D12-A Boys - Team & Individuals Breakdown
- Preseason Rankings: Team | Individual
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
- State Qualifying Spots For Individuals: 10
- 2019 Individual Champion: Kesi Hatton (Motivation) - 17:57
- 2019 Team Champions: Masterman - 30 points
Individuals Breakdown
Motivation's Kesi Hatton would be the on to beat in D12-A, as the junior was set to defend his district title in the classification. Last year, he went 17:57 to take the win at Belmont Plateau to edge out Masterman's Noah Bradley. Hatton would have been the one to beat here.
Bradley has graduated, but he has a number of former teammates that could threaten for that top spot. Calder Burke was third in the district as a freshman. Jack Hourigan didn't race at districts last year, but ended up as Masterman's No. 2 runner behind Bradley at states last year, running a 18:21 at Hershey. Owen Moss is another strong Masterman runner that would be in the mix for a top five district finish after taking fifth last season.
Another Motivation runner -- Thomas Ballah -- would be up there near the front as well. He went 18:35 for fourth at districts last year. Keaton Rush of Devon Preparatory, sixth in D12-A last season, would be a factor as well
Team Preview
Masterman rolled to the district crown last season, putting just 30 points on the board to take the top spot. They would once again be in the driver's seat for the top spot this season. It loses last year's top runner in Noah Bradley, who was the district runner-up, but brings back the rest of its varsity squad, led by Hourigan and Burke. It would have been hard to take down Masterman this season.
Motivation has a very strong top two and that would have been likely enough to give them a shot at competing for the second of the two state qualifying spots. Hatton and Ballah were the lowsticks, they would just need to add some depth.
Motivation would have received a good challenge from Devon Preparatory. Devon earned the second of two state spots last season and brings back two from the top ten in the district last year in Rush and Max Mongiello. The battle for that second states spot will come down to depth, ultimately.