Harriers ready for WPIAL cross country championships
While many of the high school cross country runners have competed at Roadman Park at California University of Pennsylvania several times this season, their races at the WPIAL Championships Oct. 25 matter the most.
Girls action commences at 12:45 p.m. with the Class A run followed by Class AA and AAA in 45-minute increments. Boys’ races start with Class A action at 3 and finishing with Class AAA at 4:30.
The top four teams and top 20 individual boys and girls in Class A advance to the state championships set for Nov. 3 at the Parkview Cross Country Course in the Hershey Giant Center Complex.
The top three teams in all other classifications as well as the Top 15 individuals also move on to the PIAA finals.
“Every time you go to the WPIAL championships is like the first time you went,” said BP cross country coach Scott Steranko. “It’s so exciting for the kids. It’s a carnival atmosphere.”
But it’s a different course from what the runners have come to expect of the championships. In past years, the WPIAL finals have been held on a relatively flat, fast course at Coopers Lake Campground in Slippery Rock.
“There’s a little bit of everything there to please any cross country fan at Cal U. Mud, flat fast stretches, turns through woods, and a big downhill,” said USC coach Doug Petrick.
According to Lori Poe, the new course is a challenge but should bode well for area harriers.
“The course should shake things up, as runners have to run a smart race. If they aren’t strong on hills they need to use their strengths on the flats and vice versa.”
She added because of the talent in the South Hills there will be plenty of runners in contention for the titles.
For example, Patrick Anderson of Mt. Lebanon won last week’s Tri-State Coaches Association Championships held at Cal U. His teammate, Peter Cosentino, finished fourth. The Blue Devils, though, finished runner-up to North Allegheny in the team standings, 65-86. NA last won the WPIAL title in 2015 while Seneca Valley has captured the past two crowns.
Carter BP’s best
The NA girls won the TSTCA championship followed by Fox Chapel, which is the reigning state champion, Pine-Richland and Upper St. Clair, but it was Emily Carter who submitted the best individual showing among South Hills runners. The Bethel Park sophomore finished fourth.
Expectations are for Carter, who earlier this fall won the Bill Lennox Cross Country Invitational, to at the very least finish among the Top 15 runners to advance to states, although a Top 5 finish is realistic. For Carter, the first mile is the key, Steranko said. It has been all season.
“If she stays composed, she only gets faster,” Steranko said. “She has such a competitive spirit.”
Carter hopes to lead some of the other members of her team to a PIAA berth. BP’s No. 2 harrier is freshman Maddie Sellati. Patra Hsu is the senior captain while Sydney Burns and Hannah Crawford are both juniors. Anna Janaszek is a sophomore.
“We are a young team,” Steranko said. “We were pleased with how the season went but I think we are going to do well in the future.”
On the boys’ side, the Hawks posted a 5-3 record in section action. They have three boys pushing for PIAA berths. Senior Eli Allridge, who finished 14th at Tri-States, has an opportunity to qualify as does James Counihan, another senior. Antonio Burkhart hopes to return to Hershey. He made it to states last year as a sophomore.
No easy picks
While everybody is pointing toward NA to win the boys’ title because of the Tigers’ achievements all season long and their strong front five runners, and expectations for Fox Chapel to continue its PIAA reign, coaches are not predicting who the overall winners will be.
“That’s the fun part of this sport,” Petrick said. “There’s so many strong runners out there.”
At USC, Petrick has a few. For the second season in a row, the Lady Panthers went undefeated in section, posting an 8-0 record. The boys were 7-1 for the second year in a row.
Claire Hoffman and Sophia Shi have been the top USC girls while Tommy O’Brien and Alex Shaw have paced the males. USC finished fifth in the WPIAL for the girls and 10th among the boys’ squads in last year’s district championships.
“We are happy to get to return to WPIALs and hopefully improve upon last year,” Petrick said.
He noted how his four top harriers benefited from their summer training in Boulder, Colo.
“They brought a lot of confidence and knowledge back with them and it permeated throughout the team,” Petrick said. “We’ve had a lot of success with the athletes trusting the process and the training.”
Because this will be USC’s third shot on the Cal U. course, they expect better results, too. The USC girls finished fourth as a team at Tri-States.
“We can’t wait to get another chance to race at Roadman Park,” Petrick said.
Mt. Lebanon, too, can’t wait for another shot at the course.
“At Tri-States, we had a chance to size up some of the competition and have a dress rehearsal for WPIALs,” said Oscar Schutt.
While the Lebo boys won the section title with an 8-0 record, the girls finished third at 6-2, losing to USC and South Fayette. Lebo’s varsity girls’ group includes: senior Aoife-Ruby Dunne, juniors Allison Small, Emma Stanton and Elizabeth Teufel, sophomores Isabella Primm, Amanda Cetorelli and Lily Kane, and freshman Danielle Duncan.
Dunne and Small qualified for the state meet last year. Dunne, also, has been running well the past few weeks with a fourth place finish in Ohio at the Legends meet. Despite injuries, Small is looking to make her third trip to states.
Fresh look
South Fayette did not run at Tri-States but Joe Winans feels the Lions have a solid shot at a WPIAL title. He used his junior varsity’s performance at Cal last week as a gauge.
“They did a great job,” he said. “This is a great sign that we are in good shape and are looking forward to running.”
The Lions are looking forward to challenging Maddy Murtland and Greensburg Salem for the Class AA title.
SF’s top harriers included Hailey Poe and Lauren Iagnemma. The duo helped the Lions to a 7-1 section record with the lone loss coming against USC. Winans expects a top five finish from Poe and inside of Top 15 for Iagnemma, his freshman.
Meanwhile the SF boys have been led by Zach Conner, a junior out for cross country for the first time, and Aaron Skerbetz, a sophomore. Conner is likely a top 12-15 finisher at WPIALs while Skerbetz is looking to claim an individual qualifying spot.
Coming and going
Coming in and starting out the WPIAL races will be key considering the course. That is Lori Poe’s take on the race. She and her Chartiers Valley team had a great opportunity to preview the course and how it will impact the race.
Poe anticipates the Colts finishing better than their showing in the team competition. The boys finished top middle of the section with a 5-3 record. Overall, they were 8-3. The girls posted a 2-6 slate but a 5-6 overall mark. The boys were runners-up at the Big South Invitational and bronze medalists at the Grove City Meet. The girls won the Big South, took third in the Mingo Classic and second at the Crimson Hawk Invite.
Kiki Thornton, who finished 15th in the WPIAL in 2017, is the Lady Colts’ top harrier. She has placed in the top tier in all her invitationals. She was either first or in the top three of each section meet. Most recently at Mingo and Tri-States, she topped some of the athletes that beat her in dual meet competition, finishing fourth overall.
Elias Zajicek and Shorya Kohli are CV’s top boys, sharing duties as No. 1 harrier. According to Poe, both are strong hill runners so the Cal U course should play well to their strengths. They should both fight for an individual spot to the state meet.
PT tops
Zack Marmol and Jen Massucci are the runners to watch from Peters Township. Marmol was a PIAA qualifier last year as a sophomore. He placed 21st overall with a 16:59 time. He is well under that time this season, having clocked a 16:33 time during a section showdown with Lebo and USC.
Jen Massucci looks to join Marmol in Hershey. The senior just missed qualifying last year, placing 35th in the 2017 WPIAL championships. Samantha Dusch has supplied Massucci strong competition from within. The PT senior placed 51st in last year’s WPIAL finals.