Individuals
Isaac Davis wanted the others in the field to run his race.
Setting a torrid early pace, not many dared to go with the Jersey Shore senior. Davis went through the mile in 4:41, well ahead of the field and he was home free from there. South Fayette's Sam Snodgrass was the lone runner with Davis through the 1K mark, but the quick pace took its toll on Snodgrass and he wound up 21st.
Instead, the race was on for second with Davis well out in front. He clocked in at 15:56, the second fastest time of the day, running most of the race alone. Davis, a Penn State commit, completes a perfect season that saw him earn wins at Big Valley, Foundation, and the District 4 Championships.
York Suburban's Bryce Ohl took the start a little more conservatively, but moved up well, particularly in the final mile to take second in 16:16. Grove City's Jonah Powell, who was sixth at his district meet, ran great to take third in 16:18. Loyalsock's Quinn Serfass, who was second to Davis in District 4, was fourth in 16:23.
District 10 took the next three spots with Harbor Creek's Ryan Starvaggi (fifth in 16:24), General McLane's Nate Price (sixth in 16:28), and Harbor Creek's Aiden Weber (seventh in 16:29).
Teams
We figured five teams would be in contention for the state crown in AA, but the order, really, was anyone's guess.
The team standings went through quite a few undulations throughout the race. In the end, the boys from Wyomissing Area edged out District 3 counterpart York Suburban by two points to take the win with 105 points. Harbor Creek finished a close third with 111 points. The two-time defending champs from Dallas were fourth with 134 points and Grove City Area took fifth with 168 points.
Wyomissing proved to have better depth on Saturday. With just a 29 second gap, Joe Cullen was the lone medalist for Wyo, taking 22nd in 16:51. Ben Kuhn (33rd in 17:03), Matthew Driben (35th in 17:06), Josh Diehl (39th in 17:13), and Thomas Foster (46th in 17:19) were separated by just 16 seconds to get the team the narrow win. Wyomissing sat in fifth place at the mile marker, but the entire team gradualled moved up to third at the two mile mark and then first at the end.
York Suburban, led by Ohl's second place performance and Jarrett Raudensky's tenth place finish, took second in the state for a third straight season. Harbor Creek led the race at the two mile mark, but wound up third, despite having three medalists (Starvaggi, Weber, and Christian Babo). Dallas led at the mile mark and was just a few points behind Harbor Creek at the two mile was fourth. Mitchell Rome and Jack Zardecki took 12th and 13th to pace Dallas.