PennTrackXC was on-site on Friday afternoon at the Hershey Parkview Course, the site of Saturday's PIAA State Championships.
We did a course walk-through of the final 2K of the course (after the road crossing), and we have video of some of the course modifications. Earlier this week, the PIAA announced it would be using a modified version of the course's final 2K because of wet conditions in the back loop.
Check out the video of the final 2K, and check out some of our observations on the course.
- The course is wet. And it will probably be much worse tomorrow morning with heavy overnight rains in the Hershey area. Some of the worst spots are on the first big uphill heading towards the mile, and the steep downhill on the Aloha Hills (watch for some falls there). As your coach may say: "get to the outside of the course!"
- The final 2K looks good, though. The PIAA did a good job with the final 2K of the course. Although there are a few muddy spots (as is to be expected anyway), the last segment avoids most of the swampy parts of the course in that last loop. We'll see how the overnight rains have affected the final 2K.
- There's no Poop-Out Hill, but there's still a nasty uphill that comes with about a half mile to go, when you make the turn to head on the long trek to the shed that you'll run around. Some may argue the newer course is tougher.
- There will be some falls and the course may not run all that fast tomorrow. But as they say, it's the same course for everyone. Just be safe out there! Let's make it a great 2018 state meet!