Salesianum Invitational (DE) - Meet Preview
A few Pennsylvania squads will travel to Delaware for one of the region's biggest meets of the season, the Salesianum Invitational in Wilmington.
BOYS PREVIEW
In the Boys' Championship race, we'll see Carlisle and North Penn, a pair of teams with hopes of making some noise at the state meet this year. Carlisle, in particular, has looked strong this season and sits firmly on the "bubble" of the Flo50 top ten rankings. Led by Jack Wisner, Drew Barefield, and Cade Rush, the Herd took third at their home invite this past weekend. Those squads will get a good challenge from the hosts, Salesianum School, which took second at Paul Short last Friday.
In the Small Schools race, Phoenixville Area will be a team to watch. New transfer Carlos Shultz has proven to be the state's top sophomore and he'll likely be favored to take the win in that race. The Phoenixville team was 12th at Paul Short over the weekend, led by Shultz' fifth place finish in 15:21.
In the Large Schools race, Wissahickon's Ben Hoyer returns to the course after his breakthrough performance at the PIAA Foundation Invitational. Hoyer was fifth in the Gold Race in Hershey two weeks ago. He'll look to ride that momentum into Saturday.
GIRLS PREVIEW
Fresh off a solid team performance in Six Flags in New Jersey, the North Penn girls are going out-of-state again this week, coming down to Delaware. Ariana Gardizy will look to make it three wins in three weeks. The senior ran the day's fastest time to win at Wild Safari last week, and with a recent commitment to the University of Pennsylvania under her belt, she'll enter Saturday with a ton of momentum that could carry her to another big performance. Look, as well, for a solid 2-3 for North Penn of Maeve Gimbert and Olivia Dyer.
North Penn will be in the Championship Race along with Carlisle. The Carlisle girls have a strong lead pack, which includes Meg Lebo, Sophia Toti, and Gracen Cabral.
The teams entered in the Large School race from PA includes Great Valley, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, and Wissahickon. Lower Merion has a pair of strong runners in Sarah Hurst and Eliza Keefe. Look out for Great Valley's Amy Willig on Saturday, too.