Districts Coverage

The electrifying racing weekend was an amazing preview of the upcoming state meet. All of our favorites qualified to states where they will have the opportunity to showcase their abilities.

District 7
The District 7 or the WPIAL meet was on Thursday, October 25. Kacey Gibson started the day off with a bang. Her 18:14 was 75 seconds ahead of second place in the girls AA race. And it would end up being the fastest girls time of the day. Kacey looks poised and ready to defend her state title this week. But she has some tough competition, Carly Seymour and Kara Millhouse, who are looking to dethrone her.

Natalie Bower continued her WPIAL dominance as she won her third title in the girls AAA race. Bower's victory helped to lead her team to the crown as well. Latrobe will look to return to the top of the podium at the state meet as well. I feel they are the team to beat.

David Adley continued his winning ways as held off North Allegheny's Matt Jacob to win the boys AAA race. His victory helped to secure 4th place for Baldwin and get them back to the big show. With their 2-3 placing, North Allegheny won the team title and looks to be on track regain their form of the "dyNAsty days" of the mid 1990s.

District 1
In the AAA girls race at Lehigh, Meghan Lutz was the early leader at the mile, but ended up finishing 4th. Her 18:31 clocking is just a few ticks off of her fast 5k from this year's Nike Outdoor Nationals. She will be ready to go in Hershey and prepared to make a run at the state title.

Chris Aldrich continued his preparations for the state meet and beyond, with a 15:02 victory in the AAA boys race. Aldrich broke away from the field with a 1000m to go, but Mark Denin was able to close the gap before Aldrich put in one final surge down the homestretch to seal the victory. Denin was a close second in 15:06. In Aldrich's post-race interview, he said he felt the strength and speed that wasn't there over the final 800 at Manhattan. He appears to be rounding into form at the right time. He also said all training has been geared for Foot Locker Regionals. Being the competitor that he is, I am sure it will be a great showdown with Vince McNally this weekend.

District 6
We are on-site for the District 6 meet and saw several great races throughout the day. Carly Seymour and the rest of the Red Devils from Central Cambria did not disappoint in the AA girls race. Carly looked strong and relaxed as she broke her own course record by running 17:39. The rest of team used a :38 spread from runners 2 through 5 to claim the title. Their top 5 finished within the top 9 of the race. A very impressive showing by Central Cambria. The team is focused on winning states, after just missing the podium last year with a third place.

Jim Spisak of Bishop McCort dominated the field to win the individual title of the boys AA race. His 16:24 was the fastest boys time of the day. While the AA boys race appears to be up in the air for states, Spisak just marked himself down as a potential favorite with his effort. The other athlete we mentioned, Ben Hatch from Bellwood-Antis, finished in 7th. His race was very controlled and saw him blow by 6 people on the finishing straight. Hopefully he will crank it up another notch at the state meet, and maybe district 6 can go 1-2.

District 3
The final championship of the weekend was on Sunday. District 3 postponed their Saturday meet because of weather. Even with the day wait, there were no surprises as everything pretty much went as planned. Kara Millhouse was victorious in the AA girls race. Millhouse was well in control by 2 miles into the race and maintained her lead over the last mile as she won comfortably in 20:17.

In the girls AAA race, Neely Spence and Rachel Wong went 1-2. Neely was simply Neely as she was by herself at the mile and increased her lead throughout the race as she crossed the line in 19:04. Wong ran a very smart and controlled race as she finished in second place in 19:56. Her runner-up finish lead the Northern York Polar Bears to a dominant team victory, 66-144, over Cumberland Valley. Wong will be in the hunt as individual and in the team race, making her decision of what race to choose on November 24th even more difficult.

The boys AAA race was the last of 2007's District Week. McNally repeated as champ, creating a 5-second advantage by the 2-mile marker. He will add to that lead as he crossed the line in 16:38, 19 seconds ahead of his closest competition. McNally has his eyes set on the state meet and winning the title. From the results, it looks as if the AAA race at states will be a showdown between McNally and Aldrich, a preview of the Foot Locker Northeast Regional.

Great job to all of the competitors and we look forward to seeing everyone step up their game as we move onto the PIAA State Championships.