District 3 Team Rankings

We're back with our next installment of the district rankings! Down to our final 3 districts, we take a closer look at the action in D3. Expect the weekend recap at some point early tomorrow, as I wanted to wait for Chesmonts this morning so I could lump it in with the rest of the weekend meets. Lots of surprising results! Thanks for your patience!

D3 A: (SQ Spots:1)
1-Fairfield Area
2-York Catholic
The lone state spot is going to be a slugfest between at least two teams. Fairfield Area and York Catholic are going to have things come down to just a handful of points. While York Catholic is a little stronger up front with a duo under 18, Fairfield outlasts YC with a stronger, deeper 5. Fairfield came away with a slight 3 point victory over YC at Ben Bloser, the home of the district course itself. Its shaping up to be a good one!

3-Kutztown Area
I wasn't sure where to peg Kutztown amongst these two teams. On paper, they are right in the mix, between these two squads actually. However, with Fairfield and YC's times coming from a slower Ben Bloser course, as opposed to everyone from Kutztown racing at Carlisle (still a fast course regardless of conditions), I'm not quite compelled to say Kutztown can hang with these two teams as of right now. That being said, they could make this a 3-horse race that really makes this district race fun to watch.

D3 AA: (SQ Spots: 3)
1-York Suburban
2-Wyomissing
As one of the best AA teams in the state, York Suburban will look to regain the district title that they lost to their rivals in Wyomissing. Entering the 2nd half of season, they look poised to do so. After a 3rd place finish at Foundation, and a not so hot performance from Wyomissing last weekend, the boys from YS are the clear favorites. Wyomissing has a great runner up front in Ben Kuhn and a solid top 4, but their lack of a 5th man will prevent them from even having a shot at York Suburban. That being said, Wyomissing is a very solid program. However, while they are basically guaranteed a trip to Hershey, I wouldn't say they are guaranteed the runner up spot in this district.

3-Boiling Springs
A decent sleeper to watch as we get closer to the postseason is this Boiling Springs team. While there isn't necessarily flashy on the team's overall resume, they've been consistent in their performances. Notably, at Ben Bloser, the squad demolished the rest of the AA field by over 80 points, finishing 2nd to York Suburban 53-84. They got buried in a very deep race after entering in the Challenge section at Carlisle, but they went up against some very strong AAA teams. I think that kind of experience is going to do wonders for this squad, and they will be fun to watch to see if they could steal at least 2nd place from Wyomissing in this district.

D3 AAA: (SQ Spots: 4)
I spent a lot of time sitting down and switching the order of these teams around. A lot of these teams have raced each other a ton, and have finished in various orders, so a lot of these rankings are going to be subjective. Feel free to blast me in the comments, as people often tend to have completely different opinions. Its part of the fun!

1-Carlisle
The performance this team threw down on their home course last weekend made my rankings slightly easier. In the craziness that was Carlisle, the hometown boys emerged as the 3rd best PA team behind the powerhouses Downingtown and LaSalle, taking down teams like D1 qualifying contenders like West Chester East. Before this weekend, I truthfully didn't know who to rank at #1, but just like that, the district is seemingly Carlisle's for the taking as of now. Jack Wisner as a lowstick is going to do wonders for this team against many of the pack-mentality teams in D3. My one concern for Carlisle is the spread amongst their 5, as none of them are really close to one another at all. They aren't necessarily all that deep either, so this team is going to have to be laser-focused and very consistent if they want to claim the district crown.

2-Warwick
In a slight surprise, Warwick finished as the 2nd D3 team at Carlisle, edging out Cedar Crest by just 10 points. Warwick's depth is rather lackluster, but they have a solid 1-2 punch in Connor Shields and Noah Martin. A huge race like Carlisle is where Warwick's depth would hurt them the most, so for them to still finish as high as they did leads me to believe this is the 2nd best team in D3 as of right now.

3-Twin Valley
Twin Valley is a team that has been all over the place this season. They've run decently well at meets like Briarwood, but have struggled at meets like Council Rock and even Paul Short. However, they came up big this past weekend, picking up the team title at William Tennent over a solid team in Council Rock South that beat them a couple weeks prior. We don't know what Twin Valley team will show up come districts in a couple weeks, but we know they absolutely have the talent to hang with the best in the district when they're on their game.

4-Cedar Crest
The early season favorites have gotten a bit of a reality check, but still find themselves slotted for a state spot as of now. As has been pointed out before, this team is very deep and extremely young with Luke Hinegardner and Tommy Bildheiser leading the way, which means the upside for this squad is very dangerous. However, their lack of front runner is really hurting them against a team like Warwick. I think this team's inexperience shows a little bit in bigger, faster meets, so as I said, I think they will make it through to Hershey, but I don't think they're the favorite that some of us thought they were as the season kicked off.

5-Palmyra
As of right now, I have the surprise team Palmyra slotted just outside of the last state spot as of right now. Led by Jakolby Fackler, the boys from Palmyra have been a surprise to many. I think this tier of top four teams is starting to separate themselves from the rest of the district, so despite Palmyra's solid top 3, Jake Klucinec and Connor Soderstedt will have to improve to prevent the time spread from crushing this squad at districts.

6-Hershey
7-Chambersburg
8-Manheim Township

Last three teams to keep an eye on as we approach the postseason. Hershey edged out Chambersburg at Gettysburg last weekend, whereas MT finished a respectable 3rd at William Tennent.