BOYS AA PREVIEW: Hockenbury defends vs quality runners, York Suburban face Grove City fury!

Defending champions York Suburban look at their best heading into the state meet on Saturday. This time, they will enter the title race as favorites instead of underdogs like last season. They've won their last three meets with little difficulty coming out on top. Donovan Mears will lead the team up front that will rely on the tight pack running formula that brought them to the top last year. Their top five runners have seasonal bests just 53 seconds apart.

Out to ruin their chance at 2nd straight crown is the team that have waited an entire year to get their state meet rematch. Grove City were in the favorites position, only to come up short to York Suburban. A long year has gone by and now is their chance to right a wrong. Grove City were 3rd to York Suburban at the PIAA Foundation meet, and have been in the top two in their meets since. It could be a tougher task that last season, as their middle men will have to match up with the champions to give themselves a good chance.

While those two teams settle their feud, Dallas will aim to put themselves in the middle of that battle. In 2014, Dallas qualified for states with four 9th graders and earned a top ten finish at states. This year, the group has improved and made themselves top three contenders. They were 2nd to York Suburban at the PIAA Foundation meet, 3rd at PTXC 7, and won their 2nd straight district title. Jack Zardecki will lead this young bunch that could pull off a shocker on Saturday.

Bishop Shanahan ended Pottsgrove's three year run at the top of district 1 with a 4 point win with a 32 second spread. Bishop Shanahan also won the Paul Short White race in early October, and avoided the late season slide that kept them from Hershey a year ago. A similar spread of better can sneak them into the top three on Saturday.

Central Cambria made it to the state meet as the district 6 champions after missing out last season. Notre Dame Green Pond will look to use pack running to give them a shot at a top ten finish. They were 2nd in district 11 to Allentown Central Catholic.

Individuals

Everyone in the division is chasing defending champion Domenic Hockenbury of Lake Lehman. The senior is unbeaten this season, winning at PTXC 7 and repeating as the winner of the PIAA Foundation meet. Though he may be the big favorite to retain his title, the AA boys individuals have plenty of quality capable of sparking an upset.


Will Kachman of Bedford has been solid all season long, spending significant time this season as the top runner in the division until recently. The district 6 champion has five victories on the season and was only 10th at states last season. Surely he should finish better than that, but how tough can he make it for Hockenbury?


Zach Skolnekovich of Quaker Valley has been one of the top runners in Western PA all season. He has three wins and one 2nd place, which was to Domenic Peretta, keeping him unbeaten against AA competition. He broke 16 for the first time in his career back in September. He should improve on his last two state meet performances where he finished 12th both times.


Jack DiCintio of Wyomissing has just started to find his groove just in the nick of time. He won the Berks County and District 3 titles after starting the season without a single digit finish. DiCintio was the runner up to Hockenbury last season, and may have found his form just in time to try and either duplicate that performance or win the whole thing.

Bryce Descavish of Central Cambria won the PTXC 7 Blue race and has been one of the most improved runners in the division this season. Dan Filler of Gettysburg Area has been on a roll in the month of October and will look to carry that momentum into Saturday.