District Recap: AA

District One
District One AA is a fairly small meet, so when Holy Ghost Prep took the top two spots, it looked like they might be able to cash in on their state tickets. But that's why it takes five runners as Bishop Shanahan uncorked their pack from 4-7, getting a big day from sophomore Logan Yoquinto in the 4 spot and getting some help from a few other teams to help cement the victory. Jack Ettien continues to come to play in the big meets and has not wavered from his position as the team's #1 runner. We have seen this squad to some excellent pack running and so Shanahan will be a fun watch at states, especially if Breslin moves back into the front pack. It's not crazy to imagine these guys running with a 15-20 second spread at Hershey. However, they have yet to run the state course in 2015 and this team has not qualified for states in XC before so it will be interesting to see how they handle the spotlight and the hills. The state meet has really messed with even the best packs in years past.

The good news is that District One has a nice resume at states, with Pottsgrove winning a title, taking 2nd and taking 6th last year. Pottsgrove also placed in the top five at the foundation meet earlier this fall. Both BS and HG Prep were fairly far ahead of PGrove at districts, so maybe Shanahan is ready to chase a podium spot this season.

Individually, District One had 0 AA medalists in 2014. Callahan Lennon and Patrick Donahue will look to change that. Lennon was completely unchallenged at districts, but still cruised under 16:30. He seems like the best bet for a medal, especially considering the upward trend he is on. As a sophomore, Lennon was the district's best overall finisher last year, taking 47th.

District Two
All season long, I've been trying to find someone who can unseat Dominic Hockenbury from his top spot in the state. Hockenbury has earned either a silver or gold in each of his last five state championships, he has dominated his XC races against AA competition since Dominic Deluca graduated and at districts this weekend, against arguably his best competition in Matt Kravitz, he took control of the race and never looked back, running 15:47 to win by 26 seconds. Kravitz didn't follow the blistering early pace, sitting in third at the mile already six seconds back, so he has been sticking to his new approach. It seemed to pay off as he ended up taking a comfortable silver against a strong runner in Jacob Tockzo, who went out a couple seconds faster through the mile.

This race was a great showing by teammates of the top guys. David Haines had another excellent performance, grabbing 4th behind his North Pocono teammate, while Chris Sabol from Lake Lehman got what I believe is his first state qualifying performance, taking 12th in the race and locking down a spot. Awesome seasons for both of those guys so it's nice to see it pay off with a strong showing at districts.

In the team race, the super young Dallas squad continues to deliver on the big stage, winning the district title over Berwick who grabbed the other qualifying spot. It's hard to not believe in Dallas, the squad that was 8th at states last year with a super young squad and limited front running. They finished second at Foundation and placed three men in the top 10 of a loaded D2 (last year D2 accounted for 9 of the 25 medalists, despite being one of the smaller districts).

But Dallas is still very young, feels like maybe still at least a year away with a Varsity squad that has 1 Senior (their #6), 1 Junior, 3 Sophs and two freshman (the all important 4-5 spot). I'll touch more on this squad as we continue on in the week, but I'm very impressed by Borton's last couple races and this team's ability to deliver in the clutch as a young squad.

District Three
Dallas's #1 competition for the state title made a huge statement to bolster their favorite status in 2015. York Suburban scored just 45 points at districts and placed 3 in the top 10, with 5 in the top 14 in the loaded district. Jarrett Raudensky and Bryce Ohl, just a frosh and a soph, continue to prove they will not fold under pressure, while Quentin Schorr had a fantastic race to keep the spread down and really instill confidence in this team's top to bottom ability. They will be heavy favorites to keep their title at Hershey next week and we might see something dominant from this squad if everything continues to click.

The other team spots in what we suspected might be a tight race, went to Trinity and Boiling Springs. Trinity looked really strong, putting together a great pack and getting a clutch finish from Will Bucher, the freshman who added a top 20 finish in the #1 spot to lift the team. Boiling Springs really showed me something as well, after finishing behind a couple teams at Mid Penns, they jumped them in the most important meet of their season. East Pennsboro had a really nice showing from their top four, but a bit of a drop off to five, which opened the door. Also, Milton Hershey's usual #1 Nate Frierson appears to have not raced this meet either.

