AACA Champs
Emma Seifried of Country Day School of the Sacred Heart will look to defend her league championship that she won on her first try last year. This will be her 2nd of three post season title defenses. She finished 2nd at DELCO champs to Olivia Arizin of Cardinal O'Hara on October 10.
Behind her will be the Villa Joseph Marie squad's first league championship meet. They enter has the heavy favorites despite carrying a large number of 9th grade varsity runners. The top five are all freshmen, and places 6-8 are sophomores. Katie Irelan has been the top runner for the team this season, recording a 19:00 seasonal best. Brianna Kling and Caroline Brandt have also broken 20 minutes this season. Mount St Joseph's will be their closest challengers after finishing 2nd a year ago to Gwynedd-Mercy Academy by 4 points. Julianna Kardish will lead the squad as the only senior in the AACA to break 21 minutes this season.
Friends League
Nick Dahl and his Germantown Friends team will look to repeat as champions at Westtown School on Tuesday. Dahl has won two invitationals this season, winning at George School and at Bowdoin Park in New York. Germantown Friends were two points away from a perfect score and will look to achieve that feat. George School's Jeffrey Love and Westtown's Ryan O'Donnell will look to spoil the perfect run for the Tigers.
The girls race will feature Jerrica Bauer of George School. She entered this meet last season as the league's top cross country runner, only to miss out on the race due to an injury she suffered in her final tune up meet. She's already tasted victory at Westtown this season, winning the inaugural Westtown Invitational on October 3. The returning Gabrielle Wilkinson and Emily Burd of Friends Central will look to give her a run for her money up front.
Meanwhile, Sarah Walker and Griffin Kaulbach will look to lead their Germantown Friends team to a successful league title defense after narrowly winning the league meet last season. Friends Central missed out on the win by only 4 points. If everything falls into place, there could be another close chase to the team crown.
Berks County
Jack Dicintio of Wyomissing will be looking to defend his league title after earning a 5 second victory last season! DiCintio is the only runner in the county to break 16 minutes in 2015. Also looking to defend a title will be the Twin Valley team, winning with a solid 1-5 spread and 39 points. This season, they have a good 1-5 pack with Josh Farber leading five runners under 17:30 so far this season. Twin Valley and Dicintio will be favored to repeat.
Last season, Alison Willingmyre and her Wilson team were dominant in winning the individual and team titles. Willingmyre enters the meet on a high after her big 4th place finish at Paul Short two weeks ago and should repeat after that breakthrough, but her team will have it all to do in order to retain the league title. They will be challenged by Twin Valley and Governor Miffin for team title honors. Twin Valley has the best depth in the county, while Governor Mifflin has a good top four that is seeking a big performance in their number 5 position.
Eastern PA Conference
Easton boys won the first ever Eastern PA Conference title over rivals Parkland last season. This season, Parkland will look for revenge and they will be favored to achieve just that. Daniel Kyvelos will lead Parkland and a top five that have run 17 minutes or faster this season. They will all be chasing Kevin Lapsansky of Easton, last season's runner up with two top 15 finishes this season. His team will have a tough task to retain the title.
In the girls race, defending league and district 11 champion Raisa Kochmaruk of Liberty will be set to defend her title. She won the title last year by only three seconds and should also expect a tough task to keep the title this season as well. Diana Hammerstone of Easton will have a good chance to beat the champion, as she is one of two girls in the league to break 19 minutes this season. Katie Bacher of Emmaus has had a good season as well, and will be in the hunt for the title as well. Kochmaruk won the Lions Invite on the opening day, while Hammerstone has two top 20 finishes and Bacher finished 3rd at the Foundation Invite in late September.
Hammerstone will also be aiming to lead her Easton squad to the league title, a title they missed out on by 6 points last season. Easton were the PTXC 7 winners and finished in the top five at Paul Short. Stroudsburg and Emmaus will be their toughest challengers.
Lancaster Lebanon
Nathan Henderson of JP McCaskey has been the runner of the league this season after running 15:51 in mid September and 15:41 a week later. The state 3200 meter medalist is the defending champion after earning a six second win a year ago. This year will also not be a runaway, as Ephrata's Zach Lefever is coming off a 15:46 performance at Paul Short two weeks ago. He was also 2nd to Henderson at Big Spring a month ago. Hempfield will be favored to defend their title after having a good season thus far. Hempfield won the Paul Short Brown School race by 58 points over District 1 squad Spring Ford.
In the girls race, Hempfield will look to follow the lead of their boys team and defend their league title. Molly Conrad and Siena Gates will lead the champions, with Conrad favored to win the title after breaking 19 minutes at Paul Short in early October. Defending champion Isabella Fife of JP McCaskey will have a tough task to keep her title. She's run 19:42 this season, ten seconds slower than the time she ran to win the title last season.
YAIAA
York Suburban boys will be looking for a successful title defense as they continue their state title defense. This season, they have managed to fight off all challengers and should be favored to do it again. Donovan Mears will lead the way for the champions with Peter Wagner and Bryce Ohl supporting him. Dan Filler of Gettysburg Area has been on a roll in the past couple of weeks, including a successful win on his home course at the Gettysburg Invite on October 10.
In the girls race, Caitlin Solomon and Maddie Ferner of Kennard Dale will look for individual and team gold after missing out on both last season. The team finished 3rd to Dallastown by only 12 points, while the duo missed out on gold by under 10 seconds. Kate Mowrey of Delone Catholic will look to snag the gold medal for herself, while Dallastown will look to defend their crown.
Ed Narkiewicz
Dominic Hockenbury of Lake Lehman is set to defend his title and keep his unbeaten streak alive. Hockenbury has won at PTXC 7 and Foundation, and has thrown in a sub 15:40 dual meet performance into his so far perfect season. Jacob Toczko of Tunkhannock will be his biggest threat to his title, but Hockenbury has so far proven to be too tough to handle. Dallas will look to be crowned champions after a strong season thus far with top ten finishes at PTXC and Paul Short.
The girls race will feature Ally Rome of Dallas looking to hold off Maggie Toczko of Tunkhannock and defend her title. Toczko ran 18:38 in early September, while Rome has run 18:11. It should be one of the top head to head battles this week. Lake Lehman girls completed an undefeated dual meet season and will be looking to turn that success into a league title.
