Class AAA Girls Team Preview - PIAA State Championships
The North Allegheny girls will look to secure their second AAA team title in as many years, and the Tigers will enter Saturday as the heavy favorites. With almost everyone back from last year's state title team, the Tigers have delivered at every step this season.
Led by Hannah Lindgren most of the way, NA won at the Red, White & Blue Classic, the Boardman Spartan Invite in Ohio (without Lindgren), the PIAA Foundation Invite, the TSTCA Championships, and most recently at the WPIAL Championships. Each win has been in fairly decisive fashion. At Foundation on the same Hershey course they'll race on Saturday, NA won by 50 over PA No. 2 State College.
Returning state medalist Keeley Misutka, Caroline Daggett, and freshman breakout Alexa Sundgren, and Maura Mlecko make up the rest of the scoring five that will be very difficult to get close to this weekend. After a third place regional finish last season and a narrow miss at an automatic nationals big, the NA girls are hungry this season. First comes taking care of business on Saturday.
For reference, the last AAA girls team to repeat team title was Pennsbury in 2014-2015.
State College Area has their sights set on the podium. The Little Lions have been inside the top five at the state meet each of the last four years and it should be no different this season. Despite losing last year's state runner-up in Kileigh Kane, SC returns some great depth from that team, as well as freshman standout Marlee Kwasnica, who should be up near the front.
District 1 brought some madness last week. Downingtown West pulled off an upset of sorts to win rather convincingly by 35 points. Reagan Flannery had a great race to take tenth in the massive D1 field and then the Whippets' next four came across between spots 37 and 43, separated by just four seconds. Suddenly, D-West is smack in the middle of the state conversation for a high finish at Hershey.
West Chester Henderson, last year's state runner-up, was second to D-West in D1. Jenna Mulhern is the lowstick, but the next four has progressed well for the Warriors and Henderson can expect to be a top two factor again. Central Bucks West was third in D1 last week. While West hasn't had the best luck at states the past two seasons, they changed up their schedule this season and will look for a strong showing at states this week. Unionville ran its best race of the season at D1s last week to qualify for its ninth straight state meet. Sixth at states last year, this is a team that always peaks well and this year should be more of the same.
Speaking of district craziness, District 3 also brought some interesting results. Carlisle took home the win in a very close team competition for one of the four state spots. Sophia Toti ran her best race of the season to take the individual win, and the rest of the team showed good balance to take the victory. The Herd are now a team that could make some serious noise at Hershey with it peaking at the right time. Mechanicsburg Area came away with a big race to grab second, while Dallastown and Hershey snagged the other two spots with a few talented teams left out of the top four in D3. Each of those teams could surprise again and make a good run on the big stage.
Seneca Valley is a good bet for a high states finish. Though they have been in the shadow of WPIAL counterpart North Allegheny at times, this is a strong squad. They scored 89 points to take second to NA in District 7. Dylan Kirchner and Gabrielle Kutchma are a solid 1-2 punch for the Raiders that have great top five potential. The other WPIAL state qualifier Upper Saint Clair is running well at the right time and is a team worth watching for.
District 1 qualifiers Council Rock North and Owen J. Roberts are a pair of teams that could make some noise and surprise some. Making it out of D1 usually translates to a good state meet finish, so don't sleep on those two squads. District 11 champs Emmaus have a top four that was separated by less than 20 seconds in their win last week. Liberty has some lowsticks, too, so the D11 squads could perform well this weekend.