Thought #4: Seriously, is this the Year for D11?

So just a reminder that there are a variety of posts about this weekends action both before and after this post so flip around, pull up a chair and enjoy the read.

What a big weekend for D11. The Easton boys made a BIG statement at PTXC, beating all the top D3 teams (with the exception of Carlisle) by a convincing margin. According to other buzz, Easton also bested Freedom in a dual meet already this year. 

Here's the thing, with Kev Lapsansky continued emergence, Easton might have the best 2 runners in the entire district. In a dual meet when you take 1-2, that's huge. Throw in the fact that their 3-4-5 match up well with even the tight pack of CV and this team is dangerous. They look like the best team from D11 this decade. Wow. 

But let's face it, what makes this team so dangerous is Colin Abert. Abert destroyed a pretty solid field, including Dom Hockenbury, a guy who is the favorite for AA state champ and a potential footlocker finalist. The Abert we saw in his first race is a guy who looks like a state champ: He consistently outperforms his track times on the trails, he's been the best XC man in his class for 2 years.

Put a 1 at the front of your team scoring every week and your basically racing 4 vs 5 every week. That's big. 

Abert looks like a man on a mission this year. Keep in mind, last year Abert was the only top 5 finisher at AAA states to not make it to a national meet. That hunger is carrying over to the early part of 2014. 

Now it's still early, only September, and Easton usually has a pretty extensive summer program (I think lots of their guys do summer track?) but the Easton boys look poised for an historic season. 

But there's more than just Easton. I'm still a believer that Freedom can mix it up for a top 10-12 finish at states and I think they will fight well against Easton at the bigger meets where they hopefully can use a tighter spread to do damage. The two teams may push each other to a new, exciting level. 

Another team on the rise is Parkland, who was an under the radar team at PTXC (they finished 7th ahead of Altoona and Cedar Crest and within striking distance of LD). Here's a name to remember: Hailemichael Geiger. He's a sophomore from Parkland who was 17th at PTXC in his first big race of his young career. Parkland is an excellent program (they consistently make states out of D11 and have churned out top medalists like Stepp and Gillette). They won't just lay down and let Easton and Freedom step over them to states. Geiger is going to have to be the guy to lead them, and I think he can grow a lot over the course of this season. I don't expect Parkland to make it to states in this loaded year, but that doesn't mean they won't be one of the best teams to stay at home that weekend. 

Lastly, watch for Gabe Lamm of Whitehall. He was running with Lapsansky in track and XC last year and bested Geiger in a dual meet already this season. He probably would have been somewhere in the 10-15 range at PTXC (although it's very hard to say for sure). He's a strong runner who we should keep on the radar.

I mentioned it before, but after the weekends action I feel I should reiterate the question: is this the ear for D11?