North Penn sweeps past Pennridge, H-H
The long winding trail that fiUVW wUDSV DURuQG WKH HDWERURHorsham track and then leads onto it is only wide enough for one runner, not two.
Passing is nearly impossible during this dusty stretch.
North Penn’s Jack Macauley was determined to be the guy out in front, and ahead of defending state champ Conner nuinn of H-H.
“It’s really narrow in there and it’s slanted,” Macauley said. “vour ankles are like (so close together). It was rough.”
Macauley came out of the trail running hard and did his lap around the HatterS’ WUDcN, cURVVLQJ WKH fiQLVK OLQH in 15 minutes, 33 seconds to win Tuesday’s tri-meet with Hatboro-Horsham and Pennridge and lead his Knights to a pair of victories.
Macauley passed nuinn with about a half mile to go and stayed in control the rest of the way on this mild, windy day at the Hatters’ home course.
“I knew if I didn’t get past him before the spot where it gets really narrow, then I wasn’t going to,” the Knights’ top runner said. “It felt good.”
TKH VHQLRU’V fiUVW-SODcH fiQLVK wDV NHy LQ HDUQLQJ WKH .QLJKWV D 27-30 wLQ RYHU Hatboro-Horsham and also a 28-29 win over Pennridge. The Maidens would follow up with a pair of victories over Pennridge (20-43) and H-H (15-50) to complete a sweep for North Penn.
The Hatters ran their home course with a passion onWednesday, exemplified by their leader.
“I wanted to go out fast but Conner took it out even faster than I wanted,” Macauley said. “At the mile mark, it was where I wanted to be - 4:50 - EuW WKH fiUVW 400 PHWHUV, wH wHUH flyLQJ. , wDV VWUuJJOLQJ to keep up with him and I was KuIfiQJ DQG SuIfiQJ.”
Macauley outlasted nuinn and earned a tremendous victory over his rival. The Hatters’ overall performance earned WKHP D 27-28 wLQ RYHU 3HQnridge in the Suburban One League Continental ConferHQcH fiQDOH IRU DOO WKUHH VTuDGV,
“Pennridge had a really good track team last year, they have really good 800 runners and they run a good pack,” said Knights coach Mike Werner, who led his WHDP WR DQ 11-0 fiQLVK RYHUDOO DQG 7-0 fiQLVK LQ WKH cRQIHUence. “They’re a very good team. Their top three ran really well and that put some pressure on us. HatboroHorsham ran phenomenal.”
Especially up front, where nuinn battled Macauley for top honors.
“That was a very cool race,” Werner said. “Conner’s a great runner, and this was his last race on his home course so I knew he would want to be aggressive today and Jack kinda keyed off him and ran a strong race. Jack’s coming off two really good races. He’s starting to get hot at the right time.”
The Knights were able to earn the victories despite missing one of their top runners in Ryan Grace, who is hoping to make it back from injury.
The Maidens were dominant in the second race of the doubleheader, as Ali salenti led a pack of seven consecuWLYH 1RUWK 3HQQ fiQLVKHUV. salenti was second only to Pennridge’s Marissa Sheva, wKR cURVVHG fiUVW LQ 18:50.
Sheva’s strong run provided something to cheer about for the Rams, who were missing their second, third and fourth runners. H-H, led by Megan Schneider (ninth), pushed past Pennridge 28-29.
The teams now get ready for the conference championships, which will be held Oct. 19 at Lehigh University.