D2-A Boys - Team & Individuals Breakdown
- Preseason Rankings: Team | Individual
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 2
- State Qualifying Spots For Individuals: 10
- 2019 Individual Champion: Andrew Healey (Holy Cross) - 16:21
- 2019 Team Champions: Holy Cross - 47 points
Individuals Breakdown
It was a tremendous high school career for Andrew Healey of Holy Cross, who won back-to-back District 2 Class A XC titles and finished in the top four of the state three times. Healey has graduated, and the next one up looks to be another Holy Cross runner -- Kevin Jumper.
Jumper was second in the district to Healey last year, and went on to place seventh in the state, an impressive leap up from the year before. He went sub-16 at Paul Short last year, clocking a 15:56, and this year he will look to be among District 2's best, regardless of classification. He's the big favorite in D2-A.
In total, there are eight boys from from last year's top ten in D2-A, so there will be a lot of boys competing for top spots in the district this season. Susquehanna Community's Austin Gow is one of those boys to watch. He was fourth in the district last year and 50th in the state.
Elk Lake's Justice Johnson and the Wyoming Seminary duo of John Coates and Angelo Lombardo are among the other individual state qualifiers back this season. Thomas Lee of Holy Cross is another strong returner back this fall in D2-A.
Team Preview
Holy Cross ran to the D2-A team title last year winning by 13 points to earn the lone state spot allotted to the district/classification. Holy Cross are still the favorites, but the big change in D2-A this season is that there are now two spots in the state meet up for grabs for teams.
HC loses Healey to graduation, but returns the rest of its varsity squad. With Jumper the big individual favorite and Lee among others adding good depth, this will be a hard team to beat in the district.
But luckily for the other squads, there's another state spot to be won here. Montrose won the district three years in a row before last season, and while it loses its top runner from last year, Nick Coy, it returns the rest of its varsity squad, which was led by freshman Samuel Stashko at the district meet last year. They will be in contention for a state berth after a second place finish last year.
Elk Lake, third last year, will also be a factor. It brings back five varsity boys with Johnson set to lead the way. EL could give Montrose a good run for that second spot. Lackawanna Trail and Wyoming Seminary will also look to get in the mix after finish fourth and fifth in the district last fall, respectively.
But up front, Holy Cross is the team to beat on the heels of its 11th place state finish in 2019.