Souderton’s McMenamin, Pennridge’s Brill lead the pack in SOL Continental tri-meet
HORSHAM >> It looked — and felt — like it might be a sluggish day on the course.
But there was Connor McMenamin, motoring right along.
“I tried to take it out hard,” the Souderton Area junior said of Wednesday’s tri-meet with Hatboro-Horsham and Pennridge. “I didn’t want to go sub-five — I just wanted to feel a nice tempo. But due to the race conditions, I knew if I could push it a bit more — I went out the first mile at 4:56, I’d be able to get an advantage on the chasing packs.
“I was able to do that, and it was like, ‘alright, let’s ride it the rest of the way.’”
McMenamin’s ride around the Hatboro-Horsham track for the final 350 meters became his winner’s circle, his time of 16 minutes, 11.85 seconds standing out as the finest performance of the afternoon.
With a tremendous Hatboro pack in pursuit — the Hatters would race to wins over Big Red and Pennridge, McMenamin was able to race to top honors against two tough Suburban One League Continental Conference rivals, and build even more anticipation for what should be a promising postseason.
“Coming off a 15:41 from Great Adventure (at the Wild Safari Invitational), things are really looking up and the training’s really beginning to pay off,” McMenamin said. “I’m staying healthy, things are looking great and I can’t wait for the postseason and hopefully states again.
“This course is good. Last year when we ran it, it was really hot and sort of had a fast feeling to it, but this year it felt much slower, probably because of the rain and the mud. It was more of a mental aspect, just pushing through it.”
McMenamin pulled away to win the boys race by 35 seconds, and later on in the day, it would be Pennridge’s Monika Brill racing to first place for the first time in her varsity career.
“I always feel bad at the beginning of the race, but that’s good,” Brill stressed, “because then I push it.
“At the two-mile mark, that’s when coach (Bill) Smith yelled at me to go.”
Brill, in her first ever race at Hatboro, crossed in 19:46.98, outlasting Alyssa Quinn of the Hatters. Brill, one of two twin sisters who form a pretty good tandem on the basketball court, led the Rams to a pair of dual-meet victories, 23-35 over Hatboro-Horsham and 25-32 over Souderton. Souderton, paced by Emily Bonaventure, battled past the Hatters, 25-33.
“I want us to go far as a team,” Brill said. “Last year, we had Marissa (Sheva), who always got first, which was amazing, but the rest of the team didn’t do their part. This year, we have a good seven.”
The pack got it done for the Hatboro boys as well, as Jared Bixler pushed the Hatters to a 23-37 victory over Big Red and a 20-38 win over Pennridge. The Rams, led by Tucker Desko’s second-place finish, earned a 24-35 win over the Indians.
“At the beginning of the year, we had a two-minute spread between one and five, and now our fifth man (Connor Irwin) is within 55 seconds,” Hatters coach Mike Mahoney said. “We’re getting stronger. Jared looked great today — he’s a sophomore, leading the team this year, which is great.
“We’re moving in the right direction.”
Top Photo: Souderton’s Connor McMenamin, front left, along with Hatboro-Horsham and Pennridge boys launch for their cross country meet at Hatboro-Horsham High School on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. (Mark C Psoras/The Reporter)
