District 11 Class A Boys - Race Preview

Minersville Area enters the championship season as the favorite to take the District 11 crown. After finishing third at last year's meet, Minersville returned four of their Top Seven and has improved steadily. Keegan Dube has enjoyed a solid season to this point. He broke 17 for the first time this season.

Kolin Long has been a crucial addition to Minersville. In just his first cross-country season, the former jumper has run as fast as 17:19, placing sixth at the Schuylkill League Championships. 

After Minersville, we'll get a tough race for the final qualifying spot as Weatherly, Tri-Valley, Lehigh Valley, and Moravian will square off. Each of the teams has its respective strengths and weaknesses. For Weatherly, Jacob Parker is one of their more prominent strengths. He ran 17:32 this season and will be looking to score ahead of the aforementioned Minersville Duo. 

Thomas Smigo is the reigning D11 and State Champion. His season best is a minute and a half better than the following individual after he ran 15:21 at Paul Short earlier this year. He is also the surefire favorite to win the title yet again.

Smigo is in a different zip code, and we wouldn't be surprised to see him save his legs as he eases to the title.

If Smigo and Minersville are locked for State Qualifying bids, nine spots will remain. Joseph Rossi (Nativity BVM), Wyatt Leitzel (Tri-Valley), Krish Gupta (Moravian), William Mayberry (Mahanoy), and Drew Mariani (Moravian) will likely be in the mix for those spots if their respective teams can't secure automatic bids.

District 11 Class AA Boys - Race Preview

The 2A Boys race may produce the most exciting team battle we see this week. Palmerton, Blue Mountain, and Tamaqua Area will compete for the two qualifying spots, meaning one team will go home empty-handed. The margin between these three is narrow, with virtual meets suggesting Blue Mountain and Tamaqua could tie for second.

Palmerton will likely place brothers Owen Hibell and Connor Hibell in the top seven. Owen has run 16:19, while Connor has run 16:39 this year.

But after those two, there is a notable gap between the team's three through six runners. Palmerton's third, Dylan Hartranfit, enters with a personal best of 17:56.

Blue Mountain and Tamaqua don't have the front-running power of Palmerton, but Blue Mountain will pile in after the Hibell brothers. They'll likely place four ahead of Palmerton's third. That'll be the key to victory for Blue Mountain.

Tamaqua will employ a similar strategy. But they do have Levi Kunkel earning a lower stick for the squad. He ran 17:07 to finish third at the Schuylkill League Championships. At that meet, Blue Mountain finished second with 75 points, while Tamaqua finished third with 79.

Duke Ebert (Allentown Central Catholic) enters this race with the best season best. He ran 16:18 at Northampton early this season. He hasn't broken 17 at an invitational since, but he did finish ninth at the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) Championship last week.

He'll receive pressure from Senior Owen Hibell and reigning District 11 Champion Samuel Bower (Northwestern Lehigh). Bower hasn't competed at an invitational since PIAA Foundation on September 24th, but he rocked a 16:39 season-best before that. We haven't seen him in quite the same form that we saw him last year, but tomorrow's championship could be a get-right race for Bower.

Matthew Santana (Northwestern Lehigh) is in a similar boat, but he ran a really impressive 16:49 at Foundation. After a long training block, we expect him to be sharp.

District 11 Class AAA Boys - Race Preview

Only one 1A Boys team will receive an automatic qualifying bid from District 11, and at an initial look, it seems pretty obvious who that team might be.

Parkland has jumped in and out of our Team Power Rankings and, at one point, was ranked within the Top Five best teams in the state. Parkland is coming off a win at the EPC Championship with a 1:03 1-5 compression at the meet. 

But if anyone can challenge them, it'll be their rival Nazareth Area. Nazareth has continued to impress, and despite finishing second to Parkland at EPC, they have a team capable of upsetting D11.

Led by Individual Champion Giovanni Mastromonaco, Nazareth placed four runners in the top 13. The squad's weakness is the 1:30 compression, but if they can tighten that up and if Parkland missteps, Nazareth could steal a bid.

Mastromonaco is the favorite for the individual title after he won EPC. He was able to fend off Paul Abeln (Parkland) in the closing meters of the race and edge Abeln by just two seconds.

That said, Abeln will not be content with finishing second. These two will likely battle throughout most of the race on Wednesday. Nazareth and Parkland runners will scour most of the top 10 spots. 

Emrick Leshko (Liberty) could also compete for the win. He finished third at EPC, but the senior has a wealth of racing knowledge and finished 11th in this race last year.

Liam Davis (East Stroudsburg South) and Dylan Boyle (Freedom) will also be in the mix.

If Nazareth does manage to steal the District 11 title, Parkland will likely still compete as a team at states, as we'd expect them to secure at least five individual qualifying spots.