2007 MIAA CROSS COUNTRY PREVIEW

Last yearâ??s MIAA Cross Country Championships came down to a one point win for Loyola over a surprising Calvert Hall team. But with Loyola getting hit harder by graduation than other teams in the conference, the team title should be once again up for grabs among a few teams.

The Dons lost their top two runners in Greg Jubb and Ryan Stasiowski and will need to find runners from their JV squad to run with their returnees from last year. Joe Orsulak, a 1:58 800 runner should be the top returning runner for Loyola this year. Another 800 runner, Johnny McAuliffe will more than likely be the number two runner. Other varsity runners returning are Greg Lange and Brendan Tizzard. Runners moving up from JV will be Brett Flurry, Matt Erford and Ben Mackey. Loyola also brings in freshman Matt Jablonski, who ran a sub 5:00 1600 as an 8th grader. Jablonski will be a dual sport athlete having also made the varsity soccer squad.

Calvert Hall returns their number one runner and fourth place finisher from last year, Tony Rowe, who will be the favorite in the championship meet this year. Chris Sisko is the other Cardinal that is expected to make a push for the top five this year. Calvert Hall had an outstanding JV team last year and should be the favorite to take the team title in 2007.

Archbishop Spalding lost their number one runner this year in Rob Wetzel, who took his talents to the University of Texas, but the Cas return a strong nucleus from last year. Seventh place finisher Zach Sullivan and 14th place finisher Trevor Keen return to challenge Calvert Hallâ??s top two runners. The runners expected to join those two on the varsity squad are JR Spencer, Cassin Sutor, John Graziano and Paul Inglis.

The B Conference could have the top individual in the entire MIAA with 11th place finisher from last year, Grisha Iventichev. Iventichev ran many fast times in both indoor and outdoor track and has the talent to run with the best in the league, but runs into the problem of having to run many workouts by himself. Lucky for him that he has coach Ken Fowler to train with. Fowler, a successful road racer, can push Iventichev during most of his workouts.

Coach Paul Hulleberg of the Park School lost his number one runner and number one son Anders to graduation this year, but coach has worked overtime in creating a competitive team the past couple of years. His top runner will once again be a product of his genes in son Lucas Hulleberg, who finished 25th last year. Backing Lucas up will be Ethan Haswell. The next two runners will be Jamie Demarco and Kyle Long. The problem this year will be to develop some depth in the team.

Archbishop Curley loses its number one also in Eric Anderson, but the Friars have two runners who could be in the top five in the conferenc., Pat Hairfield and Tim Skarda. Coach Gene Hoffman is also counting on Kevin Sommers, Adam Rybczynski and Brandon Williams to help a depth challenged roster.

Returning athletes from other schools in the MIAA include Conor Scott, Hunter Truette and Jeff Smith of Cardinal Gibbons; Sam Sutherland, Chris Stahl, Sean Elitze and Dustin Doloff of Glenelg Country; and Ian Richardson, Brad Viers and Joe Bucha of John Carroll.
Mount St. Joseph â?? Steve Childress