Centaur Invitational - Meet Preview
Owen J. Roberts, one of the state's top girls' teams last year, will look for a strong start to its 2018 campaign at DeSales. Last year, OJR rolled to the Centaur win with 55 points. Hannah Kopec is the likely new team leader for this sqaud. Northwestern Lehigh, Villa Joseph Marie, and Exeter are among the teams that will hope to challenge OJR for the team title.
Individually, there's a strong field assembled. Pine Grove Area's Christina DiFalco will hope for a good start to her senior season. After battling some injuries last year, DiFalco could really make some noise if healthy. Northern Lehigh's Reagan Pender opened up strong last week at Moravian Academy, dropping a 19:07 for second place. She'll look to move up to the top spot this week.
Upper Merion's Veronica Sanchez will be one to watch. She had a strong end to her season last year, which included a 18:58 run at the District 1 Championships. Kopec from OJR will be a factor, too. NW Lehigh's Madeline Consuelos, fourth at Lions last week, will look to get in the hunt.
In the boys' race, look for a good team battle between Owen J. Roberts and Twin Valley. Both were state qualifying teams last year -- OJR out of District 1 and TV out of District 3 -- and will be in the mix for trips again to Hershey this season. Both will be looking for an early season confidence boost.
The individual race could also come down to those two teams. OJR is led by Linus Blatz, who is coming off a solid spring season on the track, while TV will likely be led by Griffin Schlegel and Trey Hill. Downingtown East's Russel Winters and Palmerton's Jacob Martinez should also get in the mix.