Individually, Jack DiCintio showed why he was the runner up at states in 2014, using his finishing ability to run away from Filler over of the final stretch and taking a six second victory. Considering his sub 16 run at Paul Short and a pair of wins at leagues and districts, DiCintio seems poised to take another shot at Hock. I haven't been giving him the credit he deserves as a title contender, mentioning guys like Kachman, Skolnekovich and Kravitz, before the silver medalist. DiCintio should be a strong contender this year and avoiding back to back Hershey weekends could help as well.

Dan Filler has had his own excellent season and, despite the loss here, is still a legit contender at states. He will be hungry to challenge Jack again and improve on his medal performance from a year ago. Sam Signor had an excellent day for 3rd, even battling back towards the leaders after the 2 mile. He's another serious medal contender. Jared Harnish really impressed. I thought he might have a breakthrough, but I wasn't expecting a run quite this big. Fortna and McDonnell also really delivered, continuing some big momentum runs for both of them and hoping to carry it through to Hershey.

District Four
Major credit to Mifflinburg for pulling this one out. I thought Mifflinburg would be a contender early in the season, but by mid way through the year I thought Lewisburg had pulled away as the favorites. But Mifflinburg never lost focus and ultimately, thanks to a terrific run from their 2-6, they earned the district's lone state berth. Lewisburg won't leave empty handed as they took the silver and got Anthony Bach (2nd) and Nicholas Alico (5th) on to Hershey, but this younger Lewisburg squad will be motivated for next season.

Isaac Davis, the Jersey Shore sophomore, continues to impress. He has really been flying against a strong D4 field with guys like Malafronte and Amabile who have proven track records at the state level. Davis is a bit of a wildcard for states as a sophomore with little to no Hershey experience, but a ton of talent. Anthony Bach, the Lewisburg Junior, is another wildcard for states. He held his own on the final mile or so and earned the silver in a strong field. He has a bit of state experience and likely a little extra fire after his team's near miss.

I also have to just add, it's a real bummer this district only sends 1/5. There were some really strong teams and individuals left home as a result. Big props to Leeser, Fletcher, Kendall, Leiby and the others on awesome seasons! You're achievements are not overlooked by us here at the site!

District Six
District Five and District Six run together at these championships at Forest Hills and, a year ago, D5 got the better of their opposition. This year, although Bedford Senior Will Kachman won yet another district title, Central Cambria ended up getting the W in the team standings over Bedford and last year's champ Somerset. The Red Devils were led by Bryce Descavish's 2nd place finish, but really bolstered by a killer performance from their pack, dominating the top 20 of the race and putting away the field in the trenches.

Individually, the district will be looking to bounce back at states this year. Kachman, 3rd as a sophomore, was 10th last year. He's finished just behind Hockenbury on the big stage on a variety of occasions and he will be gunning for him one last time. Descavish and Mazzariello, who finished side by side at 59 and 61st last year, will both be hoping to improve on those finishes. Descavish has been fantastic this season, winning the blue race at PTXC and placing near the top of the field at Foundation. Mazz has been a bit quieter on the invitational scene for Somerset, but he is a super talented runner who is just a soph this season. He held his own as one of the top freshmen at states a year ago. Zane Baker also continued a huge season with his 4th place run and a pair of new freshman stand outs also joined the top 6 with Cejay Walker and Mitchell Chunta earning the state qualifying honors.

District Seven
In his first three years in the WPIAL, Zach Skolnekovich has a silver and two golds at the XC championships. As a freshman and a sophomore, he finished 12th at the state championships, but this season he looks better than ever before. He beat Griffin Mackey at RWB in a tight race and then lost a tight one to Domenic Peretta at leagues. At Districts he completely ran away from the field to take the title of fastest time of the day over Dom, Griff and Nick Wolk winning with a 16:11. That gave him a 42 second margin of victory in windy conditions, expanding consistently on an 11 second lead at the mile and a 24 second lead at 3200.

This guy is a crazy talent and still is just a junior. The WPIAL is no joke either. Last year, they accounted for 5 state medalists (including Ben Bickerton who was the runner up to Skol at districts).

Max Freyermuth had a very impressive finish on race day to take 3rd overall and help lead Knoch to the title. They delivered with a strong showing at the top 3 spots and a capable 4-5. They were a top team at last year's state meet and performed admirably at foundation so they could get another top 5 finish this time around.

The other squads had some killer front running of their own like Greensburg Salem's killer 1-2-3 punch in the 12, 13, 14 places and South Fayette's 4-6 finish by Snodgrass and Pfeil. Mars, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. Their top runner was just 24th, but they put down an impressive pack (with the potential to improve) and jumped into the top four and took the final state spot. The team closest to them? Uniontown who year in and year out shows up big time at Districts. Have to really give credit to that program that just refuses to go away no matter how much talent they graduate.

District Nine
Bradford found a way to survive against Clearfield Area, winning 44-48 to punch their ticket to states. Logan Caruso's clutch win over Brookville's Ryan Thrush helped cement the victory, but Bradford's pack also kept things close, racing jerseys throughout the middle of the field. Defending district champs Punxsutawney will still be well represented at states thanks to great runs from frosh Ethan Brentham and Junior Jake Dinger.

I really like both Caruso and Thrush as contenders for states (although Caruso dominated out front, winning by almost 40 seconds). Caruso has some nice experience now at Hershey in his sophomore campaign and has compiled a pretty strong clutchness resume with back to back district titles.

District Ten
This tends to be Grove City's turf and, unsurprisingly, they delivered with 29 points and a killer pack. Their top six runners were all in the top 14 while no other squad posted more than 3 (in fact besides 2nd place Harbor Creek, no other squad posted more than 1). It's also worth noting that could have potentially been 7 in the top 14 as Dillon McConnell ended up the team's 7, but was their #1 last time out. Grove City came on strong at this meet last year and that momentum helped them build towards a second place finish at states, but they are still looking desperately for the gold (2nd-5th-2nd in three years). Is this the year? Just like 2014, they are deep, but I'm still nervous about their front running measuring up with their opposition. In 2014 their front running was better, but some falls ended up costing them. If everyone stays on their feet this year, they should contend for a podium spot, but state champ is going to very hard.

The good news is their top 6 from districts are back next year. Including freshman stand out Jonah Powell who took 2nd overall. Of course this race was filled with young talent as the top 4 runners were three freshmen and a sophomore, led by Ryan Starvaggi of Harbor Creek who earned the gold. And keep in mind folks that Christian Babo, Harbor Creek's dominant frosh last year, was a state medalist in 2014. He will also likely be back and better than ever next year to further complicate the young talent picture.

In fact, get this, the top finishing senior at D10 AA was Josh Filutze of Fort Lebeouf who finished 23rd! That was about 11 seconds away from state qualifying. In other words, 0 of the individual state qualifiers were seniors and each of the team qualifiers had just one senior (McConnell and Justin Kita for Harbor Creek who was the team's #5). This is crazy!

District Eleven
Well, I whiffed on this one. Joe Espinal had been MIA from the Wilson meets for the past month or so and I wasn't sure where his health was at. Plus, last year at districts, he missed out on qualifying for states. But after all that, Espinal showed up at states and used his blazing 1:55 track speed to topple Dylan Bucior of Jim Thorpe by less than a second in a killer sprint finish. I had Bucior as a medal contender at states and Espinal now puts his name on that list. But will his speed be neutralized on the Hershey hills?

Allentown Central Catholic looked very strong in their winning effort and has clearly made big strides since Hershey. Even without Brad Kreider this year, the team still defended its title well and shows some nice potential as a sleeper team at states. As I alluded to in my preview, Devon Fogel had a huge day for Notre Dame GP and that catapulted this team into the state championships.

District Twelve
Bonner has clearly revamped their squad, adding new guys each weak and, as a result, dominating the district championships. Sean Sullivan had an impressive win over a talented guy in Desmond O'Donovan and the rest of the squad followed his lead. Things will get a lot more difficult for them next week at states, but Sullivan still looks poised to compete for a medal.

Lansdale Catholic pulled out the second spot in a tight race. They managed to get a fantastic top 5 across the finish line and out pack the squads with better front running like Carroll and Science. It was a nice turn around from their run at PCLs.