Photo Above - Baylee Espinosa at the PIAA Foundation Invite - Photo by Ryan Comstock
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Danville and Cathedral Prep Drama Continues
Danville Area and Cathedral Prep will make for another nail-biter of a team race. CP started the rivalry in 2022 by beating Danville 111 to 115. A year later, Danville rallied back, scoring 82 points to Cathedral Prep's 118.
Danville stands out initially as the defending state champions. This season, they've already beaten CP in a head-to-head matchup at the PIAA Foundation meet. The team score was close, with Danville scoring 70 points and CP not far off with 78 points.
Danville benefits from a tight pack led by returning individual state medalist Odin Ryer, who has made significant jumps this season. Janie Cotner is another likely candidate for a low stick. They also have a lot of depth in the likes of Juliet Steckley, Lauren Benfer and Ingrid McElroy.
CP has been looking stronger as the season has progressed. They are fresh off a dominant District 10 Championship win, in which Anne-Catherine Brown and Fina Bannister both went sub 19 minutes for the 1-2 punch. Brown and Bannister will be a formidable duo to beat. CP also has solid three-through-five runners, including Makayla Stutts, Allison Bender, and Reagan Johnston.
Photo Above - Anne-Catherine Brown after the District 10 Championship - Photo by Ryan Comstock
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If we look at season-best times alone, CP's seven runners win every matchup against Danville's. However, Danville has already demonstrated they have what it takes to scrap on the challenging course in Hershey.
North Catholic, Hampton, Lower Moreland and Lewisburg are teams that shouldn't be taken lightly.
North Catholic wasn't far off from Danville and CP at the PIAA Foundation meet scoring 98 points. Their team, arguably flexis more depth than Danville and CP with six runners who have run sub 20 minutes this year, however, frontrunner Madeline Meeuf didn't compete at the District 7 Championships.
Hampton puts themselves in the conversation as a team that could surprise us after beating North Catholic by ten points for the District 7 title. Kevyn Fish leads Hampton's team with Claire McKinney and Abby Hall not far off, however there is a significant gap between their other scores that might make an upset difficult.
Lower Moreland is another team that will be in the thick of things. Annie Moniz leads a strong team fresh off the District 1 Championship win. They kept themselves in striking distance with other top teams at the PIAA Foundation meet and will likely do the same on Saturday.
Lewisburg can't be overlooked either after their performance at the District 4 Championships. Baylee Espinosa, the individual District 4 champion, paced their team to finish just two points off of Danville. Lewisburg has strong one-through-four runners; however, if they want to be competitive, their fifth scorer will need to close the gap in the state meets bigger field.
A Battle of the State Champions
Virginia Kraus (Saucon Valley), the 2023 1A state champion, and Baylee Espinosa (Lewisburg Area), the defending 2A state champion, will clash head-to-head for this year's title.
Kraus, the top-ranked 2A girl in the state, remains undefeated this season against all other competitors within the classification, thus making her Saturday's favorite. She beat Espinosa once this season in the gold race at Paul Short.
Kraus clocked an impressive 17:34.80, precisely 37 seconds ahead of Espinosa's 18:11.80. Both runners notably ran personal best efforts on the day.
However, Espinosa shouldn't be counted out based on one race. Last year, she navigated the challenging Hershey course slightly faster than Kraus, winning the 2A state title in 18:48.00. Krause won the 1A title in 18:50.00. Two seconds isn't a massive difference, but it shows that both girls navigated the challenging course at a similar level.
Espinosa also comfortably won the PIAA Foundation meet earlier this season in 18:59.00, increasing her exposure to the state course.
Other runners who will be in the mix are Chloe May (Bedford), Cecilia Montagnese (Quaker Valley) and Annie Moniz (Lower Moreland).