Cross Country

For Cardinal O'Hara seniors Michele Torelli and Megan Cepetelli, cross- country is an excellent training base for the winter and spring track seasons. Torelli, the two-time defending Catholic League cross-country champion, and Cepetelli are two of several O'Hara runners who compete year-round under head coach Joe Shields. Torelli also has placed third the last two years in the Delaware County championships. Torelli, who is unbeaten the last two years in league dual meets, also competes with Klub Keystone in the summer months.

My friend and I want to go cross-country skiing this winter. Where are some locations accessible to the public? R.D., Philadelphia Pennsylvania's Fall/Winter Travel Planner lists all the state's ski areas and gives details on each, including which offer cross-country. In the Pocono Region chart, for instance, 10 of 12 resorts are listed as having cross- country. For a free copy of the travel planner, write to Box 61, Warrendale, Pa. 15086, or call 800-847-4872. Pennsylvania also has brochures called "Ski the Poconos" available by calling 800-762-6667 and "Ski the Laurel Highlands" available from 800-333-5661, both of which have cross-country information.

A few months ago, Ted Donnelly was thinking about passing up the cross- country season. After almost five months of suffering from knee and ankle injuries, and several more months of an intense rehabilitation program, Donnelly considered taking some time off and then concentrating on the indoor track season. "I hurt my knee this summer and really couldn't run, and then I hurt the ankle during a cross-country practice," the Springfield senior said. "I just figured I'd gear myself towards track.

Sooner or later, Archbishop Ryan's Shawn Schneider knew he would have to choose between soccer and cross-country. He had tried doing both in his sophomore year, playing junior varsity soccer on weekdays while running on weekends. Still he missed mid-week cross- country meets at Belmont Plateau. Then in his junior year, he gave up cross-country and played for George Todt's varsity soccer team - the one that won the Catholic League last season and was ranked among the best in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

For the next four years Carol Haux of Archbishop Kennedy and Kate Fonshell of Penncrest will be running together on the Villanova track team. Each recently announced that she had accepted a scholarship to the school, and Saturday afternoon they prepared for the future at the Delaware Valley Girls Track Association indoor meet at West Chester University, where they met in the 1000-yard race. Haux led from the start, and with Fonshell right behind her, the two pulled away from the pack.

In the past two seasons Brian Gallagher, a senior at Sterling, has: Won the South Jersey Group 2 1,600 meters championship in 1992, defeating a highly regarded field of the state's finest performers. Finished among the top 10 performers in the South Jersey Group 2 cross- country sectional meet both as a sophomore and junior. Won Colonial Conference and Camden County track titles in the 800-meter and 1,600-meter events last season. Defeated many of the area's top 1,600-meter and cross-country performers, including Woodrow Wilson's David Cox, Haddon Heights' John Salisbury, and Point Pleasant Borough's Terry Fagan.

The first time Upper Merion's Liz Churchville ran the mile won't go down as one of her all-time favorite days. "I ran the mile a couple times last year in middle school," the Vikings freshman said. "I didn't want to do it, but we didn't have anyone else. The first time, I dropped out. I didn't know it would feel so bad. I was out of breath, and my mouth was dry; it felt like I was tasting blood. " Churchville's next attempt at distance work was during the first week of cross-country practice in August.

She heard the pleas from both parents and her coach during last year's PIAA District 1 cross-country championships. Finally, the messages sank in and common sense prevailed for Norristown's Donna Fidler. She abruptly halted her season by pulling out of the competition with about a half-mile to go. That was not an easy decision for Fidler, then a sophomore, to make. She had brought to the race promising credentials (she finished seventh in the state as a freshman), and had battled through the pain of shin splints to get ready for a return trip.

The Strath Haven girls' cross-country team might not be one of the best in the area, but winning big meets isn't how coach Bill Coren measures success. "I get freshmen and sophomores who aren't great runners," Coren explained. "And then they improve and are pretty good runners by the time they're seniors. " The Panthers are indeed a team of overachievers. Despite a 1-3 Central League record, Coren and his runners are shooting for a .500 record in a competitive league. Take No. 1 runner Sara Wray, for example.

