The Bucks finished behind only West Chester Henderson (PA#3), Council Rock North (PA#4), West Chester East (PA#6), Great Valley (PA#9), Downingtown West (previous PA#10), Pennsbury (PA#8), and CB East. West completed a championship race
sweep of respected local foes North Penn (2011 Team State Champions), William Tennent, Pennridge, Upper Dublin, Hatboro-Horsham, Bensalem, Council Rock South, CB South, and many more good teams.
Pressing in the top 10% of the race of 373 finishers were seniors Chris Berry (29th, 16:05) and AJ Morgan (35th, 16:15, PR!). Although Morgan finished 9th at the SOL Continental Championships, Morgan improved to 7th among conference rivals on Friday, besting CB East's Alec Brand (8th in SOL Continental) and Pennridge's Joe Logue (5th in SOL Continental). Morgan dropped a beastly 77 seconds from his 2011 PR of 17:32 at last year's District Championship race, when he overcame an August 25th appendectomy to save the Bucks' bacon as their fifth and final district championship race scorer.
The Bucks' 3-4-5 pack of freshman Rock Fortna (111th, 17:02), sophomore Baylor Griffin (116th, 17:04, PR!), and senior Will Bone 136th, 17:09) competed fiercely together to the last yard, keeping the 1-5 gap down to a solid 64 seconds.
Of the SOL Continental's eight teams, six placed in the top half of the race, five placed in the top third of the race, and three placed in the top ten of the District One Championship field.
In the Unseeded Varsity race, senior Austin Kline (10th, 17:19), sophomore Pat Kelly, freshman Declan McDonald, and sophomore Beckett Wilson ran outstandingly. Kline earned a trinket to commemorate his brilliant last XC race.
AJ Morgan and Chris Berry earned the right to compete at the PIAA State XC Championships by virtue of finishing among the top 25 individuals who were not on the top five state-qualifying teams. Their race is on Saturday, November 3rd at Hershey at 1:15 pm. See you there!