PIAA District 2 Championships - Boys' Virtual Meet
Class-A
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
Andrew Healey made plenty of noise as a freshman last year, but the Holy Cross standout has become of 1A's top runner's this season. He went 15:54 at Paul Short and will look to convert that into a district title on Wednesday.
Montrose's Brandon Curley and Liam Mead will look to work together and take down Healey, though. Curley was second last season at this meet. The Elk Lake duo of Peyton Jones and Cody Oswald should be in the mix near the front as well.
In the team race, the Montrose boys will be a strong favorite. Montrose, which took fifth in the state last season, may be even better this year. Led by Curley and Mead, they have great depth this season. Can they better their 23 point performance from last season?
Elk Lake and Holy Cross are the teams looking for the upset.
Class-AA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
The Dallas boys' path to a third straight state championship will go through Lakeland and the D2-2A Championship. Led by the heavy favorite for the district title, Jack Zardecki (second to North Pocono's David Haines last year), Dallas is a strong team with a number of strong returners from last year's state title team.
After Zardecki, Dallas has a strong group with Mitchell Rome, Josh Wyandt, and Adam Borton. The interesting thing to look for on Saturday will be Dallas' depth. If it wants a three-peat, the boys in blue will need to condense that pack to Zardecki.
Berwick's Mitchell Martin has been impressive this season, most recently taking second to Zardecki at his conference race. Holy Redeemer's Bryce Zapusek and Connor Stevens and Crestwood's Clay Kimsal make up a strong group of other individuals to keep an eye on.
The Holy Redeemer boys with that strong duo will look to grab that second state qualifying spot after a runner-up finish to Dallas at the Wyoming Valley Conference Champs.
Class-AAA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
In his first season on the trails, it looks like Tyler Wirth of Wallenpaupack could be a district champ on Wednesday. Wirth ran 4:17 for 1,600 meters on the track this past spring and made the move from soccer to XC for the fall. He has logged three impressive races, with sixth place finishes at PTXC9 and Paul Short and then a win at William Tennent.
However, a number of seniors will look for the upset over Wirth. The reigning champ is Kyle Burke of Abington Heights and he'll be hungry to defend his title. Williamsport's Tyler Holcomb, Abington Heights' Dan Uhranowsky, Hazleton Area's Franklin Cunningham, and Wallenpaupack's Thomas Johnson will be other individuals to watch for.
The most intriguing team matchup of the meet will likely come from the AAA boys. The Wallenpaupack boys, behind the emergence of Wirth, will look to book a full trip to Hershey. But the reigning champs from Abington Heights matchup well with W'Pack. Wallenpaupack was 22nd at Paul Short a few spots ahead of 28th-place Abington Heights. We should expect a great battle on Wednesday for that team spot.