PIAA AA State Championship
State College, PA 
Weather: Cold, Cloudy & Windy (High 40 degrees)

MOCERI MUSCLES TO 5th, SALLADE SASHAYS TO 7th & WYO GIRLS 7th OVERALL

Boys Race: Spartan Sophomore Joel Moceri snared his second straight PIAA 
medal, only this time it was a fabulous fifth. Joel began the race with a good 
start and was placed about 15th at the 1/2 mile nark. At this point a front 
pack of about ten had separated from the field, led by defending champion Tom 
Parlipiano of St. Pius X. Realizing his predicament, Joel surged out of his 
group and made a big effort to cut this gap. By the 1 mile mark, he was 11th 
and had bridged up to the leaders, who were still together but by now strung 
out in a line behind Parlapiano. In the next half mile Joel worked his way up 
to sixth and he was leading a pack of 4, but there was a gap up to the front 
five. At the halfway point, the front five were waging a tremendous battle 
with Dobias of Palmerton, Dray of Mount Carmel, and Parlapiano at 3 abreast 
closely followed by Fennelly of St. Pius and Munro of South Park. Then 
Parlapiano applied maximum pressure and as the leaders crossed the road again 
to approach the last mile, he led Dray and then Fennelly. Joel was 8th 
crossing the road, but he made a big surge up a steep rise and passed two. Now 
he was sixth and gaining on #5 Munro 10 meters ahead and the #4 Dobias who 
looked like he was cooked about 20 meters further. For the next half mile up 
the long gradual 2% grade to the finishing straight, Joel slowly inched up to 
Munro and then hung on his shoulder. They swept into the finishing straight 
fighting for 5th. On the last short rise, Joel made his move around Munro to 
take 5th. He was even gaining on Dobias, but Dobias had done a fine piece of 
running to allow himself to recover from his whipping by Parlapiano. He heard 
Joel coming up behind him and had one last little sprint left in the last 15 
meters to preserve his 4th place. Nevertheless, Moceri had turned in a 
magnificent performance to earn an alltime best placing of Wyomissing cross 
country runners with a 5th place medal. Parlapiano took his second 
consecutive PIAA gold, but he was fading at the end and his teammate, Fennelly 
(2nd) almost caught him at the line. Dray of Mount Carmel was 3rd. St. Pius X 
won the team gold with Shady Side Academy 2nd for the second year in a row and 
York Suburban 3rd.


Girls Race: The Spartan girls got a bad break when they were forced to start 
right in the middle of the field lineup. At the gun, Janna Sallade got away 
just fine to be up in 5th position at the 1/2 mile mark. But the rest of the 
girls were pushed, bumped and swarmed around by the huge field and by the 1/2 
mile mark only Junior Erin Flannery was in the top 100 at about 70th place. At 
the 1 mile mark, Sallade was still fifth and looked to be running with the 
same plan that worked last week, of keeping close to the leaders but running 
her own pace just behind. At this point the 4 leaders included Dennis of 
Hanover, defending champion Steklachich of Hickory, Lestrange of Scranton Prep 
and Alicia Gehris of Tulpehocken. Captains Jess Geissler and Crystal Russel 
had settled into their pace and were running within five of each other as they 
would all day at around 110th. At the halfway point, not much had changed - 
Flannery was still around 70th, Russell and Geissler were still together with 
Sophomore Danielle Moceri about 15-20 runners in back of them. Sallade had 
fallen slightly to 6th, but was still going great in front of a small group of 
3 or 4. Hanover's Dennis had established about a 10 meter lead and Gehris 
appeared to be laboring. Around the course they went into the last uphill 
mile. With 1 mile to go, there were established gaps between all of the front 
runners. Dennis was running away with the win and Gehris was collapsing (she 
eventually finished around 50th). Maybe she had not recovered from last week's 
sickness at Hershey. Sallade was still steady at 7th and Janna kept her strong 
smooth stride all the way to the finishing straight. Into the finishing 
straight they came, and who was in 8th but Freshman Nikki Angstadt of 
Fleetwood, who had had a marvelous last mile. At first she was gaining on 
Sallade, perhaps hoping to repeat the tea party finish they had together at 
Reading High. But today was a different day and Janna was fully focused on the 
task. She powered to a super 7th place just behind last years champion 
Steklachich (6th). Guelig of Wellsboro sprinted by Angstadt in the last 10 
meters for 8th and Angstadt was 9th. Almost 90 runners later the next Spartan 
came in among a swarm of harriers. It was Flannery (95th). Very quickly 
followed Geissler (103rd), Russell (106th), and Moceri (116th) to complete the 
Wyo scoring. Jess had been right behind Cyrstal with 40 meters to go, but used 
her track speed to pass several girls. The Wyo girls finished 7th overall as 
a team, right behind Lancaster Mennonite who was 6th. The overall girls team 
winner was Hanover, with Trinity (last weeks District III runnerup) having a 
great day to finish 2nd. Wellsboro was 3rd. For 1 hour Sallade would be the 
all time best Wyo finisher (7th) in the state championship race.

