2019 YAIAA Girls XC Individual Preview

9 of the top 11 finishers from last year’s YAIAA XC Championships are back in 2019.

Defending champion Emily Schuler (sr) of Dallastown is one of those that are back and she is the favorite to win the title again this fall. She lowered her 3200m PR this past outdoor season to 10:54.96 which was a 13-second PR over her 2018 season best. This should concern competitors in Central PA as Schuler seems to run better the longer the distance. Schuler finished 10th at the 2018 PIAA AAA State XC Championships and will be looking to improve upon that finish this season. She will be one of the area’s top distance recruits in the class of 2020.

Red Lion senior Kiersten Lloyd was 2nd to Schuler in 2018. She too lowered her outdoor 3200m time this past spring. She won the YAIAA 1600m title in 2019 and advanced to the state championships in the event. Lloyd narrowly missed out on an individual qualifying spot to states last season; look for her to qualify this year.

Margaret Carroll, a junior from Northeastern, had arguably the most improvement between the XC and Outdoor track and field season during the 2018/19 school year. She is the #14 returner from last season’s YAIAA XC Championships. During the outdoor season she set new PRs in the 3200, 1600, and 800m runs. She would win the outdoor 3200m title at YAIAAs and go on to set a PR the next weekend at the District III AAA Meet in 11:04.44.

Carroll isn’t the only Bobcat who should battle for a top-3 to top-10 finish this season. Bella Treglia (so) and Marissa Pritchett (so) both had breakout freshman campaigns during the 2018/19 seasons. Treglia was 3rd and Pritchett was 4th at the 2018 YAIAA XC Championships. They would place 8th and 20th respectively a week later at the PIAA DIstrict III AAA meet earning them both an individual berth for the state meet. During the outdoor season, Pritchett would post PRs of 11:29/5:22 for the 3200/1600 and Treglia would run PRs of 11:42/5:32 for the same events. Trinity Schraudner (jr) gives Northeastern their 4th potential top 10 finisher for YAIAAs and another potential district medalist.

Allison Myers (sr) gives Dallastown another low-stick performer to pair with Schuler. She was 6th a year ago and will look to move into the top 5 this season. She set a 3200m PR this past spring finishing 5th at YAIAAs in 11:29.90. She finished 42nd in the state last fall and could earn a top-25th finish this season.

Dover Area will be led by the three Hogan’s. Sophomore Hannah Hogan finished 7th at YAIAAs and 19th at the PIAA District III AAA Championships last season. She qualified for states and earned valuable experience last season. Senior Emily Hogan finished 19th at YAIAAs in 2018 and will battle for a top-15 place this season. Newcomer Summer Hogan may provide another top-20 finish for the Hogan’s in 2019. She was the YAIAAs top finisher at the Carlisle MS Meet of Champions in 2018, finishing 3rd overall.

The individual rankings are based on 2018 YAIAA and District III XC championship meet returnee place finishes as well as 2019 Outdoor track and field performances. Additional weight was given to runners who set PRs during the outdoor campaign with greatest weight going to 3200m PRs.

Here is a pre-season look at 30 of the top girls in the YAIAA (excludes freshman):