Meet Preview: PAISAA Championships

Boys Preview - PAISAA Championships

Individual Preview

He was under the radar for much of last season, but Germantown Academy's Robert DiDonato has taken his star turn in his junior year. The reigning PAISAA champ has been even better in 2019, rolling to wins at George School, Paul Short, and then Inter-Acs. He dropped a 15:15 at Lehigh, and it's difficult to see anyone coming close to preventing DiDonato from winning his second straight state title.

His teammate Matt Sandifer was second at Inter-Acs and also having a great season. Look for him to be battling it out in a chase group that could get pretty crowded.

Diego Spielman-Rodriguez won the Friends League last week, and will look to ride that momentum into the weekend. He was third behind DiDonato and Sandifer at the George School Invite earlier this season. At the FSL Champs, Westtown's Constantin Carls, George School's Walter Owino Wagude, and Germantown Friends' Ben Rosin and Theodor Raven were among the other top five finishers at the FSL Champs.

Episcopal's Owen Maier, Malvern Prep's Collin Hess, and Haverford School's AJ Sanford also took home top five district finishes at Inter-Acs. All will be in the mix for high places on Saturday.

DiDonato is the big favorite, but it figures to be a close race for the other high places on Saturday.

Team Preview

The team race for the PAISAA crown will be very interesting on Friday and should be very close with the state title on the line.

Westtown School stood atop our PAISAA rankings for much of the season, but at last week's Friends League Championship, Germantown Friends stole the show and earned the win, 34-46, over Westtown, and now becomes the team to beat with the squads returning to Belmont Plateau.

GFS had a 1-5 gap of just 46 seconds to win the league title, putting five in the top ten led by Rosin. Westtown will look to rebound in a rematch with more squads in the field on Saturday.

Episcopal Academy edged out Germantown Academy, 47-49, for the Inter-Ac win on Monday. GA has the lowsticks, but EA had the better depth and earned the win. The top Friends League squads may hold the advantage over these two, but the Inter-Ac's best will look to reverse its fortune on Saturday.

Malvern Prep, third at Inter-Acs, will look to keep it close and make a run at the top five.

This one is going to be close. Germantown Friends will be going for its fifth straight PAISAA win, and announced itself as the favorite, but Westtown, Episcopal, Germantown Academy will be shooting for the victory.

In a merge of the Friends League and Inter-Ac Championships (both held at Belmont Plateau), here's what the team situation looks like: