Photo by Lex Mercado
AA Girls | No stopping VJM
D1-AA Girls Team Preseason Rankings
One of the best stories of 2015 was Villa Joseph Marie. VJM won District 1 AA convincingly and then went on to place third in the state in AA with a team of all freshman scorers. Katie Irelan, Brianna Kling, Caroline Brandt, Camila Drobac, and Abigail Zwall scored just 28 points at districts before another great performance at the state meet to grab third.
It's no surprise that this team that returns all seven (six rising sophomores and one rising junior) is favored to run the table in D1 and contend for a state crown this year. I guess the only question is whether or not they added more incoming freshman to the fray (we'll find out soon enough). Irelan leads the way for this group. She was ninth at states and just off top AA frosh honors at the state meet (Saucon Valley's Kiele Riefenstahl was two seconds ahead of her).
With an always tough Villa Maria, which has one back-back AA state team titles and Central Cambria (which moves from A to AA this year), a state title won't be easy for VJM, but they'll certainly be in the mix.
With just one state spot given in D1-AA, it will be tough for any other teams to get in the mix, but it's worth watching out for Gwynedd-Mercy Academy, New Hope-Solebury, and Villa Maria (Malvern) this season.