Boys Preview - PIAA District 12 Championships
Class A
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
Masterman is set to win another D12-A title on Thursday. This team edged out some strong higher classification opponents to capture the Public League title last week. No teams can match Masterman's depth and it should easily punch its ticket to states.
The second state qualifying spot looks likes it's up for grabs. Science Leadership Academy at Beeber earned that second states spot last season, and it very well could be in line for a return trip to Hershey this time around. Camilo Ruiz is a solid lowstick and SLA-B looks to have better depth than any other team in the district. SLA-B was sixth in the Public League and the second 1A team in the standing behind Masterman.
Motivation, Science Leadership Academy, and Paul Robeson will look to contend for that second spot, too.
Individually, the one to beat is Stephen Njiru of Masterman. He was eighth in D12-A last season and fifth in the Public League last week. Other contenders include Masterman's Noah Bradley, Hayden Keller, Owen Moss, and Adam Gizis, along with Science Leadership Academy at Beeber's Camilo Ruiz, who was seventh in the Public League.
Class AA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
The race for the top spot in D12-AA will be a tight one. Five teams have a legitimate shot at one of the two state qualifying spots here.
The team favorites look to be the boys from Engineering & Science, which placed second in the Philadelphia Public League, just six points off the winners from Masterman. E&S has a solid No. 1 in Meless Badume and only 15 seconds separate its 2 through 5 runners. That will bode well in a championship race.
Then it will get really close between a quartet of PCL squads. Lansdale Catholic was fifth at PCLs, the top AA team in the field. Not far off is Cardinal O'Hara, which moves to AA from AAA for this season. Josh Hayes will be a good low scorer for the Lions, which placed sixth at PCLs. Then there are the defending race champions from Msgr. Bonner & Abp. Prendie that can't be slept on. Seventh at PCLs, Bonner is led by Brian McGarrity and will be looking to move up on LC and O'Hara. Archbishop Wood was ninth at PCLs. It has a sub-minute gap, but will need that pack to move up to have a shot at the top two.
We can expect a close individual race, too. Archbishop Carroll's Aidan Doherty was the lone boy to break up LaSalle's tremendous pack at PCLs, where he placed seventh. He'll look to make himself a district champ on Thursday. He'll receive a good challenge from Overbrook's Saabir Ali, Yasin-Spann. He was the Public League champion, by a second over Bartram's Tyree Gatewood. Both boys will contend for the win in D12-AA.
Class AAA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
The class of District 12 are the boys from LaSalle College.
Loaded from top to bottom, the Explorers stormed to yet another PCL title on Saturday, taking the top six spots and seven of the top eight. The defending AAA state champions will contend for a repeat state title next week, but on Thursday, they'll go for another D12-AAA crown.
LaSalle will likely score the minimum 15 points, and could very likely take the top seven spots. Vincent Twomey led the team last week at PCLs, earning the individual win. Ethan Maher, Paul Ghantous, Matthew Zilligen, Bradden Koors, Jack Seiberlich, and Dan Gervino make up the rest of this varsity squad.
D12-AAA only gets one states spot this year, down from two a year ago, but the race will be on for those five individual spots in the state meet. Some boys to look out for are Ricky Raup of Saint Joseph's Prep, Shane Curran of Father Judge, and Sean Hamilton of Roman Catholic.
As for the battle for second in the team standings, it should be close. Father Judge took second in the PCL, 11 points ahead of Saint Joseph's Prep. Roman Catholic will look to get in the mix after a fourth place PCL run.