Girls PIAA Class AAA - 2019 Preview
Key Storylines To Follow This Season
- North Allegheny goes for state repeat, and will be in the thick of the regional hunt
- Mulhern looks to keep up momentum of state title-winning freshman season
- Who from the deep field can emerge to challenge Mluhern?
- How will teams manage to retool to try and get to the top 5?
Individuals Overview
Jenna Mulhern of West Chester Henderson made it look easy last season. The poised frosh slowly managed to pull away from the AAA field last year and turned the final girls race of the day at states into a run away. She became the first ninth grader in quite some time to capture the AAA win. Now she goes for an encore.
And there will be plenty of those this season.
Two others return from the top five: West Chester East's Allyson Clarke and North Allegheny's Hannah Lindgren. Clarke was third last year and Lindgren was fourth. Both are back for their senior seasons and should make a run at another top five finish or better.
The other top ten returners include Cedar Crest's Gwyneth Young, Moon Area's Mia Cochran, Fox Chapel's Grace Sisson, and Dallastown's Emily Schuler. Young is coming off a great spring and should be even better than her impressive sophomore season. Cochran was the next best frosh in AAA after Mulhern last year. Sisson managed to get ninth last year at states, while running most of the race with one shoe. Schuler, the reigning District 3 champ will be looking for her fourth XC state medal this season.
One of the more interesting names in the field is Emily Carter of Bethel Park, who was 11th at XC states, but really emerged during the spring, where she won the 3,200 meter state title (and broke the meet record!). Then she went 16:32 for 5K, the second fastest time in state history. If that translates into XC strength, there might be no one in AAA that can hang with her.
Plenty of others, like North Allegheny's Keeley Misutka, Carlisle's Sophia Toti, and Central Bucks West's Julia Flood make up a deep group of returners in AAA with sights set on the top ten. Look for another thrilling season in the classification.
Team Overview
North Allegheny left little doubt about which team would claim the top team spot when the official results came out at Hershey last year. The Tigers were the definitive state champs in AAA, putting up just 65 points to win by 41 points. NA returns all but one varsity runner from last year's dominant squad. Lindgren, Misutka, Rachel Hockenberry -- the state medalists from last year -- are back, along with Caroline Daggett and Maura Mlecko.
NA was third at NXR-Northeast, just missing a big to Nike Cross Nationals. This year, the Tigers may very well be the regional favorites with their mix of depth and frontrunning. This has the potential to be the best team PA has seen since Pennsbury's 2015 team.
With NA coming in as a the heavy state favorites, what other teams could make some noise in 2019? The 2018 runners-up from West Chester Henderson should be strong again. Mulhern leads the way up front. While the Warriors lose their strong 2-3 from last season, they return some good depth after that and should make a good run again for the podium.
State College Area was third last season. It loses No. 1 girl and state runner-up Kileigh Kane to graduation, but brings back a terrific core that should allow this team to make another run at a high finish. Central Bucks West has won back-to-back District 1 title and returns four from last year's team. West has struggled at the state meet each of those last two years, but it has the talent to make a run at a high finish this season. Avon Grove, the sleeper squad of 2018 that wound up ninth at states, returns its full varsity squad. There's no telling what this team is capable of this season with all that depth back.
Unionville, Wilson, Dallastown, and West Chester East are among the other teams that could make some noise again this season. Surely, there's always the opportunity for other teams to get in the mix this fall with improvements and newcomers.