Best Actors

Best Actors
Best Performance by a Team or Relay
Similar to Best Actor, this is open to interpretation as well. Voters can select a relay, a XC team or a track team. They can also consider a team’s entire body of work over three seasons.

And the nominees are ...

Camp Hill XC/Track

I made a post about these guys, but the Camp Hill boys were doing big things long before that post hit the net. In the fall, Camp Hill stormed to district and state championships in cross country, led by three runners in the top 26 in the state. Then, on the track, the small school (A for XC) nearly grabbed another state title at Shippensburg, coming up just short in 2^nd. All three of their relays earned state medals and Cooper Leslie took 3^rd in the 1600 after a 1:53 anchor leg of Camp Hill’s sub 8 relay. As an added bonus, CH trekked to New Balance Nationals and clocked a sub 10:30 mark in the DMR.

CB East XC/Track

Hey, I made a post about these guys too! CB East qualified for the state championships in XC during the fall and earned a top 10 spot in the standings thanks in part to big races from Oscar nominees Jake Brophy and Josh Goetz. During indoors, CB East qualified for states in both the DMR and the 4x800, earning a medal in the DMR. East also qualified for the Penn Relays in the 4x8 and made the state finals outdoors, finishing in 9^th place overall. Throughout the season, the team showed incredible depth across a variety of distances, including some monster performances from their freshmen.

CR North XC/Track

The boys from North put on a peaking clinic this year in XC. They rolled at just the right time and used a tight pack of state new comers to finish 5^th overall in AAA. They surprised a lot of people when they snuck into the 8 spot in the 4x8 during indoor states and then launched a phenomenal outdoor season. North ran well under 7:50 in the state finals of the outdoor 4x8 and was in contention for the silver medal position throughout the race. In the mile and 3200 they brought together a core from a variety of grades to run under 10 minutes and under 4:30. They also showed a ton of potential for a bright future next year.

DT West XC/Track

What can you say about this team other than “Wow”. DT West dominated the XC season with big wins at Manhattan, States and Regionals (the first ever by a PA squad). They rolled to one of the biggest point totals ever during the indoor state championship and then came just one point away from repeating the feat during outdoors. West won the 4x4 state championship, had a Penn Relays mile champion and had top 3 finishers in the state for both the 8 and the 16. They also placed 3 runners in the top 6 overall at XC states, all at 15:53 or faster.

Germantown Friend’s DMR/4x800m

Although they were in the independent league this year, GFS still threw down some of the most impressive distance relays in the state. Their 4x8 placed 4^th during the winter at states, running a big school record. They also grabbed silver in the DMR at indoor states with a variety of doubling legs. At indoor nationals, they held their own in the slower section of the DMR, helped in part by a 4:10 anchor leg by Nick Dahl. GFS continued to roll outdoors, just missing the finals of the 4x8 at Penn Relays and then clocking a monster 10:03 DMR at Nationals with a 4:08 split from Dahl this time around. Their 800 core featured runners at 1:54, 1:55 and 1:57 in the open 800 (with some faster splits thrown in there as well).

LaSalle XC/Track

You are not going to believe this, but I actually wrote an article about themtoo. LaSalle’s depth has been incredible in 2015-2016. They put 7 guys under 17 at states in Hershey, one of the most impressive displays of depth in the race’s history. They also qualified for indoor states in both the DMR and the 4x8 and then followed that with an outdoor state medal in the 4x8. Patrick Grant and Evan Addison both ran under 4:18 for a full mile at the Henderson Distance Festival, leading a slew of fast 3200, 1600 and 800 guys on this team’s unthinkably deep roster.

North Allegheny XC/Track

Imagine graduating your top 3 guys in XC and getting better? Is it possible? Well that’s arguably what happened for NA who, after losing 3 of the top 26 finishers from the 2014 XC State meet, came back to finish 2^nd at states to an all-time great DT West squad. Jacob Stupak, Marc Migliozzi and Sam Blechman all finished in the top 26 at the state championship themselves. On the track, North Allegheny surprised with a state medal in the 4x8 with a squad of all returners (including some key runs by sophomores) and also qualified four individuals for states between the 8, 16 and 32. Marc Migliozzi and Jacob Stupak both left with medals in their respective events and North Allegheny posted a terrific team score that was overshadowed by the jaw-dropping numbers from SC and DTW.

Seneca 4x800m

The small school was incredible in the AA 4x800, cruising to the state title in one of the fastest AA state times ever. They ran 7:50 for the gold and featured a 1:53 anchor split from Donovan Myers. This squad returns all 4 runners from their state title campaign including two 1:56 splits to go with their 1:53.

Seneca Valley XC

The Seneca Valley XC team wasn’t at the top of everyone’s radars in 2015, but they emerged as a surprise contender at the WPIAL championships when they finished 2^nd overall ahead of local power Mount Lebanon. Mike Kolor led the charge out front, but the team displayed an impressive pack, including key runs from some talented freshmen as well.

State College 4x800m/Track

State College’s 4x8 put on a clinic during the 2016 track seasons. After rolling to a Millrose win, a state title and a near state record during the winter, SC went outdoors with a chip on their shoulder. Their 4x8 absolutely crushed a loaded outdoor field with a 7:37 runaway victory. Their top three runners also ran 4:10.17 (Milligan), 1:53.50 (Feffer) and 1:54.17 (Degleris) to score individually in their open events later in the meet. Those performances, combined with a variety of other monster jumps, throws and sprints, helped SC pull off the upset in the state title race, edging out DT West by 1 point.