Landon Hostetter of Annville-Cleona and Allen Ebersole of Tulpehocken will be dualling for the title Saturday. Hostetter beat Ebersole by exactly 10 seconds when they faced off earlier in the season at the PIAA Foundation Meet. Hostetter has run a time of 16:56.23, and Ebersole has a time of 16:56.60, making them the only 1A runners in District Three to break 17-minutes this season.

David Bednarczyk of Tulpehocken, Mitchell Bradley of York Catholic, and Henry Friedrichs are also individuals who will be in the front-pack of the race.

On paper, Tulpehocken is the clear favorite, with a solid front four leading the way (Allen Ebersole, David Bednarczyk, Jayden Manbeck, and Clint Haws). They will undoubtedly be out with a vengeance after missing out on the team win to Trinity last year by one singular point.

However, you can't count out York Catholic and Kutztown. Both teams have competitive squads with strong front runners that are more than capable of mixing things up in the pack.

Colin Whitaker of Lampeter Strasburg should be the individual victor on Saturday. He made a name for himself during his junior campaign after running a 15:04.30 at the Adidas XC Challenge. He also proved to be a competitor after taking 2nd at the PIAA Foundation meet earlier in the season.

The chase pack will likely be led by Tommy Crum of Boiling Springs, Nate Goldsborough of Fleetwood Area, and Ben Devine of Lampeter Strasburg.

Paul Monsour of Wyomissing Area, Dylan Cunningham of Kennard-Dale, and Connor Petula of Boiling Springs are other runners that can't be ignored.

Lampeter Strasburg will be on defense for the team title as a strong Wyomissing Area team will be coming after them. Lampeter Strasburg may have stronger front runners (Colin Whitaker, Ben Devine, and Parker Stoner). Still, Wyomissing Area has much more depth from runners 1-7 (Paul Monsour, Blake Hettinger, David Giles, Cameron Cohen, Owen Holst, Jace Carwll, and Tyler Nolt). Wyomissing Area's 6 and 7 man could play a vital role as displacers mixed in with Lampeter Strasburg's scoring 5.

Other solid teams are Conrad Weiser, Boiling Springs, and Octorara.

It will be an exciting face-off between the 3A boys, with the many capable runners.

Timothy Roden of Central Dauphin is having an impressive season after taking 5th in the Brown race at the 48th Lehigh Paul Short Run in a time of 15:01.90. He also earned himself a Mid Penn title and took 5th at the PIAA Foundation Meet.

Mathew O'Brien of Susquehannock is also having an excellent year, making him a contender. After winning the Gettysburg XC Invitational in a time of 15:11.00 and winning the YAIAA League Cross Country Championship, he has a lot of momentum going into the district meet.

Others to watch are Aidan Hodge of Hempfield, Kevin Shank of Carlisle, Gunner Geib of Manheim Township, and Vinay Raman of Hershey. You also can't count out the Twin Valley duo, Anthony Engle and Ben Meister.

On paper, Manheim Township should be the team to beat. Between their impressive depth (Gunner Geib, Cole Stevens, Adam Kingston, Luke Papadimitriou, Dylan DelVecchio, Ethan Peffley, and Aaron Wood) and significant momentum, they make a good case for the title.

However, Hempfield (3) had a very impressive showing last week at the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championships, knocking off Manheim Township. That was the best we've seen Hempfield all season, and they look to carry that momentum into districts this week.

However, Exeter Township also has similar depth (Slater Vonstetten, Nathan Wentling, Chase Choudhry, Jack Sahaida, Jason Nester, and Frank Conte) and won't go down without a fight.

Other teams to watch are Hershey, and Twin Valley.