On Saturday, Flanagan finished third at the Salesianum Invitational (Del.) in 17:37 on another rugged 3.1-mile course.
Flanagan was one of the top five runners in the Central League as a freshman before slumping a bit last season.
``This year he looks a lot stronger,'' Radnor coach Dale Dohner said. ``He looks like a different runner. Last year he had a growth spurt. He grew taller, but hadn't caught up in terms of strength.''
The Red Raiders (10-5) are also led by senior captain Kevin Chu, who is not yet 100 percent after breaking his right ankle.
``Every once in a while he lands funny,'' Dohner said. ``He has a good race and then he has to ease up a bit.''
Junior Andrew Hennessy is perhaps the team's most consistent runner. And a youth movement is in the making with sophomore Dave Roderick and freshmen Adam Leive and Elliot Cook. All three have shown improvement while making contributions to the varsity.
Royal rush. Imagine if 10 runners scored in a meet instead of five? Upper Darby has compiled a 6-1 record with the usual five, but the Royals really go 10 deep without much drop-off in quality.
Junior Mike Grube has vaulted into prominence as one of the Central League's best runners, while senior Matt Iaci is also highly competitive. Seniors Brian Doherty, Carmine Gentile and Dan Powers, and juniors Dan George, Pawl Good, Brian Slattery, Joe Bateman and Jeff Stott round out a pack of 10 who can run within 35 seconds.
``We've had some very, very pleasant surprises this year,'' Royals coach Conrad Fisher said. ``We have a wonderful group of kids and they are getting stronger.''
Upper Darby finished fifth in the large-schools race at the Bulldog Invitational on Sept. 27 and 11th among 37 teams in Saturday's Steel City Invitational.
Kennett on the rise. Kennett, a small school with a large team, solves any potential identity problems with a winning formula.
The Blue Demons (7-2, 5-1 Southern Chester County League) are paced by sophomores Daryl Brown and John Goodman.
