Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
La Salle, NP place second, fourth in team standings
Hatboro-Horsham senior Brian DiCola completed a fouryear quest on Saturday, racing to the state title at the PIAA-3A Championships in Hershey.
DiCola conquered the demanding Hershey course in 15 minutes, 25 seconds, besting the 15:36 by his nearest competitor, Drew Griffith of Butler.
DiCola was also the first of five District 1 runners to crack the top 10 and the first of eight in the top 25.
That honorable list included Upper Dublin’s Matt Castronuvo, who placed 10th in 16:32.
DiCola was second behind Griffith after the first mile and after the second, but then made his move in the third.
La Salle earned State Runner-Up honors, led by Drew Brill (seventh, 16:29) and Ryan McGinley (22nd, 16:57).
District 1 champ North Penn put together a solid showing, placing fourth in the 20-team field.
The Knights were paced by freshman Justin Landis, who pushed to 31st in 17:08.
Hatboro-Horsham’s Emily Simko surged to 12th place in Class 3A girls, crossing the finish line in 19:15.1.
The senior had a tremendous final race at Hershey.
Teammate Lillian DiCola, a sophomore, notched a 16th-place finish, finishing the tough Hershey course in 19:27.2.
Also from the area, Mount St. Joe’s Ella Woehlcke was 18th in
19:34.1 and Pennridge’s Ashley Landis was 22nd in 19:47.
Jenkintown finished second as a team in Class A Boys, its 108 points topping 21 other squads.
Central Cambria won the title with 95.
The Drakes had a stellar showing, with junior Jesse Patterson setting the pace with a 17:33.7.
Jenkintown had just a 1:14 gap between runners one and five.
Oliver Michell (12th), Isaac Mixon (26th), Denis Tulin (27th) and John Byler (37th) also had strong races for the Drakes.
In 2A Girls, Archbishop Wood’s Gwen Hamilton, a freshman, cracked the top 25 with a 22nd place finish in 20:32.1.
In 2A Boys, another freshman, Stephen Heckler of Lansdale Catholic, raced to 38th in 17:40.5.