Photo by Ethan Rissell
Girls' Brown Race (3:45pm) Preview
Fresh off a big win against PA#1 Aislinn Devlin, Padua Academy's Lydia Olivere returns to Pennsylvania looking to knock off some more big names in PA XC. Olivere ran 17:22 at Carlisle last week for the win and could possibly go even faster on Lehigh's course. A win is no gimme, however.
PA#2 Abbe Goldstein of Germantown Academy will face her first true test of the season on Saturday with Olivere. The senior rolled to a win at her season-opening invite at the George School and returns looking for more at Lehigh, where she was fifth last year in a PR of 18:08. That 18 minute barrier will certainly be on her mind, even with some rainy conditions expected.
Photo by Patty Morgan
The team race should be a very heated one. New PA#1 Oakland Catholic will meet PA#3 Perkiomen Valley and PA#4 Cardinal O'Hara after those three team went 1-2-3 at this past Saturday's PIAA Foundation Invitational. Oakland Catholic's Lauren Finikiotis was second last week over third place Annie Glodek of Perk Valley and those two will square off again. Finikiotis and Glodek should battle up front with the leaders and contend for high finishes. While both teams were close to even through four runners, it was Oakland's fifth runner that made the difference at Hershey. For Cardinal O'Hara, they'll benefit from the return of low stick Olivia Arizin, who didn't race at Briarwood or Foundation. That should prove pivotal for O'Hara.
Two out-of-state teams will look to crash the party in that team race. Shenendowa (you might remember them the last time they came through PA) is ranked fifth in New York's Class A rankings. They are led by Julia Zachgo and Hannah Reale, who went 2-3 at the Suffern Invitational earlier this season. Then there's Centerville, ranked #1 in D1 in Ohio. Their top girl is Grace Kilroy, who has run 18:24 this season. Julie Reicin of Winston Churchill is another out-of-state individual to keep an eye on representing Maryland.
This will be a good opportunity to see how the Pennsylvania teams stack up with some of the best from the neighboring states.
We should see the season debut of Class-A three-time state champ, PA#12 Marianne Abdalah. Her Vincentian Academy team has been dominating without her, but you add in one of the state's top runners and they should be very dangerous.
Photo by Ethan Rissell
Many other PA girls will be in contention near the front. PA#13 Rasia Kochmaruk of Liberty, PA#16 Jamie Zamrin of Cocalico, PA#21 Maddie McLain of Eastern York, PA#23 Dominique Shultz of Conestoga, PA#25 Amy Conboy of Stoudsburg are the ranked girls in the field and many girls just on the outside can surprise as well with Lexi Walsh of Holy Cross, Kayla Connelly of Lansdale Catholic, Maria Cawoski of Greater Latrobe, Isabella Marchini of Spring Ford, Emily Bonaventure of Souderton, Isabel Cardi of Strath Haven, and Allana Powlette of Stroudsburg, among a few others.