Weeknd Recap #2 (9/8-9/9) PART TWO

As promised, here is the second half of our weekend recap. Enjoy!

LVC Dutchmen Invitational-
A common theme across this weekend, this meet came down to 2 teams blowing away the field. In this particular case, Oxford area found themselves taking the title, winning over Palmyra by 10 points. In a constantly growing list of contenders, Oxford throws their name in the hat for one the 6 spots out of District one. This team caught some peoples' eyes after they shined with their youth last year, most notably winning the Championship section of the Carlisle Invite. While Evan Campbell was the team's #1 in this race, the squad is very versatile. In a handful of races last year, Gavin Fitzgerald was the team's top guy as just a freshman, although he didn't have a great race this weekend. The team struggled heavily last year at districts without a solid #5, however, from the looks of things, they seem to have addressed that with a 3rd Campbell! Mitchell Campbell cut off the scoring at 17:32 and helped secure the team victory. This team has all the right pieces to get out of Lehigh and advance to Hershey, however, I seem to be saying that for many teams, so we will have to see...
Still lots to be happy about if you're Palmyra. You hold your own against one of the better teams in District one, and as I mentioned with Twin Valley in the Centaur recap, District 3 AAA is very wide open this year. Palmyra would have to pull some pretty decent upsets to find themselves in a state spot, but this is a great start. Sophomore Jakolby Fackler (dope name) is asserting himself as a threat to the entire district with a stunning victory. The Palmyra sophomore ran 9:46 as just a freshman, so remember that name moving forward (like I said, its a cool name, so it shouldn't be that hard).

Mill Street Run-
In my RW&B recap, I mentioned how exciting it would be to see a WT versus Jenkintown showdown at states. Well with both teams' performances this weekend, it is certainly shaping up to be interesting. Jenkintown has completely vamped up its talent from last year. Whereas last year they were partially carried by the duo of Miller and Jackson, this looks like a much more complete squad. Although the times are fast because its a rare road race, this team is strong through 5 with a decent level of backend depth. With two pairs of brothers, the Millers and Geers, alongside Pat Wagner, this squad seems locked in to do more than just win a district title. Jack Miller is an absolute beast who will have to deal with the likes of Healey and a very strong Colton Sands, but this kid is a gamer who has loads of experience. As for outside of Jenkintown, Jeffrey Love had a great race, and is also someone who heads into their senior year with loads of experience. Pennsbury looked decent, but will have to make some adjustments and show some improvement to hop into the crowded mix at the front of District one AAA.

Unionville Two mile Bash:
Although the scoring in this meet is very untraditional, the grade-by-grade results have Dwest and Unionville taking the top two spots, with Henderson and Haverford rounding out the top 4. If anything, this meet only raises more questions rather than answer any. These four squads round out the roughly 11 or so schools that I think truly have a shot at the 6 spots out of D1. Cole Walker is a big sleeper for the district title after snagging a medal in the 3200 last spring, and he proved that by dropping the fastest time of the day, ahead of all of Dwest's contingent. Overall, I think D1 is Dwest's for the taking. I haven't seen a strong enough performance from any other squad for me to believe that they can be beaten. Personally, I think Unionville is the biggest hit or miss in this 50+ team district. They return two XC state qualifiers from last year in Walker and Cole Driver, as well as super sophomore Ethan McIntyre who won the sophomore race at this meet. However, the big question for me is this team's depth. This trio is incredibly strong, but James Conway is where the equation all comes together. Conway, now a senior, was a 16:07 sophomore state qualifier back in 2016. After dealing with injury problems last fall and some sparse racing in the spring, there will be huge question marks surrounding his ability to perform. If, and only if, Conway can find his old form and rejoin his teammates at the front of the district, Unionville will have a shot at the district title and Dwest. If not, I think it will be tough for this team to find itself in one of the top 6 spots come late October at Lehigh. Henderson and Haverford are two historically great programs who both hold the pedigree and necessary coaching to help utilize the talent they have to push into states. Mike Donnelly of Haverford is a big individual sleeper as well.

Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational- (Friday)
Before most of the weekend meets kicked off, PSU hosted a huge meet for high school and college athletes alike. There were two main takeaways from this meet. The first being that State College was able to defend its home turf with relative ease over both PA and out of state teams. Using an army of depth, SC had no problem packing up and riding a tight time spread to a 71 point victory. SC has asserted themselves as one of the best teams in the state and the clear favorite out of District 6. However, without a Milligan, Feffer, or Etter as a true low stick in bigger meets, I think the boys of State College will have trouble hanging with the top tier of teams in the state (top 5 or so) if they can't get a guy in the medals come November. Moving down in classifications, Colton Sands is something special. The sophomore is probably the best in his class by a decent amount as things stand. Despite not having much of a team, having fellow sophomore Brendan Colwell to compliment him and be a fellow state title contender makes Sands that much more dangerous. As good as Sands is, I think it will take something pretty special to beat Miller this fall, though if Sands continues to race as well as he is, that may become more and more realistic. Could Sands and Colwell become one of the greatest pair of sophomore teammates to come through PA?

PTXC 10-
Had to save the biggest for last. I think times were overall not too fast, so I tried to look at things more from strictly a performance against fellow competitors standpoint. If you told me that Christian McComb would have been PA's top finisher in this race, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But nonetheless, the Boyertown junior proved his win at Northampton was no fluke, and dropped an incredible 15:58 to lose only to the likes of some truly elite out of state competition. I wasn't entirely sold on McComb, but after this, he very well may be the newest favorite in a wide open individual race in District one. Without any stunning performances elsewhere, I think McComb has been an absolute beast, and most importantly, has been consistent. Its a long season, but Boyertown's junior has been lights out as of now. Behind him were our usual suspects in Tyler Wirth and Andrew Healey. Wirth was the favored PA runner in this race, but falling 6 seconds short of a true breakthrough race from McComb is nothing to be ignored. Wirth is debatably the most well rounded returner in the state, from his 1:56/4:14 track credentials to his top 5 finish at XC states last fall. If this 16:04 at PTXC was Wirth's rust buster, something tells me he'll be just fine. Although his name has been mentioned a lot, this is the first time we finally have a result from Healey. The Holy Cross junior has two state medals to his name already, finishing 4th in XC last fall (one spot behind Miller) and 3rd in the 3200 last spring. This is a great race for Healey and absolutely keeps him in the conversation for the A title alongside Miller and Sands. It probably would've taken something just a tad stronger for me to declare him the favorite, as one solid race from anyone of the trio could shift my thoughts. Healey has the best PR's across the board, and has proved to run well in the postseason, so despite what I've said about his fellow A counterparts, is the A state title Andrew Healey's to lose?

Parkland was the one team that really asserted themselves within their district this weekend. I predicted both this squad and Riley Williamson to run well, and both parts came to fruition. Williamson snuck into the top 15 overall, and helped pull Parkland nearly 80 points in front of the next PA team. Nicholas Bower helped give Parkland a nice 1-2 punch in the top 25, and the rest of the squad was able to tuck in the top 60 of scorers. Parkland has produced a solid squad year in and year out, and this might finally be the year they breakthrough near the top. I think this race puts Parkland at the top of D11 for now, though we can't forget Easton's solid race out at Northampton last week. Another district race shaping up to be exciting!

I was hoping for a stronger performance from CB East this weekend. I wanted to be able to put them as a 2nd team I felt comfortable about advancing through District 1, but they've only added to the mass mayhem. Endres ran well, but not great. Nothing bad to say about their performance as a whole, I just think they have a better day in them. A solid from Chambersburg also only adds to the quickly growing field of teams fighting for spots in District 3.

Thank you all for reading! Keep checking back as we will continue to release our district team rankings! (Although you guys are making it very hard to pick)

Stay happy, stay healthy
-The RunningHub