PIAA State Championship Preview - AA Boys

• Don Rich, Publisher

Can Scranton Prep match the four-peat of the Wyomissing girls last year? They lost Foot Locker finalist Jon Pastore, and those are fast shoes to fill. But they bring a strong pack which had a very good :39 spread at District 2. Their biggest challenge will come from Lewisburg. They figure to start their scoring with a low, single digit, maybe even a 1, from defending state champ Chris Spooner. Their 2:02 looks like a lot, but in a general comparison of times vs. courses. Spooner is way up on everybody else's #1, with the exception of Eisenhower and Quaker Valley. Should Lewisburg not have their best race, those two teams will be lurking, along with D1's Devon Prep, D3's Wyomissing, D7's Greensburg Central Catholic, D10's Union City, and D11's Notre Dame. Pastore did it with his 7^th last year for Prep. This will probably be the year for the Spooner-led Lewisburg.

If Lewisburg falters, Eisenhower will be right there, along with others, to claim the top spot after missing it by just two points to Scranton Prep in 2001.

AA Boys Top Team Championship Contenders based on District and Season performances

This will be a race for the PA XC history books. Spooner is the defending champ. He ran a strong race against national competition at the Great American XC Festival in NC in September. He's returning with more confidence than ever, having nearly broken a Bill Reifsnyder course record at Williamsport in October. He's better than last year. Now the question is, did his competition do enough to catch him? Well, Dave Mock of Westmont Hilltop broke Danny Coval's (multiple state champ, Foot Locker NE winner) course record at Steel City on a rainy day in early October. In that race, he beat Steve Hallinan, the newly-minted Belmont Plateau course record holder, who had beaten Foot Locker finalist and last year's AAA state champ Ian Gottesfeld, and his teammate Greg Williams, in September. You see where we're going with this? And then there is Jed Christiansen. He broke an Andy Weilacher (01 AA State Champ, Foot Locker finalist) course record at Rocky Grove on October 11. By a lot. And Harbor Creek senior Brian Soder busted another Weilacher record at McDowell in August. And Eisenhower #1 Grant Allen always saves his best race for States. Plus he's a senior. This will be a great one. My pick is Spooner by a whisker over Mock. Mile speed and experience are the reasons. Enjoy!

Chris Spooner @ Northeast Invitational in September.

David Mock breaking the course record at Steel City October 4.

Jed Christiansen is the only underclassmen who could crack the top spot.

Brian Soder at Penn State.

Grant Allen was 3rd at Rocky Grove.