Boys' Class A
Photo by Don Rich
Winchester Thurston's path to a repeat will be difficult with the graduation of Ben Littmann and Shaun Hay. WT can certainly retool, though, but many other teams will be looking to take down the runaway champs from Saturday's state meet. Overall, though, the field is fairly wide open. Elk County Catholic loses its top runner in Zachary Wortman, but ECC returns four of its top five that took second to WT at states, led by freshman star Ben Hoffman. Jenkintown bring back six of seven after taking sixth last year. Penns Valley was ninth at states, but they return six of seven. Both should be factors.
Tristan Forsythe of Winchester Thurston is just one of two from the top ten that will return in 2017. The junior led in the final mile, but ended up third. He's the strong favorite for next year, though. Dock Mennonite's Tim Kennel continued his great season into states, where he was eighth overall. Jenkintown's Jack Miller, Lakeview's Zach Tingley, Penns Valley's Chris Colwell, and Southern Columbia's Ethan Knoebel will be among the other contenders.
Way Too Early Prediction: Elk County Catholic, after taking second in 2016, moves up one spot and wins in 2017, beating upstart Jenkintown by five points and Winchester Thurston by ten. Tristan Forsythe takes the individual title.