Day 1 Instant Reactions

So I figured I'd share with you some thoughts after day 1 of districts. These will be fairly sporadic and unorganized compared to my usual style so be prepared.

AA D3
These were the first results I saw. My initial reaction? Dang it Manheim Central was AAA! With them removed I had a pretty good day (12/15 individuals, 3/3 teams and the correct champions and team, with almost the exact # of points). York Suburban looks really good, they had a killer front pack and they have insurance through 6. They dominated today. Now we see who can bounce back (DiCintio went out quite hard out front). Props to Dan Filler on an impressive 2nd and Tyler White on a great top 10 day.

Was it me or did it look like YS was saving a little something? There guys went out nice and controlled. Maybe they were just being smart and patient, but we might see big things from them next weekend. By the way Bryce Ohl is a beast, he has two killer runs on this course to his name already and is just a frosh.

I could have had a killer prediction day if I had the classifications down (had Kennard Dale in AAA and Drawbaugh is from D7 Trinity not D3 Trinity ...)

A D3
Second results I saw. Camp Hill boys ran away with it. Beheny and Leslie may both be in the medals next week (assuming they didn't spend too much energy here, they won by a big time margin). Gabig was a solid 3 as well.

AAA D3
Saw these next. Really impressed by Hempfield. As I mentioned in my post, not surprised to see CV lose, they put their eggs in the state basket rather than districts. Still they had a scary moment there with Cahill falling back a bit and Yahya and Seeber finishing farther back than I expected. Major props to Caleb Schultz. I was worried about CV's depth after the 5 spot but their freshman stepped up in a big way today to give me confidence. Also Higgins was huge and Wasko continues to shine as a senior leader.

I'm not surprised by any of the teams that made or missed, it was a real toss up. I'm sad that Hershey didn't make it. They have a really good team and a top 5 that was all seniors. Great season for them, they should hold their heads high.

Hempfield really came to play. What an incredible rise for them in recent weeks. Beat handily at both Carlisle and Paul Short, but turns out they were playing possum and when they put their full squad on the line they went ahead and won the district title. Major props on a big win. Now can they bounce back? The last Hempfield team that was this good (with Matt Groff leading the way) had a tough time repeating their feat at states. We will see if the script flips.

Twin Valley's pack got them in and Carlisle's crew ran solid through 5 to edge in. This race was all about having 5 guys. LD had a killer top 3, but couldn't squeak in with a bit of a large spread. Those sophomores are champs though. Red Land a similar story. JP McCaskey had the best top 4 out of anyone by far, but ended up coming up short in 8th. It takes 5 at the district meet there is no way around it.

However at states that 5 isn't quite as important, there are only 100 or so team spots rather than 260. That's good news for a team like Carlisle who is peaking at the right time and has arguably the best top 3 of anyone who advanced this weekend.

Big shout to Ephrata! That was fantastic to use that pack to get 6th. I saw them, I wrote them down to check if they were in AA (they weren't) and then figured the AAA picture was too complicated already and left them out to dry. They proved me dead wrong with a 6th place finish. Everyone comes back next year to boot.

Individually, nothing too crazy. Gebhardt a solid win, now can he break the D3 champ curse? The sophomores were super impressive today, I was especially surprised by Kyler Shea. Also some really good guys left home individually. Really good guys. I have a post planned for this group and more after districts is done so stay tuned.

A D2
Next round of results I looked at. On the surface things were fairly predictable. Elk Lake clear winner, Holy Cross clear second, Matt Murray impressive individual champ. But what I wasn't expecting was the impressive youth of Elk Lake. Their top guy was a frosh in Cody Oswald and their #2 was a soph in Dan Bell. They return 6 of their top 7 for next year. But can their youth hold up at states? They have the pack to win A, but do they have the front running? Lots of pressure on the youngsters.

AA D2
I was super excited for this race. Looks like Hockenbury and Kravitz took it out hard and Kravitz payed for it a bit as Tidball jumped him for second. Hockenbury is a special talent, the only thing that could be his downfall is his pounding off the pace. At states you always run a risk of burning yourself out the first mile if you go out too fast. Deluca went out like a mad man last year and still got the title, so we will see if Hock Finn can repeat the feat.

Gotta like these D2 individuals. Loaded group of Tidball, Kravitz, Gearinger, Morgan, Toczko and more. Don't sleep on the Coughlin boys who ran extremely well at pre states and also Heid from Valley View. Throw in Hock and you have a slew of potential state medalists.

And one was possibly left home, Mark Arzie was another super talented first guy to miss. Harsh welcome to AA for Lakeland.

Team wise Scranton Prep took care of business, but didn't dominate the way I predicted they might. We will see if they can tighten that spread behind Perry and Evans. I think they can.

The battle for second was every bit as exciting as I hoped. Dallas, with their reloaded group of patient seniors and talented freshman made it to states despite graduating everyone from last year's varsity (including state champ Dom Deluca). What makes it more impressive is that they did it without a single guy mixed into the individual state qualifiers. That means if Berwick or Tunk had bested them, no one from Dallas would pack their bag for states, instead of 7 guys. Great runs by the top 6 teams, they all gave it their all to try and punch their tickets.

AAA D2
Last results of the day. A pleasant surprise as youth once again beat out experience. Hazelton beat out Wallenpaupack and Abington Heights to get the team title and the slot to states with 4 freshman in their top 6. They were not afraid of the big stage at all (freshman Cunningham led the first mile of the race) and they pulled of the win in convincing fashion.

Andrew Lopez of Scranton was also a surprise champion, taking home his first district title in an impressive run. Abington Heights was in good position at the mile, with Jacob Ross in the top 5, but fell back over the concluding part of the race. Not sure if weather or course conditions were a factor here (I did a run outside after work and it was straight storming out, my hat almost flew into the lake), but unfortunate to see Ross left off the state roster regardless.

Overall, this was a race that Hazleton went out and won. They earned the trip to states will a killer performance by all 7 men. Props to them on the victory.

It was a great first day of action! Let's hope day 2 can be just as exciting. Remember there is a preview up for every single district meet so feel free to scroll down or use the drop down menu on the side to locate your favorite districts!