Oct 27, 2017 By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 5 min read

Sam Snodgrass was Superman during the WPIAL Cross Country Championships at Slippery Rock. When the gun sounded Oct. 26 to begin the Class AA boys race, the South Fayette senior shot out of the starting gate faster than the proverbial speeding bullet and coasted to victory. His winning time of 16:33 was 14 seconds quicker than that of runner-up Kendall Brown from Indiana.

“The goal of the race was to take control as soon as the gun went off,” Snodgrass said. “I pushed them pretty hard and then held the lead from there.”

There was a reason for his urgency. Snodgrass was the favorite to win.

“Sam has gone into a lot of races where he could win but this was the first time he really stepped to the line with the expectation that he should win,” explained SF coach Joe Winans. “That was the difference in his mindset.

“He knows that I will trust him with whatever strategy that he decides on. I tend to be a little more patient. He tends to be a little more assertive and for him to make the move right off the gun and create some space was a bold move.”

Looking back, which is a huge no-no in sports competition, was also a brave move on his part, as Snodgrass checked his positioning and pace several times during the race.

“I was looking back a few times just to make sure no one was coming up on me.

“I know it’s not a good thing,” he added with a laugh, “but the fact that I was so far in front I felt like I could just check and I’d be OK.

Winans agreed.

“It is not the people who are behind you who are hurting you. It’s the people in front who are beating you,” he said. “If there is nobody in front to look at, then he was looking back to see what kind of cushion he had.”

Snodgrass had the cushion because he created it and he covered his bases. That’s simply the way he prepares for races.

“Sam is such an intuitive runner that regardless of what happens around him he is able to respond effortlessly. He goes over every possible scenario in his head before the gun goes off so that when things happen around him, it is much more reactionary as opposed to having to be a thought out response. He response to the field as it is appropriate. He is at a point where he could make a move and make some space and it really paid off for him. He’s just a phenomenal runner,” Winans added.

While the Lions did not qualify as a team for the PIAA Championships Nov. 4 in Hershey, Colin Dunn and Silas Mays earned berths in the state meet. Dunn finished ninth overall in 17:22 and Mays clocked in at 17:57 for 24th position.

Indiana won the boys AA title with 82 points followed by New Castle (87) and Greensburg Salem (101). South Fayette finished fifth as a team.

Other area boys to qualify for states included:

• Zack Marmol from Peters Township. The sophomore placed 21st overall with a 16:59 time during the Class AAA race.
• Matt Clark from Chartiers-Houston. The junior finished 18th overall with a 17:55 time in Class A.

Seneca Valley won the Class AAA title with an 87 score followed by Butler (94) and North Allegheny (105). Butler’s Noah Beveridge won the individual title in 15:47. Winchester Thurston won the Class A title, easily with a 37 score. Riverview and Shenango followed in second and third with team scores of 105 and 157.

South Fayette girls win

Maria DeCello will have a little company when she travels to Hershey to compete in the PIAA meet. For the first time in four years, the South Fayette senior will make the journey with her entire team.

“This is so awesome. Exciting,” said the senior.

Indeed, the Lions’ first-place showing in the WPIAL Class AA Championships was a pleasant surprise. South Fayette dethroned three-time champion Quaker Valley in taking the team title with a 116 score. Brownsville finished as runner-up with 129 points and the Quakers were third with 132.

“The girls were a big surprise,” Winans said. “We knew that we had a chance to leave here with a state qualifying position. We were coming here thinking at best a No. 2 just with how great QV looked on paper.”

But the “spread” sheet did not lie. DeCello finished eighth overall with a 20:13 time and sophomore Hailey Poe followed in 11th position (20:26) but it was the bunching of the middle runners-Steffanie Kozak (21:14), Delaney Parisi (21:26) and Katy Allen (22:17), even Emma Fleck (23:02) and Emily Harasin (24:48) that proved the difference in the trophies.

“I tell my girls all the time that spread wins,” Winans said. “If you look at the average speed of all the teams, we had a good spread. We had a spread that was over a minute tighter than places two and three and that was what really made the difference in our score. We had some nice performances by our four and five runners and that made a difference.”

On a team that boasts two freshmen and three sophomores, DeCello’s leadership makes the difference. Winans said that she was “determined” to lead this team.

“It is a whole lot more fun to go up to the state championship and bring a team,” he explained. Winans added, “This is a really close group. These girls don’t just run with each other but for each other on any given day and to go out and to know anything can happen. That’s the beauty and the curse of this race. Anything can happen. But they really took advantage of the opportunity that was given to them.”