Home of the AAA defending state champions, welcome to District 12. Let get into it.
D12 A: (SQ Spots:2)
1-Masterman
In a relatively easy ranking, the seemingly 10,000x defending district champs Masterman look poised to repeat for yet another fall. The stud of the district Daniel Bici has since graduated, but Masterman still returns the top 2, and 3 of the top 4 runners in the district. The only team with 5 guys under 20 and actual depth, it looks like another clear path for Masterman to states.
2-Science Leadership Academy
The other state qualifier from last year and the only other team with more than one man sub 20, SCL also looks poised to return back to Hershey this fall. They would have to make crazy improvements to catch Masterman for a district title, but nonetheless, they seem safe to get out of the district.
D12 AA: (SQ Spots:2)
1-Cardinal O'Hara
When O'Hara first moved down to AA, I couldn't believe it. To many of us, they're known as one of the storied programs in our state history, so for them to elect to move down a classification was a surprise to many. However, as they now sit, they are clinging to the #1 spot in the district. Led by a solid duo in Josh Hayes and Thomas Haas, the scoring 5 progressively falls into the 20's, and then the 22's for their 5th man. In a district that isn't necessarily at its strongest, it'll just take the training from the storied program to reaffirm that this O'Hara team stays at the top.
2-Archbishop Wood
What's crazy about this team is that they don't have a single individual in the top 15 of the district (which is crazy), nor a single runner under 19:30. Yet, they have the one thing that no other team seems to have, which is depth. Despite having their #1 runner at 19:35 in Geoff Waltrich, they have the best 5th man in the district by almost 2 minutes, and under a minute timespread! I don't know if that alone will be enough to beat the O'Hara boys, but as of right now, it should get them through to states if this group can stay healthy and packed up.
D12 AAA (SQ Spots:1)
1-LaSalle
Surprise! What is surprising though, is the demotion back to 1 qualifying spot for the district. I feel bad, because I thought a team like St. Joes really had a solid group coming back this year, despite being known as a sprinting powerhouse. But nonetheless, this shouldn't take much explaining. The defending AAA state champions are back, but they never truly left. Returning 6 under 16:50, the still youthful team is geared up to win back to back titles. I'm really high on Vincent Twomey as an individual this fall, and I could say something promising about every piece of the LaSalle army. If North Allegheny goes out on Saturday and can't show promising depth behind their studs, and Downingtown West can't absolutely mow down the District 1 field, is a LaSalle repeat not just predicted, but expected?
O'Hara hasn't finished with 5 all season. Engineering and Science beat every other team from this group at Foundation and run a solid 35 second gap from 2-6, and 2 is only about 20 seconds off of 1. They won't have an individual winner, that should be Aiden D from Archbishop Carrol, I can't see anyone from the Catholic League beating E&S come the District meet.
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