PIAA Foundation Invitational - Girls' White Race (1A) Preview
After a shocking and terrific opening week performance, Warrior Run's star freshman returns to the course.
Lauren Trapani, who wowed the entire nation with a season-opening 17:41 at Lock Haven to begin her high school career, is entered in the White Race for Saturday. Hershey will provide a completely different course layout than Lock Haven for Trapani. Maybe she won't drop another 17:41, but she'll nonetheless be favored to take the win.
But it won't come without challengers. Sera Mazza, who won the Class A state title last XC season is hungry to prove she can still repeat as state champ. She's coming off a strong race at Big Spring last week and should be in the mix.
A pair of seniors---Marian Catholic's Tina Capparell and Holy Cross's Lexi Walsh---will also figure into the conversation. Capparell has had a very strong start to her season, most recently winning at DeSales. Walsh, meanwhile, opened her season with a sixth place finish at PTXC9.
Photo by Phil Grove
Vincentian Academy freshman Tara Lucot returns to the course, too. She was third at Red, White & Blue, leading her team to victory. We'll see what the ninth grader can do in this deep field. Marion Center's MacKenzie Walker has also had a good start to her season. She won last week at Kiski to help her team to the win.
Sacred Heart's Emma Seifried and Kayleigh Doyle, York Catholic's Katelyn MacDougall, and Columbia's Jordan Haberstroh will all look to earn spots inside the top five.
The White Race should also supply a good peak into the how the team situation might play out at the state meet in November. The reigning champs from Saint Joseph's Catholic have many returners back and are ready to repeat. But their District 6 rivals from Marion Center Area (winners at Kiski) will look to make an early statement.
Meanwhile, Vincentian Academy dominated the A/AA field at the Red, White & Blue Classic (including beating Marion Center). They are deep and ready to make a good run this season after falling short of a title in 2016. Holy Cross will also be in the mix as well led by Walsh. Elk Lake is entered, too, but the state runners-up from last season don't appear to have a full 5-girl squad at the moment.
Watch highlights from last year's race: