By Jarrett
Felix
District 11 Championships 10/26
A (1 Team, 5 Individuals)
Not to
sound really old, but if you do this long enough, each year kinda starts to
look the same. There are certain programs who, for whatever reason, find a way
to stay at the top and the top runners tend to be from many of the same places.
So, especially with the small districts that aren’t my specialty, I’m always
nervous to pick against the traditional powers.
This
year the battle will be between Notre Dame ES, the incumbent state qualifiers,
and the upstart group from Mahanoy Area. A year ago ES kept the crown in house
with three of the top six overall, overcoming a tight Mahanoy pack that
featured a 41 second spread. But this year, I think Mahanoy may have the pieces
to get the win. Notre Dame loses three of their top five from districts and,
although they have my pick for district champ in Andrew Beers, I think Mahanoy
may be able to use a slightly higher up pack this time around and get the gold.
The difference maker could be their talented freshman Adam Soriano. He led the
team at Foundation and the Schuylkill Championships. The latter of which, the
team posted a 42 second spread with six runners in the top 30.
That
being said, Notre Dame ES certainly won’t go quietly. And heck, even Moravian
Academy will be a factor in a potentially tight team title race. They have an
awesome sophomore, Jordan Holmquist, who was 9th in 2015 at
districts. Hunter Zahm has also looked strong and that 1-2 punch is perhaps the
best in the district.
AA (2 Teams, 10 Individuals)
So I’m
picking Mahanoy for the win, am I ready to pick another untraditional state
qualifier? The North Schuylkill boys ran away with their league title, sweeping
the first 4 spots and placing 6 in the top 12. But they have an up-hill battle
against the district’s two traditional powers: Allentown Central Catholic and
Notre Dame Green Pond. Those two schools earned the state qualifying spots a
year ago fairly comfortably as North Schuylkill finished 5th.
NS
should be a little hungrier after missing out, particularly their front runner
Chris McCormick who finished 34th at districts last year, but won
the league title the last time he hit the course. Sophomore Sean McCabe also
looks like a great young talent who could make noise at districts. He was 20th
at the meet a year ago as just a freshman.
However,
Notre Dame GP has their own talented youngster. Sophomore John Koons is my pick
to win the district title this year and that kind of low stick should be super
valuable for ND GP. Green Pond returns 4 of their top 5 from the state
qualifying team a year ago and had five runners at 17:16 or faster over three
miles at McQuaid. I think the battle for the last qualifying spot comes down to
this school and North Schuylkill.
Ultimately,
I have Allentown Central Catholic pulling out the title. They have a big
up-hill battle considering North Schuylkill beat them by a mammoth 116 points
at Foundation, but they have made big strides in recent weeks. Most notably,
Michael Graspy is showing signs of the form that helped him finish 5th
at Districts a year ago (top returner). Allentown CC is piecing together a
capable pack that will be able to match up well with North Schuylkill and,
given their recent victories at the district meet, I think they put it
together.
For
whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to pick North Schuylkill over Notre
Dame, but I hedged with 4 NS guys grabbing individual state qualifying spots.
That’s basically an impossible circumstance, so I won’t get that 100% (not that
that was ever going to happen), but it should indicate my conflicted feelings.
Sometimes, I put my faith in history. Sometimes that pays off, but other times
we witness something great.
A lot
of the top individuals have gotten love in this preview already, but I will
give a shout out to Ethan Bernstein of Saucon Valley and Robert Leiser of
Northwestern Lehigh. These two, in my opinion, have the best shot at beating
Koons for the district title. Bernstein crushed it at Paul Short with a mark in
the low 16s, but the District course is a lot slower than Lehigh. I’m curious
how he will handle the transition, but I like the kid’s talent.
AAA (2 Teams, 10 Individuals)
At Paul
Short, the Parkland boys looked surprising vulnerable as Stroudsburg came
within a few points of pulling off the upset. However, the Park came back at
EPCs to show why they were in many people’s pre-season top 10 lists. Lead by
Michael Geiger’s 2nd place finish, Parkland rolled to a 32 point
score, defeating Easton (74) and then Stroudsburg (111) in what is essentially
a preview of the same field we will see at Districts. With all 7 varsity
runners in the top 20 overall finishers, Parkland is deep and talented. It
would be a big surprise to see them drop their district title.
The
more compelling battle has become the fight for second. Easton, who qualified
for states each of the past two seasons, finished 208 points back of
Stroudsburg at Paul Short, but flipped the script on them at leagues. The
performance was even more impressive when you consider the fact that their #1
man at Paul Short (Stephen Kraus ran 16:22) was 15th and has the
potential to jump up a few more spots at Districts. The big difference maker
for Easton was freshman Jonathan Miers. Miers finished 11th overall,
just behind Stroudsburg’s monster 1-2 punch of Mostellar and Bodon after not
racing in the top 7 at Paul Short. He was a big lift. Considering Easton’s
recent success (they were 5th in the state in 2014), I lean toward
them staying on this hot streak and holding on to qualify for states in the 2nd
spot.
However,
Stroudsburg won’t go quietly. One of the names to watch will be Edwin Marrero
who ran 16:52 at Paul Short, but roughly 2 minutes slower at EPCs. A big day
for him would really help the cause. Marrero and whoever ends up in the 5 spot
will have to do a good job racing jerseys in the mid pack, but if this team
matches their Paul Short performance they will be very strong.
Individually,
like Parkland, there is a clear favorite. It’s Pleasant Valley’s Seth Slavin,
who has finished at the top of many invitational fields and was 2nd
at last year’s district meet. Plus, he won EPCs by an impressive 30+ second
margin. His teammate, Gabe Sullivan, has bene close behind Slavin in most of
the big meets this season, including a sub 16 performance at Lehigh. He wasn’t
quite at that level at leagues, but don’t be surprised if he jumps back up closer
to Slavin’s shoulder this week.
I’m
excited to see which Parkland runners end up in the top 5 this week. They’ve
got some nice rotation on their pack, but Michael Geiger has shown flashes of
state medalist potential. A second straight silver would really boost his
candidacy. And don’t forget about Sam Morgan. He already owns a district title
from his surprising win in the 1600 last track season as just a sophomore.
Morgan is coming off his best race of the season in 3rd overall at leagues.
Some
other guys who deserve a shout out include Joseph Ozgar from Easton, Nicholas
Bower from Parkland and Emmaus’s Del Vierling. I also like Thomas Matsumara as
a sleeper pick from Southern Lehigh.
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