Westtown >> Host West Chester Rustin was a double winner at Wednesday’s Ches-Mont American Division Meet, with Golden Knight seniors finishing first in both the boys and girls races.
Setting the pace for the girls was Rustin senior Maddie Miller, who finished first by a comfortable margin and completed the two-mile course in 11:59.1. In the boys’ race, Golden Knight senior Harry Davis finished first with a time of 10:33.8.
Wednesday’s meet was the second of three Ches-Mont American cross country meets. The first one was held last week at Oxford, and the final one will be held Sept. 27 at Sun Valley High School.
Miller, who placed fourth at the Ches-Mont Cross Country Championships last year, is considered the top Golden Knight girls’ cross country runner this fall, since Ellie Keefer (who was fourth at States last fall, and the Daily Local News Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year for the last two years) graduated from Rustin last spring. At the recent Battle of West Chester, Miller finished first (12:08 in the two-mile run) and at the Unionville 2-Mile Bash she placed eighth. A track standout at Rustin, Miller is a prior recipient of the Daily Local News Girls Track Athlete of the Year award.
“Maddie is running really, really well,” said Rustin girls cross country coach Andrew White. “At the Battle of West Chester last week, she ran 20 seconds faster than she ran the year before, and that was running the first half mostly under control as a workout. She just keeps getting better. She has 400 (meter run), 800, mile run experience in track, but she’s not afraid to embrace the role of our No. 1 runner now that Ellie has graduated. And she’s really bringing along (sophomore) Sophia Hnetinka really well.”
Miller said, “Today, I wanted to take the first mile conservative, and then push it a little more on the final 1K. This is our workout course, and the familiarity of it helps (me). A lot of this course is on pavement, so that makes it easier (laughs).”
Hnetinka, who finished in third place Wednesday, medaled at the Unionville 2-Mile Bash and placed third at the Battle of West Chester.
“Sophia has really stepped up big this year, and shown that she believes in herself a lot, as opposed to being a freshman who was learning the system last year,” said White.
Rustin senior Brianna Ambrosine finished fourth in the girls race Wednesday, and was closely followed by teammate Gracie Impriano (fifth place).
“Brianna is having a great senior year; she’s been at the state meet the last two years, and we’re hoping that she’s going to make it back again this year,” said White. “Gracie, who’s a freshman, is sort of like Sophia – embracing her role and stepping up in confidence, and it’s really good to see.”
The second-place finisher in the girls’ race was Oxford senior Jessie Cox, who placed in the top 25 at Districts last fall and competed at States.
“My goal today was to hold a certain pace, to go out pretty conservative and then try a negative split,” said Cox, who will be running her first 5K race of the season Saturday at the upcoming Whippet Invitational. “I really (prefer) the 5K runs but I like the 2Ks because it gets you a little more speed before you go into the 5Ks. Over the summer, you work on a lot of distance so it helps to pick up the pace on the two-mile runs.”
In the boys’ race Wednesday, Davis set the pace. Earlier this season, he placed first at the Battle of West Chester, with a time of 10:41 on the Rustin course, edging out West Chester Henderson junior Ben Pentz.
“Today, I tried to follow the front pack, then outkick them on the (final stretch),” said Davis.
White said, “Harry has done a great job this fall. He’s got a 400, 800 background, but he’s not been afraid to hop up with (senior) Sean Roselli, whose one of our top runners, and put himself in that front pack and challenge himself to step outside of his track speed-oriented strengths to work on his aerobic fitness a little bit. Harry’s been getting a little more aggressive, a little more confident in his racing, which is nice to see.”
Davis was followed in Wednesday’s boys’ race by Oxford junior Owen Oliver (10:38.4), Sun Valley junior Trevor Fursman (10:48.1), Oxford’s Benjamin Whalen (PR 10:57.1) and Oxford’s Paul Kellerman (11:08.8.)
Oliver said, “My goal today was to pace Benjamin (Whalen) to go below 11 minutes for his PR.”
Oxford coach Mike Walling said, “Owen has been our top boys runner, he’s been practicing hard in the off-season. We have a big junior class for the boys’ runners, and we have a large senior class for the girls’ runners, led by Jessie Cox.”
