D11-AAA Boys - Team & Individuals Breakdown
- Preseason Rankings: Team | Individual
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
- State Qualifying Spots For Individuals: 10
- 2019 Individual Champion: Cole Frank (Liberty) - 16:20
- 2019 Team Champions: Nazareth Area - 71 points
Individuals Breakdown
Cole Frank of Liberty will be the one to watch this season once again in District 11 Class AAA. He's on the heels of a big junior season, where he took home the district title and placed 18th at states. He ran a 5K best of 15:38 at Paul Short and looks to be on a path for a big senior campaign. He's the favorite to defend his title in a district that has a lot of up-and-coming talent.
Alex Kane of Southern Lehigh was third at districts and was among the state's top sophomores last year. He ran a best of 15:48 and went on to place 30th at states. He'll look to give Frank a run for his money up front.
There are three other returners from the top ten of the district meet from last season. Freedom's Alex Heidemann (fourth), Southern Lehigh's Dominik Lisicky (sixth), and Pocono Mountain East's Jack Hollar (seventh) all had big seasons last year and were impressive. Look for each of these boys to compete for top five district spots this season.
The individual field -- however -- looks to be relatively wide open after Frank and Kane. Others to watch for include Southern Lehigh's Alec Di Cesare, Nazareth's Anthony Kositz, and Northampton's Owen Nahf.
Team Preview
Southern Lehigh returned to the state meet as a team with a strong second place finish last year. They went on to take 14th in the state at Hershey. And now, the Spartans look to be the team to beat in D11-AAA this season. Southern Lehigh returns its whole top five and six of its seven varsity from last year's team. Led by Kane, Lisicky, and Di Cesare make for a very strong top three that will make this team tough to beat this season.
Nazareth Area loses its top two, but brings back four of its top seven from last year's team that won the district last season and placed 16th at states. The Eagles have some good experience from last season, and should be a factor for the top two again this season.
Parkland (third last season) and Emmaus (fourth) lose a good amount of seniors, too, but each will look to retool to make a run at the top two this season. Easton Area, Northampton Area, and Liberty are among the teams you can't count out either.
While Southern Lehigh is the favorite, it's a pretty wide open field after that, similar to the individual field, for the state qualifying spots.