Briarwood Invitational - Girls' Meet Preview
In a change for this year's meet at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia, the meet directors decided to take away one varsity race, leaving the meet with a "Challenge" and "Championship" race. Both races have some talented girls teams and individuals, so let's break it all down.
CHALLENGE RACE
Cheltenham's MaryGrace Rittler enters the race at PA#14, but this will be the senior's first invitational race of the season. Rittler didn't race at Briarwood last year, so we'll see how she does on the 3.1 hills of Belmont. She'll be one of the favorites.
Her best challenge will come from Pearl River (NY)'s Mary Borkoski. The junior is a two-time winner at Briarwood in the formerly names "Varsity B" race. She went 19:35 in the heat to win last year. We'll see if it will require a faster time to take down Rittler for another win.
Others to watch include West Chester Henderson's Courtney Alexander and Episcopal Academy's Caitlin Jorgensen. Alexander is coming off a fifth place finish at Abington last week. This will be Jorgensen's first invite of the season.
In the team race, the squad to watch is Henderson. They were winners at Abington last week despite the absense of last year's #1 runner Courtney Kitchen (injured). They are on the cusp of a spot in the PA top ten and a big performance at a big meet (particularly against the merge) may solidify that. But Pearl River, which just saw a 221 meet dual meet streak snapped this week, will be hungry for a victory.
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
Last season, North Penn's Ariana Gardizy ran away with the win in the Championship Race, but it looks like the senior, who returns to Philly on Saturday with her team, will have more challengers for the win this season. Gardizy (PA#7) will still be favored to win, but it should be close. It looks like North Penn will also have Olivia Dyer in the field for this week, which should strengthen the team.
Conestoga's Dominique Shultz rolled to the win at the Cherokee Challenge in New Jersey over the weekend for the 3200 meter course. She'll move up to her first 5K of the season on Saturday and Shultz (PA#16) should be worth watching for in this field.
South Lakes from Virginia will make the trip up to Briarwood on Saturday. They are led by Olivia Beckner (VA#12), who has track PRs of 4:54 for 1600 meters and 10:47 for 3200 meters. Expect her to be in the mix near the front this weekend. Madeline and Corrine Barney from Indian Hills (NJ) are another few out-of-staters in the field.
Saturday will also be our first look at the Cardinal O'Hara girls, who are, of course, the reigning Pennsylvania state champions in AAA. They lost some firepower, but return three Mancini sisters. Elizabeth (PA#19) will look for a strong race. So will Eleanor and Christine, as O'Hara looks to repeat as Championship Race winners. The Lions enter as PA#3 in the state team rankings.
While O'Hara is a team to watch in the team race, North Penn, Indian Hills (NJ) and South Lakes (VA) should make it a close one.