With 2023 District and State Champion Annville-Cleona transitioning to Class AA this season the team title in Class A could be wide open. Delone Catholic and Veritas Academy appear to be the favorites but don’t count out Lancaster Catholic. Individually, 3 of the top 4 individual finishers from 2023, including champion Landon Hostetter, run for Annville-Cleona and will compete in AA this year. This leaves Henry Friedrichs as a heavy favorite for the individual title. The senior from Veritas Academy finished 2nd at the 2023 District 3 meet before placing 13th in the State. He ran a 3200m PR this spring of 9:48 with Warwick as part of a co-op agreement between schools. Dayspring Christian sophomore Noah Huxta may be the biggest threat to Friedrichs. He placed 6th in the District and 31st in the State last season.

We will keep a close eye on opening week performances from these programs. With so many private schools represented in Class A a freshman or sophomore transfer could really shake things up. Keep in mind, the PIAA has a rule preventing junior or senior class transfers from competing in post-season PIAA sanctioned events.

Here is a team-by-team look at all participating schools in District 3 Class A. Individually we highlight those runners appearing in the top 15 of our pre-season individual rankings. Those rankings will be released soon.

#1 – Delone Catholic – Delone Catholic is likely the deepest team in Class A. They have the potential of two low-sticks in Young and Donnally and should be able to form a solid pack behind those 2. Young looked like an individual state qualifier last season before missing out on the District Championships.

CPAR Top 15 Returnees

• Ryan Young, sr – 13th at Ben Bloser, 101st at Gettysburg, 25th at the YAIAA Championships.
• Evan Donnally, sr – 33rd at Ben Bloser, 109th at Gettysburg, 59th at the YAIAA Championships, 25th at District 3.

Others to watch – Owen Lignatowski (jr), Owen Darlington (jr), Sam Hall (sr), Noah Hall (sr)