vincent Scauzzo made a mighty push to overtake Patriots freshman Ethan Feigles. The GA ninth-grader became aware of the threat just in time, holding off Scauzzo at the line to claim 12th place and consign his rival to the 13th spot. Both runners were timed in 19 minutes and five seconds.

The next finishing sequence was not quite as dramatic, although three runners were heading down the final straight at the same time. Coming in 14th overall in 19:13, freshman Richard Wagner locked in Germantown Academy’s final team tally three seconds before Malvern’s number five finished. Anthony Papa, a Friars senior, secured 15th place in 19:16, one second ahead of his junior teammate, John Giordano.

The Patriots’ sixth finisher, sophomore Noah Jenckes, placed 24 in 20:43.

While GA went 5-0 in the Inter-Ac dual meets, the Patriots’ margin of victory in four of those contests was seven points or less. That indicates that a number of different scoring scenarios will be possible at the league championships on October 22 at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park.