Boys' Challenge Race Preview - Carlisle Invitational
- Virtual Meet
- Race Time: 9:30 A.M.
Individuals
It will be an exciting one up front in the boys' Challenge Race with plenty of top names set to toe the line.
Unionville's Cole Walker will look to keep his strong start to his senior season rolling. He won at White Clay in Delaware a few weeks ago and will face a tough challenge on Saturday. University's Josh Edwards, one of the nation's top sophomores, will be shooting for the win. The West Virginia runner is no stranger to PA -- he raced and Cal U. and won at Penn State a few weeks ago. He'll be one to watch.
Mifflin County's Brayden Harris, who was fourth at states last year, should be up near the front. He runs better the later in the season it is and it's almost October, so watch out for the junior. Other ranked PA runners in the field include Lewisburg sophomore Jacob Hess, Boyertown's Christian McComb, Haverford's Mike Donnelly, Unionville's Ethan McIntyre, West Chester East's Joshua Lewin, Grove City's Tobias Jones, and State College's Ben St. Pierre.
In a field of deep entries, look for plenty of others to get in the mix: Aiden Barnhill (Downingtown West), Casey Padgett (Carlisle), Bennett Norton (State College), Gavin Brophy (West Chester Henderson), and Jakolby Fackler (Palmyra)
This will be a good one. On a fast and dry course, sub-15 is certainly not out of the question and it may just take that to win it here.
Teams
The team race, like the girls, will be a big one in the Challenge Race with four top ten ranked teams toeing the line.
Saturday marks the season 5K debut of PA No. 3 Downingtown West. The Whippets, per usual, have waited to run their first 3.1 miler of the season. Led by Barnhill, this team has depth like it has had in previous seasons and will be a tough team to beat. PA No. 6 Unionville and PA No. 7 West Chester Henderson are also entered. Unionville has a strong top two and seems to be putting together some good depth to compete at a high level. Henderson has a young, up-and-coming squad that will look to make an impact in its first 5K of the season.
PA No. 10 State College Area is back in action this week. The Little Lions had a rough day at Foundation, but could certainly redeem itself with a strong performance at Carlisle. Lewisburg Area is the top-ranked AA squad in the state. Hess is a solid No. 1 and the rest of the team appears to be in a good spot after winning at the East Aurora last week in NY. Grove City Area (PA No. 5) will look to match up well with its AA counterpart.
University High (WV) and Salesianum School (DE) are a pair of strong out-of-state squads in the field. Haverford Township, Palmyra, Hempfield, and Oxford Area are among the other strong PA Class AAA teams in this very deep field.
PA No. 1 LaSalle College is entered in the Challenge Race, but will be sending a B team to Carlisle with the top seven in New York for the Bowdoin Classic.