Boys Gold Race (3A) Preview - PIAA Foundation Invitational
- Virtual Meet
- Race Time: 12:45 P.M.
The final race of the day is loaded with talent, and it will be a terrific race with some of the top dogs in Pennsylvania. While not every state title contender will be in Hershey, the Gold Race will still give a good preview of the AAA race that will come in November on the same course.
The individual battle features the defending state champion Patrick Anderson of Mount Lebanon, who returns to the site where he won that crown a year ago. He'll match up with North Allegheny's Daniel McGoey, his WPIAL rival. While the pair were in the same race at Red, White & Blue, McGoey ran in trainers and was not in the mix up front. After running up front at Boardman, McGoey should be free to roll near the lead on Saturday.
Anderson won the state title last year, but McGoey was second to Anderson's third place finish at Foundation last year (NA's Zach Kinne won that race). It's an important race, but surely not an end-all-be-all.
Those two aren't the only contenders in this field, though. Fox Chapel's Christian Fitch is in the field. He was second to Anderson at Red, White & Blue, 13 seconds off. He'll look to continue trying to bridge that gap. Another WPIAL factor here is Zachary Leachman of Mars Area, who was fourth at RWB. Both will be in the hunt. There are no shortage of other strong WPIAL runners entered including Peters Township's Zach Marmol, Mount Lebanon's Barak Asher, and Norwin's Alex Jubert.
Boyertown's Christian McComb opened up with a win at Northampton. After DNF'ing at PTXC, he'll be anxious to race with some of the top boys in the state. North Penn's Noah Demis, who isn't afraid to take a race out hard, should be in the mix as well. West Chester East's Joshua Lewin, making his 5K season debut, Perkiomen Valley's Tyler Clifford, Lower Merion's Joey Litvin, Central Bucks East's Jack McManus, and the Penncrest duo of Patrick Theveny and Jalen Chin are among the other District 1 boys to watch for here.
The State College duo of Ben St. Pierre and Bennett Norton, Southern Lehigh's Alex Kane, Muhlenberg's Jonathan Thrush, and one of the state's top freshman TJ Roden of Central Dauphin will be among the other boys that will compete for a spot in the top 10.
In the team race, PA No. 2 North Allegheny, PA No. 4 Mount Lebanon, PA No. 5 Penncrest, PA No. 6 State College Area, and PA No. 10 Downingtown East are all entered in a race that could certainly shake up the state rankings.
Mount Lebanon won at Red, White & Blue a few weeks ago over North Allegheny, but the Tigers will look for revenge against their WPIAL opponent this time around. Penncrest was impressive in its opener at Northampton and will aim to keep it rolling into Saturday. State College was a big winner at Penn State last week and has proven to have some great depth. Downingtown East has been a big breakthrough squad so far this season, and Saturday will be a big test. Ultimately, it should be very close between these ranked teams in the field and it could go any number of directions.
Oxford Area, Fox Chapel Area, North Penn, Boyertown, Owen J. Roberts, and Norwin are teams that will shoot to make some noise on the big stage in the final varsity race of the day.