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The Holy Redeemer boys have been to the last two state cross country championships, placing 10th and 14th in Class 2A, but they will be seeking their first District 2 title since 2012 when they take the Lakeland High School course today.Mitchell Rome&#8217;s high school career includes three district team championships and two state team titles with Dallas along with an individual state medal, but the senior will be aiming for his first individual district title.The Royals and Rome will be among the WVC&#8217;s contenders in today&#8217;s event, which combines team and individual competition while deciding district champions and qualifiers for the PIAA Championships Nov. 3 on the Hershey Parkview Course.&#8220;We&#8217;re hoping to place first and move on to states, then see how it goes there,&#8221; said Redeemer&#8217;s Bryce Zapusek, who along with Lukas Volpetti were 2-3 behind Rome at last week&#8217;s Ed Narkiewicz WVC Coaches Meet.After two straight runner-up finishes to Dallas, Wyoming Valley Conference champion Holy Redeemer would like to make a return trip to Hershey as district champion.Dallas will have a hard time trying to win its fourth straight Class 2A boys team title, but the Mountaineers program could still extend its streak of winning at least one championship &#8211; boys or girls, team or individual &#8211; each year since 2010.Along the way, they&#8217;ll be competing with each other as part of the race that is fourth on the schedule of six. Action starts at 11:20 a.m. with the Class 2A boys race taking the spotlight at 1:20 p.m. on what is expected to be a cool and windy day &#8212; which at Chapman Lake means it will be cooler and windier that just about any other locale in District 2.Holy Redeemer has met its goals so far with the perfect record within the WVC, living up to the status of favorite in a conference where Dallas entered the season with seven straight titles and 120 straight wins.&#8220;They never took it for granted,&#8221; Royals coach Nick Capaci said. &#8220;They trained hard and early the whole season as a group. They&#8217;re very supportive of each other, showing up six days a week, a lot of times, even during the summer.&#8220;That&#8217;s how often they wanted to get together and train. They have worked to be where they&#8217;re at, even though it&#8217;s somewhat expected.&#8221;Though he was the team&#8217;s lead runner again at the Narkiewicz Meet, Zapusek was quick to point out the team&#8217;s seventh runner Larry Corridoni in 15th place. That put the Royals&#8217; seventh runner 25 places and 57 seconds ahead of the next-best team&#8217;s seventh runner.Rome knows he could be seeing red early as he tries to make his way to the front of the district pack.&#8220;Holy Redeemer will probably again be my competition,&#8221; said Rome, who finished third in last year&#8217;s race, which was won by since graduated teammate Jack Zardecki.Rome is the only Dallas returnee.Zapusek (ninth a year ago), Dominic Capaci (17th), George Strish (19th), Volpetti (22nd) and Nick Pikul (27th) are all back from last year&#8217;s Holy Redeemer lineup at districts.The day&#8217;s action begins with Class A races &#8211; girls, then boys.The team champion and the best five individual finishers from other teams qualify for the state meet in each Class A race. The top 15 finishers earn district medals.MMI Prep, Northwest and Wyoming Seminary are the only WVC schools out of 15 girls and 13 boys teams in Class A, which should again be dominated by the Lackawanna League.The Holy Cross girls and Montrose boys, consistent state threats in recent years, are favorites.Andrew Healey from Holy Cross is back after finishing fourth in the state in Class A.The Class 2A girls run at 12:40 p.m.Scranton Prep&#8217;s Mia Bellucci is the defending individual champion, but Crestwood freshman Molly DeMarzo went unbeaten in the WVC and split with Bellucci this season.Holy Redeemer is also the unbeaten WVC champion on the girls side where Valley View and Honesdale each finished ahead of defending district champion Scranton Prep in the Lackawanna League standings.With two state teams berths available, Dallas and Lake-Lehman could also be factors in what may be the deepest team race.The top eight teams in the Lackawanna League boys standings from the dual meet season were Class 3A and A schools, so Dallas, Lake-Lehman and an improving Wyoming Area team could all be in the chase for the second spot if they can&#8217;t keep up with the Royals.In addition to the two teams, 10 more individuals qualify for state spots in Class 2A where 20 medals are awarded.The Class 3A races, which are District 2-4 subregionals because of the inclusion of Williamsport, are for one team and five individual state berths. The top 10 earn medals. The girls run at 2 p.m. and the boys at 2:40.Abington Heights is the defending girls team champion.Pittston Area&#8217;s Nicole Zambetti is a returning medalist and state qualifier.Wallenpaupack is the defending champion and went unbeaten in the Lackawanna League, making it a clear favorite in boys.Hazleton Area, particularly on the girls side, represents the best team hopes from WVC Class 3A schools. <style>
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<div class="neCaption">The boys field at last week&#8217;s WVC coaches meet was won by Dallas&#8217; Mitchell Rome, who will be hunting for his first individual District 2 title on Wednesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_IMG_1516_ne20181023162048369.jpg</photo0><caption0>The boys field at last week&#8217;s WVC coaches meet was won by Dallas&#8217; Mitchell Rome, who will be hunting for his first individual District 2 title on Wednesday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tom Robinson file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom RobinsonFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div>

D2 cross country preview: Royals, Rome look to bring home the hardware for WVC schools