District 1 Team Rankings

Here we are, folks. The long awaited District 1 rankings are here. I have nothing to say other than enjoy!

D1 A: (SQ Spots:1)
1- Jenkintown
At this point, the lone qualifying spot in single A will be scooped up by Jack Miller and his Jenkintown teammates. The question becomes, what can this team do on the state level? They're undoubtedly the favorite at this point, can Jack Miller continue his path of dominance and help lift Jenkintown to the coveted state title?

D1 AA: (SQ Spots:1)
1- Pope John Paul II
PJP has been a decent surprise as of so far this season. I predicted this district to be pretty weak overall, but after a stellar 6th place at finish at Foundation, PJP looks to be hanging around near the front. They took a beating at Paul Short when they opted to run in the Brown Race division, but I think that big race atmosphere will benefit them come districts, and they will be able to hold off Lower Moreland.

2- Lower Moreland
Led by returning district champ Shane Cohen, I think the LM boys will need the race of their lives to take down PJP. The drop off after Cohen is steep, and I just don't think the pieces are there. They were only able to put 2 under 18 on the lightning fast William Tennent course, and I think PJP is a better team than many expected this fall.

3-Pottsgrove

D1 AAA: (SQ Spots:6)
1- Downingtown West
This was honestly the only team I felt comfortable ranking. I feel that in a year where D1 loses some of its firepower, only one constant remains. The Dwest freight train will be full steam ahead. Despite losing two great all around runners in Evan Kaiser and Tyler Rollins, the core that this team returns is no doubt slotted to repeat its district championship from a year ago. Led by senior Payton Sewall, this team has its eyes set on the state title, with teams like North Allegheny and LaSalle standing in its way. I think Sewall is a likely top 5 finisher, and the group behind him is only getting stronger. Valderrabano and Chamoun are two names that have been making noise since their sophomore years, and are now fellow seniors looking to lead this team. This top 3 all has either state or regional experience to add on to their resumes as well. The emergence of Aiden Barnhill has been key in Dwest's continued success at the top of the state. Rounding out the varsity squad are the newcomers that emerged onto the scene last year in a big way. Names like Kevin Wagner and Ben Datte were unknown to most of us until the latter half of the fall of 2017. Wagner was a name who, despite barely making varsity, stepped up and was the team's #4 man at the state championships last fall. Datte has also quietly sat at the back end of this varsity team and racked up valuable varsity experience. Overall, I think this is the most complete 5 in district 1 right now, and the set up for a Dwest repeat is very much there. After a dominating Chesmonts performance, I'm eager to see how they do at Manhattan.

2-Haverford Township
Alrighty, this is where things start to get crazy. With that being said, I feel confident about this pick. After making us wait, only giving us questionable dual met results, they unleashed their wrath on the Rose Tree course at the Delco XC championships. They made lightwork of a field that had a decent Penncrest team in the mix. Donnelly is looking comfortable out front, and man, is this team deep. Just take a look at how well they pack up in their dual meets as they jog to easy wins. I think this is the only other team in District 1 right now that I feel saying is an absolute lock to make it to states. There's just too much craziness to guarantee any other team a spot right now. With that being said, I think we could easily see Haverford fall back to 3rd or 4th come race day with some of the programs that are lurking behind them.

3-West Chester East
4-Great Valley
I actually went against my gut on this one. I think across the board, Great Valley is a better team. But I decided to go with the most recent result coming from Chesmonts. These are the two teams that I think could find themselves as district runner ups, but also aren't completely safe from getting knocked out of the top 6. Great Valley has been extremely consistent for most of the season, which is why I do feel confident that as long as they are the team they were up at Briarwood and Hershey, they should advance. My big worry for them is their lack of a low stick. If someone from this team surprises us with a top 25 finish or a 16:00 or faster time, GV can almost guarantee a spot in Hershey. This is why I gave WC East the nod going into the postseason. These teams are very similarly structured, but Lewin's likely top 10 finish is what makes this WC East team very dangerous. If a solid #2 arises from this squad at Lehigh, this is a 2nd place finishing squad.

5-Owen J Roberts
The boys of OJR seem like the next practical team to slot in the state qualifying. The OJR boys were the top PA team on the districts course at Paul Short, and came up just short of Great Valley at Foundation. David Brunton has been running very well as of late, moving closer and closer to Blatz up at the front. This is another very deep squad, and despite losing Conway and the Malmstrom twins, is still very experienced. Obviously, at this point in the rankings, no one is a lock, but I feel comfortable about OJR's consistency to have them finishing in the top 5.

6-Unionville
As of right now, I have the last state spot going to a 4th Chesmont team. I've said this throughout the entirety of the season, and it still holds true up to this point. Unionville is the biggest question mark in the district. They came up with a surprising 3rd place finish at Chesmonts, headlined by a top 3 that frankly, is as good as Dwest's. Walker is a potential district champ, Cole Driver was a state qualifier last fall, and the super sophomore Ethan McIntyre will likely run faster than his electric 16:30 last year as just a freshman. However, the drop off for this squad might be too much for it to overcome. A full strength James Conway makes this the 2nd best team in the district as far as I'm concerned, but without Conway, the Uville boys are left with a 4th and 5th man both above 18:00. In a massive race like districts, this flaw is only going to be amplified. I truthfully have no idea where we will see this team finish at Lehigh in a couple weeks. Gun to my head though, I think this team just has too much talent to leave them out of qualifying at this point in time.

7-Lower Merion
The polar opposites of Unionville, the boys of Lower Merion are nothing but consistent and deep. In their case, it will be a matter of whether or not their consistency is going to be enough to advance through this incredibly talented district. In their two major races of the season, Paul Short and Foundation, Lower Merion finished within 50 points of OJR, who, obviously is slotted to advance as of right now. Litvin and Herrmann are two very solid talents who are likely to qualify themselves, and the team is deep through 7. But I'll say it again, in this district race, its going to be a matter of just having enough talent to get past some of these squads. If Unionville crumbles though, expect the consistency of the Lower Merion boys to show up and push them through to states.

8-Methacton
9-CB East
10-North Penn
11-Council Rock South
12-Henderson

Here it is, rounding out the top 12 in District 1. These were the teams that I thought all showed some glimpse of potential at some point throughout the season. Methacton had a very solid 8th place finish at Foundation, finishing just 8 points off at OJR. They could be a big sleeper to sneak in, but they struggled at Paul Short, which worries me for their ability to perform at Lehigh come districts. CB East has loads of talent and experience, but has some major consistency issues. North Penn is coming on strong, and Noah Demis and Samir Razi are a great 1-2. CR South has strung together some really solid performances this season, and if we see Collin Ochs get back to where he was during the beginning of the season, they have top 5 potential. Henderson finished 5th at Chesmonts, only 20 points or so off of Unionville and Great Valley. Calvin Pash was a state qualifier last fall, and we all know how capable Henderson is of showing up in the postseason.

If I haven't made it clear, this race is going to be insane. I think overall, District 1 doesn't have as much firepower up front as it usually does, but I think that is just setting the scene for a tighter, more exciting team race.