This Weekend (9/7-9/9)
PTXC10 at Kutztown University, LVC Invitational, and the Bird in Hand Half Marathon
– PTXC10 presented by Brooks, at “The Farm Course” at Kutztown University will feature nearly 2500 high school cross country runners from across the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic. Flotrack.com #1 ranked boys team in the country, Loudoun Valley (VA) will be competing. Marlee Starliper of Northern York will be making her 2018 debut at PTXC10. Starliper was recently named the #9 ranked XC runner in the country by milesplit.com. She is coming off a tremendous soph campaign that saw her win XC, indoor and outdoor track and field state titles. This invitational will also give us the opportunity to see how some of the top teams in District III stack up against each other.
Here is a look at the top teams in PIAA DIstrict III (as ranked by centralparunner) that will be competing in Kutztown tomorrow morning:
Girls Teams
AAA
#1 Elizabethtown, #4 Manheim Township, #6 Hershey, #7 Governor Mifflin, #9 Chambersburg
AA
#1 Northern, #4 Wyomissing, #5 Boiling Springs
Boys Teams
AAA
#4 Warwick, #5 Manheim Township, #7 Lower Dauphin, #9 Chambersburg, #10 Hershey, and bubble teams Mechanicsburg and Red Land (Updated: Twin Valley competing at Centaur Invite, per penntrackxc.com)
AA
#1 Wyomissing and #5 Fleetwood
This meet will undoubtably begin to provide some insight into who might be challenging for state team qualification at Big Spring in later October. District III team rankings will be updated following this weekends activity and will be released on Sunday. I’m excited to watch the team race between #1 girls teams Elizabethtown and Northern. I am also interested in seeing how the AAA boys teams will place in relation to their week one rankings as 7 of the top teams will be competing. Penntrackxc.com previews PTXC10 here.
– LVC Invitational at Lebanon Valley College will also have some top teams in action. AAA’s #2 ranked boys team, Palmyra, will be competing here. AA’s #4 ranked boys team, Milton Hershey, and A’s #2 ranked girls team, Annville-Cleona, will also be in action. The Palmyra boys and girls teams are coming off of wins this week against Lower Dauphin and Cedar Cliff (Story by Tim Johnson here).
– The Bird in Hand (BIH) Half Marathon is one of the largest races in Central Pennsylvania. Nearly 1600 runners completed the race in 2017. This time of year has led to several very hot races, but this Saturday appears to be manageable, minus the high humidity. At race time, the temperatures should be in the low to mid-60s with significant cloud coverage. Festivities begin Friday with the hot air balloon festival and pasta dinner. The prestigious “Road Apple” Award will be handed out to those runners finishing BIH who also finished the Garden Spot Village Half Marathon/Marathon in April. Jay McMillan (Columbia) and Brenda Hodge (York) were the top central PA male and female runners last year, finishing in 1hr 24:35 and 1hr 34:52 respectively.