D9-A Boys - Team & Individuals Breakdown
- Preseason Rankings: Team | Individual
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
- State Qualifying Spots For Individuals: 10
- 2019 Individual Champion: Nathaniel Lerch (Clarion Area) - 16:50
- 2019 Team Champions: Cranberry - 43 points
Individuals Breakdown
The race for the top spot in District 9 Class could come down to a pair of strong returners -- Matt Woolcock of Cranberry and Joe Wolfe of Elk County Catholic.
Clarion's Nathanial Lerch claimed the district title last season, but Woolcock was just three seconds behind him. Wolfe took third in the district. Then at the state meet, both Woolcock and Wolfe were just on the outside of the top 25 with Wolfe placing 27th and Woolcock right behind him in 29th. This will be an interesting intra-district matchup to keep an eye on this fall.
There are three other returners in D9-A from the district meet last year: DuBois Central Catholic's Jonny Ritsick (sixth), Couderport's Dalton Keglovits (eighth), and Keystone's Koby Buzard (tenth). Smethport's Jordan Pavlock was 11th and will be on the hunt for another high finish this spring.
Team Preview
Cranberry proved to be D9-A's strongest team in 2019, rolling to the district title by putting just 43 points on the board. This team went on to take sixth at the state meet. It will have some retooling to do for this season, though. Woolcock, its top runner from last season, is back to lead the way, but Cranberry loses its solid 2-3 to graduation. They have three varsity returners and it will turn to some JV boys to step up to give them a shot at a repeat. Cranberry is likely still the favorite here.
Elk County Catholic is a team that can't be counted out though. ECC missed state meet qualification last year, taking third in the district, but we can expect this team to come back hungry this fall. It loses its lone state medalist from last year in Ben Hoffman, but Wolfe is back along with a pair of other varsity returners.
Clarion Area earned that second state spot last year with a runner-up district meet finish. Lerch, the individual champ, has graduated, but Clarion has three strong varsity returners that should make them a factor once again.
Smethport Area, Otto-Eldred, Kane Area, and Brookville Area are the among the other teams that have a shot at making some noise in D9-A. The name of the game in this district will be teams needing runners to step up. The teams that most successfully retool will probably be the teams in the top two of the standings at the district meet.