Photo by Howard Anderson
Harrier Invitational - Meet Preview
On Friday in Pottsville for the 32nd edition of the Harrier Invitational. At this meet, each team's top two runners run in one 2 mile race, the third and fourth runners compete in separate 2 mile race, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh runners compete in a third 2 mile race. The scores are tabulated by adding up places from each of those races of the top five runners from each team.
Last year, the Spring Ford boys rolled to the win with just 12 points and the Spring Ford girls won with just 8 points. What will happen this season? It will be interesting to say the least as PAC rivals Owen J. Roberts,Spring Ford, and Boyertown will square off on both the girls and boys sides.
BOYS PREVIEW
Boyertown is coming off a strong performance at PTXC9. The Bears took second place to the nation's top team Loudoun Valley and beat some other strong PA squads like CB East and Spring Ford. It was enough to move Boyertown up to PA#10 in the latest Flo50 rankings. Josh Endy and Domenic Derafelo will lead the way for this squad.
But Spring Ford was just 17 points off Boyertown at PTXC9. Jacob McKenna ran a strong race for the Rams (nearly PRing!), but look for the rest of the Rams to step up this week. They should make it interesting as they look to repeat as champs. Owen J. Roberts will be strong as well. OJR is coming off a second place finish as a team at DeSales. Led by heavy favorite to run the fastest time, Liam Conway, we'll see how the rest of the OJR tea stacks up with the other teams.
Watch out, too, for Governor Mifflin's Alexander Ermold, who ran great at PTXC9, taking tenth overall.
GIRLS PREVIEW
The Owen J. Roberts girls made some moves in the state rankings this week after a dominating performance at DeSales on Saturday. The PA#6 team was without Mary Bernotas, but still won convincingly at the Centaur Invitational. Bernotas looks to be back this week. and along with Autumn Sands (second at Centaur) and Hannah Kopec (sixth at Centaur), OJR will look for the win.
But look for Governor Mifflin to make some noise. Mifflin was a surprise third place finisher at PTXC9, led by a great ninth place finish by Andrea Miller and strong races from Jessie Taylor and Kayla Clark. They have good depth and could challenge OJR.
Spring Ford, which was led by Emily Smith at PTXC9 last week, will look to get in the mix to try and defend its title in the race. Look, too, for Coatesville with Leah Moffitt (second in the Blue Race at PTXC9) to be in the mix.