Coffey, Rohlf lead Falcons to quad win
The Falcons won the battle at the tail end of the top 10, slipping past the Gators, 23-32, while cruising past McGuffey, 15-42. Avella didn’t have enough runners so Brownsville easily won 15-50. The Gators earned a split of their triangular, defeating McGuffey, 18-50.
Coffey is on an early roll, winning the first section meet of the year on the heels of taking first in the California University of Pa. Invitational last Saturday. He opened a cushion, and maintained the distance over Rohlf to cover the difficult course in 17:55.
“I want to get out, and see if I can maintain a pace and break 18 (minutes),” said Coffey.
The Falcons finished ahead of Geibel in Saturday’s meet, but Coffey acknowledged it was a completely different meet.
“I still knew we had to work as a whole (to beat Geibel),” explained Coffey. “I like running (at home). I know where I can push. I feel more confident here.”
With Rohlf finishing in 18:26, Geibel’s Anthony Speeney waited too long to employ his late-race kick and was unable to make up the space Rohlf held for over half the race. The sophomore was third with a time of 18:47 with teammate Adam Siecinski fourth in 19:22.
Speeney was a bit leery of kicking it in too early on an unfamiliar course.
“On our course, I know where to hit my kick. I realized it was too late,” said Speeney. “I got about 20 feet on him coming down the big hill, but he sped up on the last big hill on the back.”
The Falcons grabbed three of the next five places to secure the victory. Jason Bella was fifth in 19:59, and Brownsville teammate Zach Hibbs was 25 seconds behind in sixth. Geibel’s John McGrogan (20:35) and Taylor Nowicki (20:37) crossed the line next, but the Falcons’ Greg Allison clinched the win in ninth place with a time of 20:50.
Both Brownsville’s Brian Nicholson and Geibel’s Joe Siecinski recognized the importance of home course advantage.
“We didn’t start out fast enough,” said Siecinski. “We needed second and third. We let (Jon) Rohlf get out too far. Our bottom guys ran well.
“Brownsville ran well and they have a good team.”
“We’re used to our home course. It’s hard,” said Nicholson. “(The team) has the mindset they don’t want to lose at home. Everybody had a job to do. They knew what they had to do. Our 2-3-4 runners did their job.”
With Frazier opening with two close wins against Washington and Waynesburg Central, there’s not much room for error. The Commodores host Geibel (1-1) and Burgettstown next Tuesday at Sampey Park.
“We can’t lose anymore. There will be a lot of close meets,” said Siecinski.
The Lady Falcons had a bit of an easier time with Avella and Geibel not fielding full squads, so they basically only ran against McGuffey, winning a 20-39 decision.
McGuffey’s Adrienne Prentia finished first in 23:58, but it was all Brownsville after that with Charhea Strickler (25:25), Betsy Johnson (25:34), Kelsey Johnson (25:47), Kaila Shumar (26:34), and Amber Simcoke (26:54) breaking the tape in order.
The Lady Falcons are 3-0 in the section and 4-1 overall.
Geibel had two girls compete with Sadie Caccimellio finishing in 27:20 and Laura Mechling crossing in 27:53.