Boys Preview - PIAA District 3 Championships
Class A
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
Kutztown's Mitchell Brett goes for the repeat in 1A on Saturday. As a sophomore, he claimed the win by 15 seconds and he's in a good spot to do something similar this season. He ran a PR of 16:49 to take fifth in Berks County and is riding some good momentum into districts.
Eric Shelton of Christian School of York, Jasper Byrd of Trinity, and John Whitcomb of Fairfield will also be in the mix individually.
The team race for the win and the one and only states spot will likely come down to Kutztown Area and Fairfield Area. Fairfield comes in as the defending champs, but Kutztown has come on strong as of late, placing seventh in the AAA and AA heavy BCIAA. Brett could score that crucial single point and Kutztown is in a good spot. But Fairfield has a lot of experience back from last year's state team that could make this interesting.
Tulpehocken and York Catholic could get in the mix with big days.
Class AA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 3
Wyomissing's Ben Kuhn will look to add his second straight District 3 title and make it four out of the last five year's that a Wyo runner has won the individual district crown.
He'll be challenged for the win, though, namely by Northern Lebanon's Gage Krall. He's improved a great deal since his third place district finish last year, winning a pair of invites before taking the LL League title last week. He's running well and should make it a great race up front.
Greencastle-Antrim's Weber Long was second in at Mid Penns and is carrying some good momentum into Saturday. He should be a factor in the front pack. The same goes for YAIAA champ Cole Adams of York Suburban, who is enjoying a nice sophomore season.
Wyomissing's Thomas Foster (third at BCIAAs) and Kennard Dale's Collin Wolf could also get in the conversation. Millersburg's Jacob Mavretic and Eastern Lebanon's Mitchell Gray will battle it out for spots in the top five.
The York Suburban boys will be the big favorites to win for a second straight year. YS has once again retooled with some terrific depth. After winning at Foundation against some of AA's best, they captured the YAIAA title last week. Expect a low score on Saturday.
Kennard-Dale is having a strong season and should be in line for one of the other two state spots allotted to D3-AA. They were third in the YAIAA behind YS and AAA Gettysburg. Led by Wolf, KD has become a force this fall.
Wyomissing has lowsticks in Kuhn and Foster, but will look for some of the backend varsity boys to step up to get the 2017 back to Hershey (usual No. 3 runner, a Wilson transfer, will likely not compete, per the PIAA's rule on transfers). Other teams looking for that third state spot include Susquehannock, Conrad Weiser, and Oley Valley.
Class AAA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 4
No big district/classification has quite the wide open individual field that District 3 Class AAA has. Any number of boys could claim the top spot with a good day at Big Spring.
The top returner from last year's district meet is Graham Thomas from Penn Manor, who took eighth in 2018. He was third in the LL League last week; last year, he was tenth in the league before his districts run, so could be in a good spot entering the week. Cedar Crest's Tommy Bildheiser was the top AAA boys in that LL League race. He and his teammate Ryan Scicchitano have both run sub-16 this season. Luke Hinegardner was tenth in the district last season as a freshman and will also be among the Falcons' competing for high finishes.
Carlisle's Casey Padgett won the Mid Penn title last week and looks to be hitting top form at the right time. He'll be among the favorites for Saturday. Palmyra has plenty of firepower, including Zachary Toth (fifth at Mid Penns) and Jakolby Fackler, who has run sub-16 twice this season and was sixth at Carlisle.
Muhlenberg's Jonathan Thrush and Twin Valley's Noah Taylor are among Berks County's best this season. Look for each to be in the mix for top five spots. Red Land's Aiden Gonder, the Northeastern duo of James Herman and Cole Perry, the Hempfield duo of Evan Eshleman and Jack Mieszkalski, and Shippensburg's Hayden Hunt and Elias Spence will be factors for high finishes, and who knows, maybe even the victory in the last race of the day.
Cedar Crest will be the team to beat on Saturday afternoon. The reigning champs returned a bunch from last year's team that emerged from under the radar to claim the win at Big Spring. The Falcons have been strong all season long, taking second at Paul Short and easily winning the LL League. CC has a mix of frontrunning and a slim pack that will bode well for them in this big field.
Mid Penn champions Hershey also benefit from a good 1-5 spread. Two weeks ago at Big Spring, the champs had just 29 seconds between the top five. While their top runner was 12th in the conference, they were bang, bang across the line. Look for more of the same this week. Palmyra was second at Mid Penns to Hershey and will have a number of runners competing for individual medals. They'll be a serious contender for a high team finish.
Twin Valley took home the Berks County title last week and has some strong depth that will make them a contender for the top four. Hempfield was second to Cedar Crest in the LL League and has had a strong season each step of the way. Expect them to be right in the thick of it for a high finish. Hempfield was fifth last year and Twin Valley was sixth at districts, so both of these teams have plenty of motivation entering the weekend.
Carlisle was fourth at Mid Penns. The Herd, a perennial power, took third last year in the district and can not be counted out with state qualification on the line. Shippensburg, Chambersburg, and Red Land are among other strong Mid Penn squads that will look to have a strong day back at Big Spring to get in the mix for a states spot.
Gettysburg Area, J.P. McCaskey, and Cumberland Valley also can't be slept on in this strong field of teams.