Three years ago, Jason DiJoseph was a young man without a sport. Today, the Paul VI senior is without peer in New Jersey as a cross-country runner and is widely regarded as one of the nation's top high school distance runners. "When I was a freshman, my friend asked me if I wanted to run cross- country with him," DiJoseph said. "Since I had nothing else to do, I said yes. "I had never run cross-country before. At first, it was just something to pass the time. I didn't even come up to the varsity until later in the season.

When Briana Gess of Haddonfield was 4 years old, she decided she was over riding in her parents' jogging stroller. They competed in local road races, usually with their daughter in front. Her protests grew so loud that her father let her out of the stroller during a 5K, figuring she'd run for a bit then want to get back in. That never happened. She finished the race on her own. "I've liked it ever since," said Gess, 14, chatting in the Saxbys Coffee in downtown Haddonfield.

For three years, Kinzey Lynch has been a key member of the Perkiomen Valley High School cross-country team. He's run through the woods, over trails, and on courses that intersect busy streets with a personal record of 22 minutes, 48 seconds. This might not seem too extraordinary for a cross-country runner, except that Lynch, 17, is legally blind. He was born with two conditions that combined to severely limit vision in his left eye, and leave him seeing just colors and distances from his right.

WE'VE ALL read depressing newspaper stories about underachieving local high school students. This, I'm happy to say, isn't that kind of column. No, I've set aside this space to give a well-deserved thumbs-up to Cameron Clarke, a senior at Germantown Academy who scored a perfect 2400 on the SAT. That's right. A perfect score. That hardly ever happens. Although more than 1.66 million students took the SAT in 2012, only 360 test takers nationwide achieved a spotless 2400, according to SAT officials.

Meghan Malloy says that sometimes a cross-country race will end and she won't be sure how well she has run. "Sometimes, it just seems to go by so fast," Malloy said. Malloy finally got a chance to step back and appreciate her accomplishments at the end of her senior season. She had to concede that she enjoyed the view. Malloy, the Haddonfield senior who led the Bulldogs to a sectional title, was named South Jersey's cross-country Runner of the Year by the South Jersey Track Coaches Association.

Selected by the S.J. Track Coaches Association. Boys Shawn Wilson, Cherokee (runner of year) Eric Franklin, Bishop Eustace Kyle Kirk, Camden Catholic Nick Costello, Delsea Greg Halla, Haddonfield Louis Corgliano, Hammonton Steve Maine, Highland Noah Culbreath, Kingsway Ryan Magnus, Kingsway Julian Greco, Lenape Jimmy Daniels, Sterling Kyle Leonard, Washington Township Girls Meghan Malloy,...

Cardinal O'Hara boys and Pennsbury girls punched their tickets to the national championship Saturday with strong showings at the Nike Cross Country Regional Championships in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. Dan Savage and Kevin James led the Lions as they finished just more than a second apart for 15th and 16th place. Savage, a senior, pulled in at 16 minutes, 21 seconds and sophomore James finished in 16:22.1. The team finished in second place with 90 points, edging Warrior Track Club by just five points.

Two miles into a cross-country meet, Shawn Wilson said, it often feels as if he's not even working. Saturday, when he emerged onto the Delsea track, the final stretch of the sectional championship meet, it was as if Wilson had just burst out of the starting blocks. There were no other runners in sight, but Wilson was practically sprinting. A 22-second margin of victory - with a time of 15 minutes, 40 seconds that Wilson was far from satisfied with - reiterated the Cherokee senior's dominance this season.

When the Washington Township cross-country team goes for a training run, Kyle Leonard doesn't just set the pace with his legs. He sets the tone with his mouth. "My teammates will tell you, I talk a lot," Leonard said. "I talk a lot during those runs. " Leonard has backed up his words with action as a senior. He has excelled as an individual and led the Minutemen into position for one of the best seasons in the history of the program. Leonard ran a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 0.16 seconds at Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational at Great Adventure on Sept.

Temple's Travis Mahoney won the Atlantic Ten Conference men's cross-country title Saturday at Belmont Plateau. Mahoney, a redshirt senior, finished the 8-kilometer race in 25 minutes, 16.5 seconds to help the Owls take fourth place with 127 points - their best-ever finish in the conference championships. Butler (38 points) won the team title in its first season as a conference member, followed by St. Joseph's (121) and defending champion La Salle (122). Mahoney's A-10 outstanding performer of the year award is the third he has received in 2012, including indoor and outdoor track honors.