Weekend (9/7) Meet Previews

 Hey guys, hope you enjoy reading the weekend preview. I decided to incorporate individual rankings into the preview, just give me feed back if you guys like or dislike that or any other critiques on the post. Sorry  didn't get to all of the meets, I went through them all and tried to write about as many as possible. Best of luck to everyone this weekend. The meets are packed with talent!

Also in the next couple of days there may be another Journal Entry so be on the look out for that :) and remember to like the facebook page:

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Wyalusing Valley Lasagna Invitational *** RESULTS

NEB lost two fantastic runners last season, but their team as a whole is looking really good once again this season. Levi Upham (so) won this recent meet and they had their whole varsity in the top 15 all under 18:07. They do some really nice pack running, look for them to be back in the hunt in the state meet this season.

Previews:

10^th Annual Red, White & Blue Classic:

The Red White and Blue Classic has once again got all the top WPIAL teams to attend, which is exciting to watch. NA will once again look to dominate the invite with a tight spread. We’ll get to see how their varsity is shaping up and whether or not they’ll be a pack team once again or see if some guys have jumped to the next level as front runners. The real story of this meet will be to see how much the Martin Twins (#3 and 9) and Kennedy (#2) can push. I’m hoping they’ll get some fast conditions so we can see a low 15 clocking early this season. Sloan is sadly injured, but we’ll also get to see where Aaron Benka (Grove City #31) is at this stage in the game. I’d like to see 5 NA guys in the top 15 to 20 runners. Other teams to look out for are Hampton and Moon Area.

Germantown Friends Invitational:

There is no start list, but assuming the same teams will be attending from last season it’ll be good to see where WCH and DTW stand from last season to this season. Russell seems to really be peaking for nationals, he may have had a bump or two in the road during the summer months and is using this time to catch up (again, this is only speculation). I’m hoping to see some really solid pack running from both teams at this meet, but don’t expect anything really fast.

23^rd Big Red Invitational

This isn’t the biggest invite despite what the name suggests, but there are some big guns who will be attending. Look to see ‘A’ stud Jeremy Parsons (#13) roll with his brother early on this season in their debut. He’s a guy to follow this season, especially in the ‘A’ scene. West Middlesex should dominate the team scoring as they are one of the top ‘A’ teams in the state, it’s their home course as well so look for a really low score as they should dominate. 

Abington Invitational

On this fairly quick course we should get to see some positive early season clocking’s along with some fantastic teams up front. Last year there was a great battle that we saw again at districts between WCE, CRN, and GV. Once again these teams will be going at it, but add DTW, William Tennent, and Conestoga to the list this year. Penncrest and Wissahickon should also be in the mix. Up front we get to see some of the state’s best in Wilson (#4), Willig (#19- if he isn’t injured which has been rumored), C Kazanjian (#25), Diestelow (#33), Cummings (#35), and M Kazanjian (#36), along with the Marcelis brothers who did very well last weekend at Viking. This should be a great, tight pack up front and a nice early season battle along with a great team battle behind it. Many of these teams are looking for 4-5 guys so hopefully we’ll see some people step up in the early stages of the season. 

Central Bucks East Invitational

This is a preview of SOL’s as just about everyone in the league will be in attendance. Logue looks for a comeback race as the heat got to him last week and we’ll get to see just where North Penn is this year after losing their big gun in Jack Macauley. Will they be able to reload??

PTXC 5 Invitational

This invite once again is a class act meet. Honestly this weekend is jam packed with top notch races. Let’s start out with the front pack of individuals that should make for a fast race. Sam Webb (#7 Pennsbury) will be attending this year’s meet to challenge the top returner Dominic Deluca (#8) along with the great 1-2 punch of Lower Dauphin: Nissley (#18) and Groh (#27). Also attending this meet and looking to greatly improve on their previous placing are Colin Abert (#11) and Aiden Demko (#23). Aaron Lauer (#44 Red Land) will look to mix it up with this pack as well. This race should have sparks flying as some of the top talent in PA compete to prove they’re worthy of state medals and top 10 recognition. We had some amazing performances last season with a 16:04 win from Sam Williams, but this season I believe this group can break the 16 min barrier if similar conditions arise.

Team wise Lower Dauphin will look to take the crown once again with teams like Hershey, Altoona Area, Pennsbury, and Dallas (AA) looking to challenge. LD should breeze to victory here, but it’ll be great to see how their top 5 are looking. I think Dallas has a great shot at taking second place in this AAA school dominated invitational. 

Quad X High School Invitational

Pennsbury, North Penn, Pennridge, and William Tennent are all signed up for about 4 or 5 invitations this weekend which is quite a bother, but if they all end up here it could get quite exciting. Look to see Ben Szuhaj (#22) and the Penn Charter squad opens up their season. This meet has some potential to be quick, but I honestly just do not know who will be here. 

That's all for now Folks!

--ForrestCRN