Hatboro-Horsham’s Comber, Upper Dublin’s Smith in SOL non-conference tri-meet
UPPER DUBLIN — All three conferences of the Suburban One League were represented Wednesday afternoon as Council Rock South, Upper Dublin and Hatboro-Horsham took to the cross country course at Upper Dublin.
Casey Comber of Hatboro-Horsham was the first to cross the finish line of the tough Upper Dublin course, he clocked in at 16:12 well ahead of the rest of the field. Comber was pleased with the result but stressed that the time was not what is important at this point in the season, just getting the win.
“I just wanted to win today, I wasn’t worried about time,’ Comber said. “I went out at a comfortable pace got in the woods (and) surged a little bit and at that point I started to separate and just kind of cruised.’
Andy Stewart placed third for Upper Dublin as he made a nice charge to the finish line to come in with a 16:31. Stewart echoed some of the same sentiment that Comber did about racing for time at this point in the season.
“I felt very good coming around two miles,’ Stewart said. “I wasn’t that far behind Casey, I wasn’t far behind the Council Rock South guy so I was pretty happy about that.’
Both Upper Dublin and Hatboro-Horsham had some good runs getting a lot of runners in the top 10-15, as the early part of the season starts to conclude both the Cardinals and the Hatters feel good about where their teams are at heading into conference meets.
“I think we can get first place,’ Stewart said of his team’s chances to win the American Conference. “I think it’s going to take guts and I think we just need to dig deep and go for it.’
“We’re feeling really good. We know we got some tough teams in our conference but we think we’ll be prepared for them,’ Comber said.
After the guys were finished, the ladies took to the course minus South — the Cardinals and the Hatters going head to head.
Coming into the season, Upper Dublin was confident that its one through five runners would be very strong and barring health concerns enough to place at the top of the SOL American. The Cardinals proved that strength by placing three of the top five spots lead by Sarah Smith who won with a time of 20:15.
“I’ve been the girls coach for five or six years now and I think one through five we might be the strongest we’ve ever been,’ Upper Dublin coach Tony Giammarco said.
For Hatboro-Horsham, Alyssa Quinn and Hannah Knudsen slid into the top five posting times of 20:25 and 21:08 respectively. For Quinn it was an early season personal best run by over a minute.
“[She’s] back to where she feels like she should be,’ Hatboro-Horsham coach Anna Baker said of Quinn. “At the beginning of the season some of her times were not where she wanted them to be.’
Baker also touched on the value of her girls getting the experience of running against a team like Upper Dublin who has a lot of speed out its top runners. Hatboro-Horsham had a nice showing considering it was down three of its top runners.
“I think it was good for us especially against a team like Upper Dublin who is consistently strong,’ Baker said.
Like both of the boys squads, both Hatboro-Horsham and Upper Dublin are excited to see what conference play has in store.
“Depth is an issue but if we’re healthy from one until the end of the season that’s great,’ Giammarco said. “If everyone stays healthy I think we should be OK, the goal is to always win the conference.’
