Boys Preview - PIAA District 6 Championships
Class A
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
Two of the state's best in Class A will battle it out for the district title on Saturday. Penns Valley's Colton Sands and Brendan Colwell will be competing for individual state titles next week in Hershey. But it's districts time before that.
Colwell is the defending champ in the district. He ran 15:29 earlier this season. Sands, the AA state champ in the 3200 on the track, won at Foundation this year. Both teammates will be the ones to beat.
Marion Center's Hunter Armstrong will look to give them a challenge up front. The Saint Joseph's Catholic duo of Josh Hershbine and Carter Kauffman should be up there, competing for top five finishes.
The Penns Valley Area may be the team to beat. With the lowsticks in Sands and Colwell, they have some strong pieces after them despite having a small team. The state champs in 2017 are in a good spot to get back to Hershey and compete for another high finish. First, they'll look to bring home the district title once again.
Saint Joseph's Catholic Academy and Marion Center Area will be among the teams going for state spots as well. D6-A get two spots, which means one out of PV, SJCA, and MCA won't be headed to states. SJCA was a place behind PV at Foundation. Marion Center is coming off a dominating Heritage Conference win and should give those squads a good run for the top two.
Class AA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
Garrett Baublitz of Juniata will look to make it four district titles in a row. The senior has won D6-AA each year of each high school career, and one of the top AA runners in the state will be primed to complete the career district sweep.
Baublitz was the state runner-up last fall and should be in the mix for a state title a week later. First, he'll go for the district win.
His best challenge will come from Westmont Hilltop's Nick Fetzer, who has had a great season so far. He won at Altoona and SFU and posted a PR of 15:49 at Penn State and will look to mix it up with Baublitz. Bedford's Van May, Central Cambria's Toby Cree and Nate Kuntz, and Juniata's Clay Yeager should also find themselves near the front on Saturday.
Central Cambria will be the team to beat, as the Red Devils chase their fifth straight district title on Saturday. The LHAC champions and Carlisle Invite (Champions Race) runners-up have a slim 1-5 gap and should will be tough to beat for another district crown.
Juniata and Somerset Area will aim to challenge for that lone state qualifying spot.
Class AAA
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
Expect a close race for the district title in D6-AAA. Mifflin County's Brayden Harris is the defending district champ and he went on to take fourth at the state meet. But he's battled injuries this season. But the junior has been getting stronger as the season has gone on. He won at Gettysburg and was fourth at Mid Penns.
State College's Brady Bigger will give the reigning champ his best challenge. Bigger was four seconds and one place ahead of Harris two weeks ago at Mid Penns. So this will be a great race up front.
State College's Ben St. Pierre, Bennett Norton, and Sean Adams are among the other Little Lions that will be in the mix for high finishes.
The State College Area boys should be able to make it eight-in-a-row in District 6 Class AAA. The Little Lions have great depth again and that should be on display Saturday. Bigger and St. Pierre will be strong lowsticks, while the rest of the top five isn't far behind (they had a 1:02 1-5 gap at Mid Penns).
Mifflin County will look for a big day from the rest of their varsity to give them a run for their money.