The AA race this year was one where both the individual race and team race both came down to two favorites. In both instances, one of the two favorites flourished and won state gold, while the other struggled and underperformed.
From a subjective standpoint, I think this was the craziest race of the day individually. While Powell did eventually pull away and win without much surprise, the prelude to the last 800 was absolute insanity. As the leaders passed the 2 mile and tumbled down the hill, over the road, and past the sewage plant, there was still a true lead pack with just over 1k to go. As spectators looked from atop the hill, they saw a lead pack of 5, with Powell lurking in the middle. However, the developing story was Mitchell Rome trying to breakaway from the field. Kuhn, Price, and Baublitz filled out the pack of 5. In all the madness of a such a huge pack still intact with 1k to go, it didn't even dawn on me that Lewis was missing until the finish. Despite pulling for the underdog in Rome, it was no surprise when Powell came over the hill, eventually cruising his way to a state title. Baublitz, in the absence of Lewis, duplicated his Foundation performance and came in for silver. After a disappointing D10 race, Price bounced back beautifully to come up with a big 3rd place. Lastly, after making a valiant effort in the last parts of the race, Rome hung onto a respectable 4th place finish. The other notable finishes in the top 10 were freshman Jacob Hess and sophomore Dylan Throop. Both runners had very different strategies in breaking into the top 8, with Hess hanging around the front admirably as just a freshman, whereas Throop moved up from all the way back around 30th. They will be the biggest challengers to Baublitz's title run next year. While Hess had a historic season as a freshman, Throop's run really stuck out to me. The sophomore ran under Nate Price all year, and after a promising freshman year, absolutely exploded onto the XC scene. Although Baublitz will be a seasoned veteran, and Hess may have the most raw talent of anyone, I like Throop's chances to hang around the front next fall.
Obviously, it was sad to watch Lewis struggle and fall out of the medals. He clearly was not at his top level, and he crumbled a bit at the end of the season. I hope it was not a result of over-racing or general fatigue. This kid had an absolutely awesome season, and I think at one point in the year, he could've hung with anyone in PA, not just AA.
Our other favorite that couldn't quite live up to the hype was Grove City, whose title aspirations slipped away from them right around the 2 mile. The Foundation champions went out like favorites, and it cost them in the 2nd half of the race. While Greensburg Salem patiently went through in 4th at the mile, Grove City had a 20+ point lead on the field already. While Powell obviously went on to excel, guys like Tobias Jones really struggled from an aggressive early pace, falling from 31st back into the 100's. Needless to say though, there is no blame to be put on an individual athlete. The rest the team simply needed to run better in order to have a shot at beating a dominant performance from Greensburg Salem. While I am happy my favorites ran beautifully and slowly moved their way into a blowout victory, I was super excited for the Indiana boys. I mentioned they had a chance to sneak onto the podium with their impressive depth, but I didn't think they had enough firepower up front to get it done. Well, it turns out they didn't need it! Using a 16 second time spread and zero medalists, the Indiana Area boys used the epitome of a team mentality to snag 2nd place at the state championships. This is probably my personal favorite performance of the day, and with 4 of the 7 from the pack returning, what are the odds Indiana could win this thing next year?
Well, truthfully, their odds are pretty low at this point. My way too early prediction is that like Jenkintown this year, Lewisburg is going to have the opportunity to be a historic team in their respective classification next year. They finished 4th overall in the state meet with zero seniors, and one junior in their top 7! For a team to run so well on the big stage with so much youth on the squad is incredibly impressive. And this is not a team carried by Hess. Peter Lantz and Calvin Bailey have been a great 2-3 all year, and of course, will also be back next year. I'm super excited to see what this squad does for the remainder of the year and frankly, over the next few years. This is definitely a team that could resemble the Dallas era that we're just a few years removed from.
It was mentioned all year how AA was a D7 and D10 classification, and those comments weren't wrong. The two districts combined for almost half the medalists (12/25) and swept the top 3 team spots.
Lastly, I'll give some credit to Wyomissing. I didn't even have them in my top 10, and with York Suburban struggling, they found themselves as the top D3 team this time around, and Kuhn helped them exceed expectations.
One more classification to recap before we briefly take a sneak peek into some regional predictions and... dare I mention it... share some thoughts on the upcoming indoor season??? We're rolling now folks!
-The RunningHub
Obviously, it was sad to watch Lewis struggle and fall out of the medals. He clearly was not at his top level, and he crumbled a bit at the end of the season. I hope it was not a result of over-racing or general fatigue. This kid had an absolutely awesome season, and I think at one point in the year, he could've hung with anyone in PA, not just AA.
Our other favorite that couldn't quite live up to the hype was Grove City, whose title aspirations slipped away from them right around the 2 mile. The Foundation champions went out like favorites, and it cost them in the 2nd half of the race. While Greensburg Salem patiently went through in 4th at the mile, Grove City had a 20+ point lead on the field already. While Powell obviously went on to excel, guys like Tobias Jones really struggled from an aggressive early pace, falling from 31st back into the 100's. Needless to say though, there is no blame to be put on an individual athlete. The rest the team simply needed to run better in order to have a shot at beating a dominant performance from Greensburg Salem. While I am happy my favorites ran beautifully and slowly moved their way into a blowout victory, I was super excited for the Indiana boys. I mentioned they had a chance to sneak onto the podium with their impressive depth, but I didn't think they had enough firepower up front to get it done. Well, it turns out they didn't need it! Using a 16 second time spread and zero medalists, the Indiana Area boys used the epitome of a team mentality to snag 2nd place at the state championships. This is probably my personal favorite performance of the day, and with 4 of the 7 from the pack returning, what are the odds Indiana could win this thing next year?
Well, truthfully, their odds are pretty low at this point. My way too early prediction is that like Jenkintown this year, Lewisburg is going to have the opportunity to be a historic team in their respective classification next year. They finished 4th overall in the state meet with zero seniors, and one junior in their top 7! For a team to run so well on the big stage with so much youth on the squad is incredibly impressive. And this is not a team carried by Hess. Peter Lantz and Calvin Bailey have been a great 2-3 all year, and of course, will also be back next year. I'm super excited to see what this squad does for the remainder of the year and frankly, over the next few years. This is definitely a team that could resemble the Dallas era that we're just a few years removed from.
It was mentioned all year how AA was a D7 and D10 classification, and those comments weren't wrong. The two districts combined for almost half the medalists (12/25) and swept the top 3 team spots.
Lastly, I'll give some credit to Wyomissing. I didn't even have them in my top 10, and with York Suburban struggling, they found themselves as the top D3 team this time around, and Kuhn helped them exceed expectations.
One more classification to recap before we briefly take a sneak peek into some regional predictions and... dare I mention it... share some thoughts on the upcoming indoor season??? We're rolling now folks!
-The RunningHub
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