Distirct 8 & District 10 AAA "Region" - Team & Individuals Breakdown
- Preseason Rankings: Team | Individual
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 1
- State Qualifying Spots For Individuals: 5
- 2019 Individual Champion: Eli Anish (Taylor Allderdice) - 16:27
- 2019 Team Champions: Taylor Allderdice - 30 points
PIAA Class AAA teams from District 8 and District 10 are combined to form a "region."
Individuals Breakdown
After a strong freshman campaign, it should be a big season for McDowell's Christian Mattern as he moves into his sophomore year. He took third in the region last season as a frosh, and he's the top returner at Cathedral Prep goes to AA. Mattern ran 4:33 for a full mile indoors, and that's a good sign that he's ready for an even better tenth grade year.
Taylor Allderdice has three returners from the top ten of the region back this season. Holden Eagle was fifth, Isaiah White was seventh, and Jack Barnhisel took eighth at the district meet. Each will look to challenge the upstart Mattern for the district title.
McDowell's Jaden Levine and Nicolin Pierce are among the other boys back this season that will shoot for the top five in the region.
Team Preview
It should be a close battle for the one state qualifying spot in this region. Taylor Allderdice are the defending champions, scoring 30 for the win and a trip to Hershey. The defending individual region champ, Eli Anish, has graduated, but Allderdice brings back the rest of its varsity squad. This team brings along its talent well, and they will be tough to beat in the region once again.
But McDowell will make it close. It loses a pair of varsity boys from last year, but they have the individual favorite in Mattern and the rest of the team will look to close the gap.
It's a small field, so every place will make a big difference. The field was made even smaller with Cathedral Prep making the move to AA. So it will be very interesting as these teams battle it out for the lone state spot in this region.