Foundation, Council Rock, and Much More: Weekend Preview (9/21-9/22)

I wanted to try and get this preview out early, because Foundation is shaping up to be an even better meet than we thought, and I'd love to get some discussion going. Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far, and be sure to check out the district rankings we just dropped! We've ranked from District 12 down to WPIAL's (District 7). As always, thanks for reading!

Council Rock Invitational-
Considering a large majority of the state's best will be at Foundation this weekend, there is still a decent field assembled for the race at Tyler State Park on Saturday. We should see an exciting team battle between five teams or so, look for Mechanicsburg, Council Rock South, North Penn, Pennsbury, and Twin Valley. Overall, I really have trouble predicting how these teams will stack up against each other. I don't think any of these teams have seen each other yet this year, aside from Twin Valley and North Penn last week at Briarwood. I think this meet comes down to Twin Valley and Council Rock South. We haven't seen CRS since Abington, where they were runners up, and Collin Ochs picked up the individual win. I think CRS can pull this out over Twin Valley if Ochs can continue to run well up towards the front. Individually, look for a great battle between Ochs, TV's Dylan Servis and Griffin Schlegel, Noah Demis, Alexander Ermold, Brandan Knepper, Jeffrey Love, and Jason Cornelison.

1-Twin Valley
2-Council Rock South
3-Mechanicsburg

1-Jeffrey Love
2-Alexander Ermold
3-Noah Demis
4-Brandan Knepper
5-Collin Ochs

Crimson Hawk Invitational-
Look for Indiana Area to really take control of this field. I expect the Budjos/Berzonsky duo to contend for a 1-2 finish, and that should carry them to a comfortable team title as well.

1-Budjos
2-Berzonsky
3-Zajicek

1-Indiana Area
2-Kiski Area

Penncrest Invitational-
Excited to see some D1 teams matchup at Penncrest this weekend. Lower Merion is entered, but they're also entered at Foundation, which is where I expect we'll find them. Outside of LM though, we've got some solid teams, including the hosts Penncrest, Methacton, and Haverford Township. This meet is going to give me some of the final clarity I need to set my district rankings in stone. This is both Penncrest's and Haverford's invitational 5k debut. Both of these teams have very solid pieces up at the front and through 5. These are the last teams that I think have shot to contend up at the front of the district that we have yet to see race. Both teams have the chance to shake up both the district and state rankings at this small invite on Saturday. Lastly, if Methacton can hang with these two big sleeper picks out of D1, I'll be impressed. Methacton picked up a solid win at Bulldog (Rose Tree) over just a decent field, but if they can run well this weekend they have a chance to bump up their stock in D1.

1-Haverford Township
2-Penncrest
3-Methacton

1-Patrick Theveny
2-Mike Donnelly
3-Evan Peetros

Sharpsville Blue Devil Invitational-
We've got some more good action out west for the teams that aren't making the trek out to Hershey this weekend. With teams like Harbor Creek, New Castle, and Cochranton expected, as well as some stellar out of state talent, this is shaping up to be a pretty competitive race. Up front, look for the HC duo of Weber and Starvaggi to hold off the likes of Freedom's Adam Hessler, breakout stars Justin Carlson and Daniel Ford, as well as New Castle's lowstick Anthony Litrenta. Despite not having a big gun up front, look for Norwin to contend for the team title in this one. Obviously, eyes will be on AA powerhouses New Castle and Harbor Creek to see how they stack up. Lastly, watch for Cochranton, one of the top A teams in PA right now.

1-Starvaggi
2-Hessler
3-Weber
4-Litrenta
5-Carlson

1-New Castle
2-Norwin
3-Harbor Creek

Foundation Invitational (Pre-States)-
Here we are, at probably the biggest meet of the entire season aside from the state championships (and the district championships). It is here, where we will get a look at the most complete, competitive fields in PA before they all come together to do battle in November. Per Penntrack's statewide team rankings, this meet will feature 5 of the top 8 teams in the state. Its crazy to think that a team here may finish 5th in an invitational, and will still be one of the elite teams in the entirety of Pennsylvania. Heck, there are teams here that will finish outside the top 10 of the Gold race, and will still likely advance to the state meet later on. Before we dive into that madness, lets breakdown our White and Blue races.

White Race (A):
Super excited about this one, because unlike AAA, this is just about everyone individually and team-wise that we expect to see at the front come November. We will finally get our first look at the race between the trio I've been hyping up all season. Jack Miller. Andrew Healey. Colton Sands. The A showdown. This might be the strongest competition we've had up at the front of A in awhile. There's not much to separate these 3, as they've all opened up their season with some great runs. I'm going to go with my gut here and say that Sands has had the hottest start, and he keeps it going for the win. Miller's experience will keep him towards the front, and Healey will be lurking. This is going to be fun to watch. As obviously stated before, this team race will come down to Jenkintown v Winchester Thurston. Is Jenkintown legit? Or is WT going to cruise to a state title?

1-Sands
2-Miller
3-Healey
4-Routledge
5-Kauffman

1-Winchester Thurston
2-Jenkintown

Blue Race (AA):
I keep saying each race is going to be wild, but I just can't decide which classification I'm most excited for. After both racing at Boardman, but in different divisions, we finally get the Powell versus Lewis matchup. Beyond that though, we get to throw in the likes of Price, Baublitz, Binda and Brown, Rome, and up and coming Logan Strouse, amogst a host of others. I think this pace is going to get pushed early and pushed hard, and the winning time won't be too far off of AAA. I think Lewis and Powell are going to separate themselves in the 3rd mile, with Lewis ultimately pulling away and sealing the win right before poop-out. This race should answer a lot of questions in AA. In this big of a field, I think Greensburg Salem's trio is going to get them the win, but don't sleep on General McLane, Grove City, and North East. The biggest potential contender to upset GS though, has to be York Suburban. They looked real solid at Ben Bloser.

1-Lewis
2-Powell
3-Baublitz
4-Price
5-Binda

1-Greensburg Salem
2-York Suburban
3-General McLane

Gold Race (AAA):
Here we are. As said, its probably the most firepower we'll see in a meet all season, outside of the state championships themselves. Headlined by 5 of the top 8 teams in the state, we'll see who truly emerges as actual title contenders after this weekend. Can North Allegheny respond to LaSalle's dominating performance at Briarwood? Can Seneca Valley and Mount Lebanon prove they can hang with NA as the top teams in the state? After dominating local competition, is State College a team that can really run with the best? And lastly, after blowing away D1 teams at Briarwood and finishing 2nd to LaSalle, is Great Valley truly one of the best teams in PA? Can they give Dwest a run for their money in D1? All of these questions should be answered after this weekend. Like I said in the intro to the article, its crazy to think that a team will finish 6th place in an invitational, and should walk away extremely happy with their performance. But lets take a look outside these top teams. I think outside of this top 5, there is another tier of teams that should be on everyone's watch list this weekend. Look for Upper Saint Clair, Owen J Roberts, Lower Merion, and Central Bucks East to fill out this top 10. USC has run very well and consistently finished 4th behind the aforementioned 3 WPIAL teams. OJR has not lost this season, and took down Twin Valley at Centaur earlier this year. Look for Linus Blatz to have a big day for them. Lower Merion will be making their debut, but they return tons of solid pieces, including 16:13/4:26 man Charlie Herrmann. Lastly, I know we've seen a lot of CB East already this year, but I think they're better than what they've shown. I think Endres needs to step up and a have a big personal race, but I'm not quite ready to count this team out.

Individually, we've been through this spiel before. Look for Kinne and McGoey to cement themselves as 1-2 finishers in the state. Though the battle I'm really looking forward to seeing is how Tyler Wirth and Christian McComb do against the rest of the westerners. Seeing these two match up with guys like Owori, Ketler, Anderson, and Fitch should be really exciting and give us an idea of what the top 5 at states may shape up to be like. I hope you guys are excited to see these races as I am!!

1-North Allegheny
2-Seneca Valley
3-State College
4-Mount Lebanon
5-Great Valley
6-Owen J Roberts
7-Upper Saint Clair
8-Lower Merion
9-Central Bucks East
10-Wallenpaupack

1-Kinne
2-McGoey
3-Fitch
4-Wirth
5-McComb
6-Ketler
7-Owori
8-Anderson
9-Leachman
10-Blatz

Thank you all for reading, and lets get hyped! I tried to drop this early so we could get some great discussion going leading up to it. Stay happy, stay healthy!

-The RunningHub