Girls Preview - PIAA District 6 Championships
Class A
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
After taking second in the district last season, Lauren Shaffer of Portage Area went on to take second in the state in Class A. Now a sophomore, Shaffer is more experienced and having a great season that most recently included a TSTCA win at Cal U. She'll be the one to beat on Saturday with the district title on the line.
The Westmont Hilltop duo of Bridget Barbato and Ellie Dorian and the Marion Center duo of Alyx Cornetto and Reagan Ryen, along with Penns Valley's Kelsey Hull are among the other contenders in this very deep district.
The Marion Center Area girls enter the weekend holding down PTXC No. 1 spot in our Class A rankings. Last year, MCA ran to its first XC state title and have come back possibly even better in 2019. They've been impressive all season, turning in strong performances at big meets, including Red, White & Blue, Sharpsville, and their county and league championship meets. MCA lost a few seniors from last year's squad, but the defending district and state champs are out for more of the same this season.
Marion Center will be the favorite, but there's still another state spot up for grabs and it will be very close. Saint Joseph's Catholic Academy will be looking to nab that spot. The Wolves were impressive winners at the PIAA Foundation Invite in Hershey, and will be looking to make a return trip to states after placing third there last season.
Westmont Hilltop will be going for that other state spot, though, and it should be close. The LHAC runners-up have lowsticks in Barbato and Dorian and they should make it very close for state qualification. This is the most interesting Class A team battle of districts week.
Class AA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
Central Cambria's Stella Kuntz will be out to defend her district title. The sophomore won last year as a freshman and went on to place ninth at states. At the D6 meet, she led a 1-2-3-4 finish for CC. Now another freshman has emerged onto the scene for Central Cambria, Annaliese Niebauer. She was third in the LHAC. With Kuntz as the favorite, CC will look for a strong 1-2 finish up front.
Forest Hills pair Paige Greathouse and Lacey Greathouse duo of Savanna Nesbitt and Meah Eshelman will also be in the hunt for top five finishes.
The defending state champions from Central Cambria will once again be the team to beat for the district title. With just one state qualifying spot in D6-AA, it will be hard to deny the Red Devils a shot at state glory.
CC should have frontrunning and depth on display in the AA race. Forest Hills, third at LHACs has been strong all season, though, and they will go for the upset. Forest Hills will have a 1-5 spread of under a minute and will be lurking, trying to get that lone states spot.
Class AAA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
The State College Area girls will go for yet another district title on Saturday and the Little Lions should have little trouble punching their ticket to Hershey. The No. 2 squad is deep once again and possibly as good as they have been in a long while. Expect a low score and a berth into states.
Up front, SC's Marlee Kwasnica will look to win D6-AAA in her first district meet. The freshman has been impressive all season long and was fourth at Mid Penns. Many of her teammates won't be far behind.
Mifflin County's Kylee Cubbison should get in there to break up State College's strong pack. Cubbison was sixth at Mid Penns and has two solid wins on the season. She'll look to keep it rollin Saturday.
For State College after Kwasnica, look for Jordan Reed, Lizzie Gilpatrick, and Elly Haushalter will be among the girls that should land around the top five.