DELCO Championships - Meet Preview
Girls' Race
The Strath Haven girls will be the ones to beat at Rose Tree Park on Saturday. Led by Grace Forbes, in just her first year of XC, the Panthers come in at PA#9. After an eighth place finish at Paul Short, Haven moves into postseason mode. Abby Loiselle, Ava Crawford, and Paige Day add depth to Haven's squad, which should put up a low score.
Christine Mancini of Cardinal O'Hara should break up the Haven group. The senior is having a great season on the trails, including a pair of invite wins, one of which coming at Rose Tree earlier this season. Garnet Valley's Erica Kent, Penncrest's Sophie Cohen, and Upper Darby's Denize Cisco will also be in the mix for high finishes. The top returner from last year is Caitlin Jorgensen of Episcopal Academy. She'll hope to finish strong in her final DELCO XC Champs. O'Hara's Katie Till and Penn Wood's Elicia Moore will fight for spots in the top five.
Garnet Valley, Haverford, Academy of Notre Dame, and Cardinal O'Hara are among a deep group of teams that will be battling for the second team spot.
Boys' Race
We haven't seen a whole lot of the Haverford boys this season, but regardless, the squad will be heavily favored this Saturday at Rose Tree. Mike Donnelly has led the team to some dual meet wins this season, and the junior looks to be the one to beat on Saturday. He went 15:35 on his home course this season.
Also from Haverford, Evan Peetros, Brendan Campbell, Josh Fingerhut, and Aiden Tomov will be ones to watch for this deep Haverford squad that will look to prove it's one of the top District 1 teams this weekend.
Patrick Theveny of Penncrest was fourth at DELCOs last year and enters as the top returner. He'll look to show that he can be the new top dog in the county on Saturday. Garnet Valley's Sean Garrett, Radnor's Doug Rosin, and Archbishop Carroll's Aidan Doherty are among the others to watch in this field.
While Haverford will be the team to beat, Penncrest, the defending champs, who dethroned Cardinal O'Hara last year, should be strong. Garnet Valley, Radnor, and Strath Haven will also be in the mix for that No. 2 spot.