Photo by Ethan Rissell
Boys' Preview
In his last race before he gets his wisdom teeth out, Noah Affolder of Carlisle will look to keep the good times rolling. Affolder will get his first look at Big Spring's course before the District 3 Championships in a few weeks, and he's the obvious favorite to take the crown, and his brother Sam Affolder is expected to take second.
After that is where things get interesting. PA#1 Carlisle has only really seen big meets this season where the low sticks of the Affolders really come into play and have allowed them to be the top PA team at every meet they've run this season.
But this meet atmosphere might change things. Lower Dauphin, Mechanicsburg, and Cumberland Valley are all teams with their eyes on the state's top-ranked team, and they very well could knock them off on Saturday.
Photo by Ethan Rissell
PA#7 Lower Dauphin has a trio of strong runners in Kyler Shea, Colton Cassel, and Jared Giannscoli. They'll look to move up their four and five to put some pressure on the Herd. Mechanicsburg was the second best PA team at Paul Short a few weeks ago, led by Morgan Cupp and Alex Tomasko, who have both had impressive seasons. Their 3, 4, and 5 looked strong at Lehigh and they'll look to keep rolling into Mid-Penns. Cumberland Valley may not have a clear #1 like the other teams, but they have plenty of depth and a slim 35 second gap through five. Josh Higgins, Yahya Soliman, and Andrew Brown will be key on Saturday.
State College can't be counted out either. They've been without Mitchell Etter for a while now, but Nick Feffer has looked strong at every stop this season and could be in store for a monster race this weekend. Additionally, Owen Isham has developed into a very solid #2 runner. Hershey, too, led by Andrew Sullivan, brings in a strong squad.
They boys' race will be loaded and it should be fun to see where all these strong teams and individuals stack up against each other before what will be a very competitive district meet in two weeks.