Year summary: Individual runner-wise, it was the greatest year ever for 
Wyomissing Cross Country. Sophomores Joel Moceri (5th place medal) and Janna 
Sallade (7th place medal) were both All-State with best ever Wyo finishes at 
the PIAA AA Championship at Penn State. Joel was PIAA District III AA 
Champion, a first for any Spartan harrier. Janna was 2nd at the PIAA District 
III AA Meet, an all-time best finish for Wyo girls at districts. Joel won the 
Berks County Conference Championship in a dominating performance. He was the 
second Wyo boy to be County Champion (Nat Wibberly was the first in 1996). 
Janna was 3rd at the Berks County Conference Meet with Junior Erin Flannery 
8th. Both Joel and Janna made the All-County first team. Erin will be second 
team all-Berks, just missing All-Berks first team(She is the 9th best ranked 
Berks girl).
Team-wise, the boys finished 11-2 in the regular season meets. They were 4th 
at the Berks Conference Run and 6th at the District III AA Meet. 
   Except for the District III AA Meet where they finished 3rd vs. last year's 
fabulous win over Lancaster Mennonite, the girls had a mirror season to 1997. 
The girls were 12-1, Berks County Division II Champions, 2nd at the Berks 
Conference run and 7th at States. They gave AAA power Governor Mifflin a big 
scare in the final regular season meet at Daniel Boone and dominated all other 
Berks opponents. A truly fine season for the girls. 
   One last thought, special recognition must go to one of the greatest harriers 
that Wyomissing has ever had. Senior Captain Crystal Russell finished her fine 
career with Wyo at Penn State yesterday. She was All-Berks first team twice 
(1995 & 1996) and a District III AA medalist twice (1995,1996). She was the 
first Wyo runner (male or female) to win the Berks County Individual 
Conference Championship (in 1995). She earned an 8th place medal (and All- 
State honors) at the 1995 PIAA State Meet. Coach Hetrich will miss her quiet 
but strong leadership. Thanks and good luck to Crystal.

Boys AA Top 25 finishers: 
1 15:50.18 Tom Parlapiano, St Pius X 
2 15:51.06 Ryan Fennelly, St. Pius X 
3 16:03.21 Pete Dray, Mount Carmel 
4 16:12.73 Jeff Dobias, Palmerton 
5 16:13.54 Joel Moceri, WYOMISSING !!!!!!!!!!!! 
6 16:15.48 Scott Munro, South Park 
7 16:24.10 Tim Carroll, Sprinfield 
8 16:24.44 David Eldridge, Blairville 
9 16:25.53 Greg Remaly, Central Columbia 
10 16:28.30 Andy Weilacher, Eizenhower 
11 16:29.15 Jay Thompson, Union City 
12 16:31.51 Levi Logan, Titusville 
13 16:31.94 Doug Gifford, Seneca 
14 16:32.42 Andrew Bell, Shady Side Academy 
15 16:33.96 Brandon Risser, Annville-Cleona 
16 16:34.79 Richard Hamilton, Hicory 
17 16:37.53 Josh Loren, Fort LeBoeuf 
18 16:37.39 Adam Fasian, Sharon 
19 16:38.46 Tim Williams, Troy 
20 16:38.74 Jeffrey White, Tyrone 
21 16:39.00 Jeff Spolar, Montrose 
22 16:43.16 Joe Reynolds, North East 
23 16:43.41 Francis Lambert, Sullivan 
24 16:43.69 Rich Pilifka, Greencastle-Antrim 
25 16:43.94 Matt Thomas, Quaker Valley

Boys AA Team Results: 
128 St. Pius X 
156 Shady Side Academy

Girls AA Top 25 Finishers: 
1 18:51.01 Theresa Dennis, Hanover 
2 19:05.95 Aimee Lestrange, Scranton Prep 
3 19:12.57 Lauren Shaffer, West Allegheny 
4 19:17.67 Nancee Bernecky, North Clarion 
5 19:23.48 Jilida Christiansen, Greenville 
6 19:25.46 Kate Steklachich, Hickory 
7 19:27.91 Janna Sallade, WYOMISSING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
8 19:31.30 Tara Guelig, Wellsboro 
9 19:31.90 Nicki Angstadt, Fleetwood 
10 19:33.06 Lisa Nagorny, York Suburban 
11 19:33.34 Brandice Blihar, Hanover 
12 19:35.39 Greta Hertzler, Lancaster Mennonite 
13 19:36.17 Faith Homan, Milton Hershey 
14 19:36.43 Leanne Torchia, Trinity 
15 19:36.66 Lauren Barrett, Wyalusing 
16 19:36.90 Jennifer Locke, Brownsville 
17 19:38.04 Alexis Seefeldt, Mifflinburg 
18 19:38.72 Shanelle Peters, Rocky Grove 
19 19:50.55 Jenimida Christiansen, Greenville 
20 19:50.83 Patricia Clark, Reynolds 
21 19:55.72 Chelsa Mullins, Jim Thorpe 
22 19:57.14 Heather Unger, Williams Valley 
23 19:59.30 Jen McNeat, Towenda 
24 19:59.66 Flori Simonis, Wellsboro 
25 20:00.52 Andrea Good, Lancaster Mennonite

WYO Girls Places 
95 Erin Flannery 
106 Jess Geissler 
109 Crystal Russell 
116 Danielle Moceri 
185 Beth DeLong 
210 Caitlin Zacharias

Girls Team Results: 
1 66 Hanover 
2 158 Trinity 
3 171 Wellsboro 
4 176 Scranton Prep 
5 187 Notre Dame 
6 197 Lancaster Mennonite 
7 203 WYOMISSING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other Berks Finishers not available at press time.

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