Girls
Class AAA
Pennsbury went from overwhelming favorites for the state title to having to win an intense battle next Saturday just to keep the title. Pennsbury defended their district title with three in the top eight overall led by a 2nd place finish from Olivia Sargent to score 55 points. 2nd place, as expected, went to Unionville. What wasn't expected was that Unionville only trailed the champions by 9 points, scoring 64 points with five in the top 30. The rematch next week will be an even tighter affair.
Behind them was a scenario you couldn't write up yourself. In a 10 team meet, Perkiomen Valley defeated Owen J Roberts by one point, 38-39. Today, Perkiomen Valley finished 3rd ahead of Owen J Roberts, by one point, 228-229! Annie Glodek finished 7th for Perk Valley, while Owen J Roberts had a 57 second spread, tied for the best in the top ten. 5th place went to Strath Haven, using a 68 second spread to hold off North Penn by 16 points, 238-254, and clinch the final state qualifying berth.
Aislinn Devlin reclaimed the top spot in the state with a 12 second victory over Olivia Sargent with a time of 17:24! Devlin claimed the lead halfway through the race and never looked back. 3rd place went to Anna Juul of Unionville in 17:43. 4th place went to Hannah Molloy of Pennsbury in 17:59, and rounding out the top five was Kacie Breeding of Unionville in 18:00.
Class AA
Villa Joseph Marie dominated the AA race with a score of 28 points to win by exactly 100 points. The top five all finished in the top ten led by champion Katie Irelan in 18:30. Kerry Kovacs of Lower Moreland finished 2nd in 18:58.
Class A
Emma Seifried of Country Day School of the Sacred Heart repeated as district champion in comfortable fashion, running 18:46 to win by 75 seconds. Christopher Dock used a 62 second spread with six of the top eight finishers to score 22 points to qualify for states.
Boys
Class AAA
Downingtown West showed their class at the district championship, taking three of the top four overall places. Jaxson Hoey finished 2nd, nearly pulling off the win over defending champion Jake Brophy, missing out by 4 seconds in the final 200 meters. Brophy ran 15:09, Jaxson ran 15:13. Josh Hoey finished 3rd in 15:21, while Henry Sappey finished 4th in 15:36. Rock Fortna of Central Bucks West rounded out the top five in 15:40.
The 2-3-4 finish by Downingtown West secured the district title with 84 points, defeating Central Bucks West by 36. Quietly, West Chester Henderson finished 3rd with 226 points to return to states. 4th place went to another impressive Council Rock North performance, scoring 229 points with a 16 second spread. After finishing 6th last season, Central Bucks East took the last state spot at Spring Ford's expense, scoring 260 points to overcome the PAC 10 champions by 30.
Class AA
For the first time in four years, we have a new AA team champion. Despite spotting the first two places to Callahan Lennon (16:25) and Patrick Donahue (16:48) of Holy Ghost Prep, Bishop Shanahan took places 4-5-6-7-12 with a 32 second spread to hold off Holy Ghost Prep for the title 33-37.
Class A
Michael Gunden of Christopher Dock ran 17:07 to win the district title by 26 seconds over Jack Miller of Jenkintown. New Hope-Solebury used a 51 second spread to secure a ten point win over Christopher Dock 43-53 and a state qualifying berth.