While most of the nation competed over the past few weeks, the Northeast starts a little slower. With only one or two meets under each athletes belt, the Northeast rankings did not jump around as much this week. The Pennsylvania girls, Neely Spence and Carly Seymour, are still 1-2, while Brandon Jarrett continues to lead the way on the boys side.
MileSplit's Foot Locker Power Rankings - Northeast Region
Boys
1. Brandon Jarrett (Sr., St. Benedict's, NJ) - No early season competitions quite yet. However, that will change over the next week or two.
2. Vince McNally (Sr., Conestoga Valley, PA) - Winning is certainly not new to McNally. He was and will continue to be a force in Pennsylvania all season long. McNally kicked off his season winning the Gettysburg Invitational by nearly a minute.
3. Doug Smith (Jr., Gill St. Bernard, NJ) - Smith moves to the three spot after a big weekend win at the Roxbury Invitational, in a good time of 15:19 for 5k. While many of the other top ranked athletes were off, Smith was putting in the dirty work of the season, and starting on a good note.
4. Sintayehu Taye (Sr., Cushing Academy, MA) - Taye's season starts soon, and the results need to show that a nonexistent track season didn't affect how he runs cross country.
5. Lee Berube (Sr., Ticonderoga, NY) - Berube won the Saranac Lake Invitational by 49 seconds, starting his season off on the right foot.
6. Donn Cabral (Sr., Glastonbury, CT) - Cabral opened his big invitational season at the Hartford Invitational. Many expected a great match up between Cabral and Danbury's Matt Terry, but it was Terry's teammate, Willie Ahearn, that offered the challenge. Cabral beat out Ahearn for the victory in the final quarter mile of the race, winning by four seconds.
7. Matt Paulson (Sr., Manchester Central, NH) - Paulson ran a seemingly easy 13:12 4k split at the Saber Relays. Paulson and McGrath were set to match up, but a head to head battle didn't quite happen.
8. Alex McGrath (Sr., ConVal, NH) - McGrath's 12:41 4k split at the Saber Relays shows he is in solid shape as the season kicks off in New Hampshire. McGrath's split easily beat out FLNE #7 Paulson's, but they weren't racing head to head from the start.
9. Matt Terry (Sr., Danburg, CT) - While many anticipated a clash between FLNE #6 Cabral and Terry at the Hartford Invitational last weekend, Terry sat out due to a bout of petella tendonitis.
10. Willie Ahearn (Sr., Danbury, CT) - Ahearn earned a lot of credit at the Hartford Invitational, pushing then FLNE #6 Cabral to the wire. This surprised many it seemed, except the Danbury squad. Ahearn definitely earned a ranking this week.
11. Brian Leung (Sr., WWP-South, NJ) - Leung's racing should have started last weekend at the Cherokee Challenge. However, he took the ACT that day, and won't open up until this weekend.
12. Chris Aldrich (Sr., Henderson, PA) - Aldrich's season is just getting started.
Girls
1. Neely Spence (Sr., Shippensburg, PA) - Spence easily won the Big Spring Bulldog Invitational. She really kicks off her season at the Paul Short Invitational on September 28.
2. Carly Seymour (Sr., Central Cambria, PA) - Seymour blazed a 17:27 5k effort at the Altoona Invitational, which is a fairly difficult course. Seymour's start is a good signifier of what lay ahead this season.
3. Hannah Davidson (Sr., Saratoga Springs, NY) - Winning a couple small meets early in the season is a great way for Davidson to tune up for the tough season that lies ahead. Easily the leader of her squad, Davidson will need to respond to any and all challenges this year.
4. Shelby Greany (Jr., Suffern, NY) - Greany opened her season well, competing on her home course. She won the Suffern Invitational in a great time of 17:47, winning over two other very good individuals in Jaclyn Marshall (Sr., Kings Park) and Emma Miller-Bedell (Sr., Tappan Zee).
5. Emily Jones (Jr., Bromfield, MA) - Like many other girls in the region, Jones' season has yet to really get rolling.
6. Chelsea Ley (So., Kingsway, NJ) - Few athletes can jump from not ranked to this high up on the charts. Ley earned a top spot by breaking Danielle Tauro's course record at the Cherokee Challenge last weekend in New Jersey.
7. Mary Kate Champagne (Sr., Seton, NY) - The buzz around New York centers on Champagne's fast start to the season. Her opening win ranks her as one of the top girls in the state right away.
8. Georgia Griffin (Sr., Hanover, NH) - Ranked as one of the top squads in the Northeast, Griffin's Hanover squad needs her to come up big every week. In Griffin's first invitational of the year, she ran 18:32, winning by well over a minute. What a great start to the year.
9. Melanie Thompson (Jr., Voorhees, NJ) - Very little competition up to this point, Thompson needs to showcase her talents soon.
10. Caitlin Lane (Sr., Greenwich, NY) - Lane opens her season this weekend at the Bowdoin Park Classic.
11. Kathryn Buchan (Jr., Fayetteville-Manlius, NY) - Buchan led her team to a stellar victory in their first big race of the season. Buchan ran 17:46 for 5k, marking her as one of the fastest in New York thus far. Luckily for her, she has some great teammates to train with, so she will always be ready for the big races.
12. Kacey Gibson (Sr., Neshannock, PA) - Off to a strong start, Gibson easily won the Big Red Invitational by over a minute. A very impressive start to the season. While she ran well, a couple other girls in the region ran great, hence the reason Gibson dropped despite winning big.