Girls
The race for the team championship in girls Class A has been building up to this coming Saturday since the 2013 state race ended. The teams are the same, some of the cast members are different, but the intensity of the race will be higher than any Class A race in the brief history of the division.
Champions Holy Cross started the season with an emphatic reminder that they were going to keep their spot at the top with their victory at Northampton on September 6. Mackenzie Greenfield led the way, but 9th grader Lexi Walsh finished right behind her, making a team that was already good, even stronger. At this point, nothing had changed in the new season.
But on one warm early fall Saturday at Hershey, the team that has been chasing them from their own district, Elk Lake, threw a monkey wrench into their plans. The 2013 district and state runners up were victorious at the PIAA Foundation race over the champions, showing everyone that champions aren’t crowned in September.
The last two match ups have been all Holy Cross, especially a big win at the Paul Short Run, where Holy Cross finished 8th to Elk Lake’s 31st. Holy Cross retained their district title last week over Elk Lake, making it 2 wins out of 3 against their rivals. Elk Lake will still be a formidable opponent, with experienced runners like Kenzie Jones, Justine Johns, and Jenny Van Etten looking to get their chance to top the podium having been so close last season.
While those two teams battled for Northeastern PA supremacy, Central Cambria was making a big loud boom in the center of the state. The Red Devils were 3rd in 2013 with virtually the entire squad coming back in 2014. The District 6 squad debuted at PTXC 6 and performed to rave reviews from fans, with the top four of all sophomores taking all the headlines. The group of Sydney Gilkey, Emma Wess, Samantha Koss, and Sydney Croft have executed a pack style of running that has been the most consistent in all divisions this season. Wins at Forest Hills, Carlisle, HCAC, and District 6 put them undefeated heading to the state final. Keeping that pack together with a solid number 5 performance could bring a state title to Central Cambria since they won 3 AA titles in a row from 2007-2009.
A theme that may develop during the state finals on Saturday will be individual champions who have spent part or most of the season far and ahead of the chase pack. The first race of the morning will feature the defending champion Marianne Abdalah of Vincentian Academy looking to make it two state titles in two tries. This time, it won’t be an upset, but it could be a potentially dominating performance. Abdalah is the only sub 18 minute runner in the division and she has earned victories at District 7 and Slippery Rock, along with runner up performances at a 2nd Slippery Rock meet and Carlisle.
Chasing the champion will be Emma Seifried of Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. The 9th grader has made a big name for herself in the past several weeks, winning three title races in 14 days. First, she defeated the strong Cardinal O’Hara runners to win the Delco Championships. 3 days later, she claimed her first AACA championship. 10 days after that, she cruised to her first district title. She has broken 19 minutes in her first season and can cap off a solid debut season with a big final meet
Greenfield and Walsh will be fighting for top ten finishes while helping their Holy Cross squad keep the title. The duo have finished 1-2 in three races this season, with Greenfield winning all three. Gilkey will look to break that duo up to help her Central Cambria squad. Gilkey has not finished outside the top ten in any race this season, with three wins to her name. Another duo, Raechel White and Kate McIntosh of North East also have three 1-2 finishes on their resume and will look to break into the top ten for the first time.
Boys
The 2013 champions will not get the opportunity to defend their championship, as Saegertown came up a little short at District 10 behind Mercyhurst Prep and Seneca. Therefore, the door is open for a new champion to reign supreme in the Class A division.
One team has already tasted victory is the newly formed Class A division. That squad is Northeast Bradford, the first Class A champions back in 2012. The NTL and District 4 champions are led Levi Upham, who has four top ten finishes this season, and 11 of his past 13 races. The team has four sub 18 minute runners, which will put them in the mix for a second title.
Sewickley Academy the District 7 champions, have come on strong in the 2nd half of the season to put themselves in a good position to be crowned champions. They have a solid number 1 in Griffin Mackey, who has six top five finishes this season, along with a supporting cast that can tangle with the rest of the state.
Masterman were the 2013 runners up and have made a comfortable return to the state finals. Julian Degroot-Lutzner will lead the line for the District 12 champions once again, who will look to make their 3rd top five state finish in 4 years. Seneca and Mercyhurst Prep will represent district 10 after being separated by a single point last season. Seneca have the experienced Phoenix and Donovan Myers to rely on, while Mercyhurst Prep have one of the biggest stars in the division in Sebastian Curtin.
Curtin will be doing his best to help his team while chasing the biggest star in the division since last year’s state championship meet. Reigning state champion Griffin Molino of South Williamsport has been on a tear in the past year, winning six races out of nine, qualifying for NXN last season, and running 15:18 at Paul Short in October. In six of his last 7 races, he has broken the 16 minute mark, and he is currently in the top 100 nationally.
Curtin is the only other sub 16 minute runner in the Class A division. He along with DeGroot-Lutzner, Mackey, Andrew Koryak of Vincentian Academy, and District 7 winner Dominic Peretta of Beaver Falls will see if they can take advantage of any slip ups from the champion.