The D1 team race is going to be really exciting. DTWest is better than I expected not gonna lie. They have a legit shot if Pennsbury cotinues to head backwards. I think Pennsbury will definitely improve at districts with their back against the wall, but DTWest is coming fast. East and Great Valley look like they are in great position to make it to states as well.
Big race for Pittsburgh Central. I still think Fox Chapel is going to take down that last spot, but things are much more interesting now. Shields is one of the best runners that gets no play on here. Very solid, consistent runner. Kiski has a great top 3, Kennedy continues to run very well. It will be interesting to see who the 15 individuals are. Would love to see Wakeley bounce back, but I think early season injuries are tough to overcome.
Just ask Tom Coyle. He is coming back strong at PCLs for LaSalle, but O'Hara is just too good right now. Pitone is coming into his own and James is still running pretty solid as well giving them a great top 3. They have 5 solid guys out front and a good enough 6 to be back up. Last years results are clearly behind these boys and they are on a mission. It is certainly possible that LaSalle can take the other 5 spots, Billotta has had much better races than that one. I think Coyle is going to have a big stretch run to the season for those guys and he is dangerous at states.
So too is Max Norris. Huge race at Centrals. That is a big win even without Huemmler in the field. Bodine is no joke this year and Norris dropped a sick time at that race. He is going to be dangerous at Districts. Might even be my pick to win .....
Unless Conner Quinn has something to say about it. Quinn was really impressive, rounding back into form in a big way. He looks poised to make a run at a state title yet again. You can't count this guy out. Ross Wilson is also looking really good he could give a good to those other top Juniors.
Tony Russell and Reiny Barchet are going to give it a great race at Districts and I expect those boys to help keep the pace fast. I'm hoping we can see something in the 15:20s from Russell who I expect to be the better of the two boys (they are alternating right now, early in the season I picked Russell at Districts, Barchet at states so I guess I have to back it up). Henderson will win Districts no problem (sorry but it's true). The big test will be states and a shot at their own redemption.
More to come as the week goes on and I don't feel like doing work.
Stay classy.
Mac Emery is going to win Districts. I am calling it right now
ReplyDeleteI really hope Lasalle gets those 5 individual spots
ReplyDeleteTHEY DID IT
DeleteDo you think Henderson's coach is going to want Barchet and Russell to race it that hard at districts? They easily have the team win, why have the top 2 race as hard as they can when they have states the next week. They need to be in top form in order to beat Ohara. They're definitely going to try, but I don't think districts is a big priority for them. They've been sitting a lot of their varsity in these past meets so i'm guessing they aren't trying to have everyone tire themselves out before the important race.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure most people would consider districts an important race. Not to mention, they have a week and a half after districts to recover for states, I don't think they have much to worry about.
DeleteDistricts isn't that important when you're guaranteed a ticket to hershey
Deleteonly 8 days, not a week and a half and, hopefully not brewing up a slew of henderson hate by saying this .. henderson has a pretty comfortable lead on a spot to states ... there are 5 team spots in d1 and they do not need to go all out to get one of those 5 spots by any means
DeleteRacing hard on Lehigh's course isn't going to effect runners too much going into Hersey. It's a flat course so they won't get beat up by hills. If it were a tougher course then they might have them run 90% or so. But they got nothing to lose by racing hard. Kelly hasn't done that with his team before, and I doubt he'd do it now. Plus these guys are high school kids, let them race hardand earn individual medals (and possibly a victory)
Delete