PAISAA Championships - Girls Preview
- Virtual Meet
- Varsity Race Time: 2:05 PM
The PAISAA is loaded with individual talent on the girls side, and it's going to make for one of the most interesting championship races we've seen in quite some time. A number of girls will be going for the title in what will be a great battle at Belmont Plateau. The favorites include Penn Charter's Alli DeLisi, Friends Central's Olivia Cieslak, Germantown Friends' Anna MacDonald, and Academy of Notre Dame's Therese Trainer.
DeLisi enters the meet fresh off an Inter-Ac title at the same course, Belmont Plateau, last week. The freshman has finished no worse than fourth in a race all season long and ran a 5K best of 18:44 this season. She was able to pull away from Trainer in the woods to win Inter-Acs. Cieslak took home the Friends League title last week. Also a freshman, Cieslak is running well at the right time, and should put herself right in the lead group to contend for the win. She's an experienced talent and that will come in handy in a big race.
MacDonald was second to Cieslak in the Friends League. The lone senior out of the four favorites, MacDonald won the George School Invite earlier this season over DeLisi and Cieslak. She also ran a season best of 18:29 at Paul Short, the fastest time in the field. Trainer, meanwhile, was second to DeLisi in the Inter-Ac. The Delco champion went 18:37 at Paul Short this season.
None of these four girls can really be counted out, and a few of these girls have exchanged better finishes or faster times at the same meets this season. Just know, it'll be a close one, and it's a good bet that the woods loop -- namely Parachute Hill -- could be a deciding factor. Others to keep an eye on include Grier's Edith Manfred, Germantown Friends' Annika Marcelis, and Springside Chestnut Hill's Veronica Gula.
The team race figures to be close, as well. Academy of Notre Dame edged out Penn Charter for the Inter-Ac title last week by a slim two-point margin, 40-42. Penn Charter will look to flip the script in that battle between two very evenly matched squads back on the same course. Friends' Central and Germantown Friends will make it a battle with those teams, though, Friends' Central won a close one, 32-37, over Germantown Friends for the Friends' League crown last week. This one looks like a toss up, too!