Boys' Brown Race Preview - Paul Short Run
- Virtual Meet
- Race Time: 3:15 P.M.
Individuals
Plenty of big names are set for the Boys' Brown Race to start the high school portion of the Paul Short Run off on Saturday. Overall, it's a pretty deep and open field brewing.
Owen Johnson of Calvert Hall College (MD) was a very close second place finisher at PTXC 11. The senior went 15:46 at Kutztown and he returns to PA for another invitational. After that big showing, expect Johnson to be up near the front and he could be the one to beat in this field.
Andrew Avila of the Charter School of Wilmington will be one to watch. He was seventh at PTXC 11 and is one of Delaware's top talents. And speaking of PTXC, taking eighth there was Andrew Healey of Holy Cross. The senior was also second at Foundation and should figure into the conversation for the win at Lehigh.
The top-ranked PA boy in the field is Germantown Academy's Robert DiDonato. The junior won at the George School and he'll face a big test at Lehigh. After a 16:02 at George School, DiDonato could surely drop a time well under 16 minutes on Saturday and could be in the mix for the win.
LaSalle's powerful squad will be led by its strong trio of Ethan Maher, Vincent Twomey, and Bradden Koors. Maher is fresh off a solid second place showing at Bowdoin, while Twomey won at Briarwood earlier this season. Koors is one of the state's top No. 3 runners.
Juniata's Garrett Baublitz should be up near the front. He won at Big Spring and Foundation and was 15th at Carlisle. He'll look for a strong race back in action at Paul Short. Tyler Clifford of Perkiomen Valley was fifth at Foundation in the Gold Race and he'll head to Lehigh's fast course, where he went 15:49 at District 1 last fall.
Cedar Crest's Tommy Bildheiser and Lower Merion's Joey Litvin should also be up near the lead pack on Saturday afternoon. After a strong showing at Briarwood, look out for Avon Grove's Aidan Skinner in this field. Scranton's Josh Christianson, Liberty's Cole Frank, Quaker Valley's Daniel Ford, Germantown Academy's Matt Sandifer, Nisayuna's Thomas Ragone, Blue Mountain's Kevin Haas, Wyalusing Valley's Kemuel Laudermilch and Alex Patton, Cedar Crest's Ryan Scicchitano, and Easton Area's Marco Cardone are among the others to watch in this incredibly deep field that should see a lot of boys dip under 16 minutes.
Teams
Three ranked Pennsylvania squads will battle it out in a strong team field for the Brown Race.
PA No. 1 LaSalle College is the favorite. After a 22-point win at Briarwood, the Explorers went to Bowdoin last week and came away with a second place finish, only behind NJ stalwart CBA. This team has some great depth after its frontrunners and will be a tough team to beat.
PA No. 5 Lower Merion and PA No. 6 Cedar Crest will look to pose a challenge to the state leaders. Lower Merion pulled off the upset victory at the PIAA Foundation Invitational in the Gold Race. This will be the Aces first big test since then and it will look for another big meet showing. Cedar Crest returns to the invite scene after a good start to its season that included runaway victories at LVC and Big Spring. The Falcons are a very strong team and will be one to watch.
Owen J. Roberts (third at Foundation) and Perkiomen Valley (fourth at Foundation) will be looking for statement performances. Both are just on the outside of the top ten, but that could change with a good showing at Lehigh. Wyalusing Valley Area is the state's second-ranked 1A squad, and will get a good challenge among many bigger schools in the Brown Race.