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South Fayette teams up for second straight WPIAL title

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 6 min read
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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

South Fayette celebrates its second straight WPIAL Class AA girls cross country title.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Bethel Park’s Emily Carter finished first in the Class AAA girls’ competition at the Marty Uher Invitational.

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By Eleanor Bailey/Almanac Sports Editor/ebailey@thealmanac.net

Peters Township’s Zack Marmol is out in front of Tommy O’Brien of Upper St. Clair during a portion of the WPIAL Class AAA boys’ cross country championship race. Both qualified for the PIAA championships with O’Brien finishing sixth overall and Marmol following in seventh.

When Stephanie Kozak suffered a stress fracture midway through the cross country season, Joe Winans emphasized the importance of camaraderie if South Fayette was to attain its goal of capturing a second straight WPIAL title.

“Good teams run with each other,” the Lady Lions’ head coach said. “Great teams run for each other.”

On Oct. 25 on the 3,000-meter course at Roadman Park at California University of Pennsylvania, South Fayette proved its greatness as well as its unity. The Lady Lions not only won the Class AA title with a 69 score, some 40 points ahead of runner-up Greensburg Salem, they managed three harriers in the Top 10 and all five scorers finished in the Top 20.

“Prior to the injury, Stephanie was one of our top runners,” Winans said of the junior captain, “but what we do as a great team is pick up our teammates and fill in those spots when necessary.”

Hailey Poe submitted the best showing. While the junior led the way with a fourth-place effort overall, she also cheered on her teammates as they, too, crossed the finish line.

“I was so proud of my teammates because they pushed me to the core,” said Poe, who was 50th in last year’s state tournament.

Winans was overjoyed with Poe’s performance. Her time of 20:15 was a personal record.

“Before the race, I had to remind myself of how good she is because Hailey makes it look effortless. She is so consistent. She is somebody that you can set your watch by because you know what you are going to get from her every meet.”

Freshmen Gabby Baiano and Lauren Iaganemma followed Poe’s lead and finished seventh (20:45) and eighth (20:49) respectively. Sophomores Emma Fleck and Baylee Carpenter grabbed 16th (21:18) and 20th (21:30) positions.

With sophomore Delaney Parisi and junior Peyton Yater tacking on 31st and 51st places with times of 22:2 and 22:53, the future is brilliant for the Lady Lions as they head to Hershey for the PIAA championships set for Nov. 3.

“After we won the WPIAL championship last year, I told these girls, I said I want to win it again next year and finish top five in the state,” Winans said. “After their performance today, they are capable of that. And once we finish top five in the state, we are going to try and win it the following year.”

Conner 14th

Zach Conner has a another year, too, at South Fayette. Though new to cross country, the junior finished 14th in Class AA with a time of 17:40 and qualified for the state championships, too.

A former football player, Conner converted to cross country after a successful track season.

“During the spring, I kept telling him running (cross country) would be a good decision,” SF coach Joe Winans said.

“Zach has been really successful for us. He’s one of those guys that we are going to continue to try to build our program around and really add to it with him as one of those pillars, those core athletes there,” he added.

Several other core athletes from area teams submitted stellar performances and earned trips to Hershey for the PIAA championships.

Lebo third

Patrick Anderson and Peter Cosentino led Mt. Lebanon to a third-place finish in the Class AAA boys’ team standings behind champion North Allegheny and runner-up Seneca Valley. Anderson placed second overall with a 16:20 time. That was 19 seconds off the winning pace set by NA’s Daniel McGoey.

“I was planning on staying with (McGoey),” Anderson said of his race strategy. “He started pushing it and took the lead on the hill but everything went cold for me and everything pretty much went blurry for the last mile. I was just trying to push through to the finish and not let my teammates down.”

Cosentino finished fifth in 16:36. Alex Brokaw, Barak Asher, Quinn Mitchell and Duncan Laduke all clocked in under 17:36 and Clark Mitchell contributed with his 18:38 time.

Aoife-Ruby Dunne also qualified. The Mt. Lebanon senior placed 27th overall with 20:31.

Bronze for Carter

Emily Carter took third overall in the girls’ Class AAA division. The Bethel Park sophomore posted a time of 19:03, 20 seconds off the winning pace set by two-time champion Hannah Schupansky from Oakland Catholic.

“I didn’t expect to do that well so I am pretty happy,” Carter said.

Attacking the hills proved the difference for Carter in the race.

“The first mile, I just wanted to stick with everybody and I did that but once we got to the hill, I passed a lot of girls and then pushed it hard to the end. Everybody says they hate hills, but I just try to stay positive. I tell myself that I love hills, especially while I’m going up them.”

Two additional BP harriers will accompany Carter to states. Eli Allridge was 18th overall in 17:05 and Antonio Burkhart placed 28th in 17:25.

PT all business

Zack Marmol attacked the championships with a business-like mindset. He even brought a construction helmet he found in his car with him on the trip to California as a reminder of his mission. The Peters Township senior finished seventh overall (16:48) and qualified for states.

“I knew this was a business trip and I was going to put in the work,” he said.

USC finishes 4th

Upper St. Clair had its best combined finish in cross country history as both the boys’ and the girls’ teams finished fourth overall in the Class AAA standing. Additionally, five athletes earned trips to the PIAA championships.

Tommy O’Brien secured sixth place overall while Alex Shawn and CJ Hess finished 17th and 24th overall. For the girls, Claire Hoffman and Sophia Shi placed 12th and 23rd respectively.Ryan Sarkett, Kasey Turner, Ethan Mann and Joseph Markovitz also contributed on the boys’ side while Vianna Shiry, Steph Grunwald, Morgan Meddings, Lydia Lucas and Carly Abraham aided the girls.

“We couldn’t have asked for better efforts from our kids,” USC coach Doug Petrick said. “It’s gratifying to see how this team has evolved into a very supportive family. Sure, they are competitive with each other, but in such a positive way. The group really thrives on racing fueled by the love of the sport. When you put positive vibes out there, your motivation is the right place.”

CV duo shine

Chartiers Valley had two runners advance. Elias Zajicek finished 23rd overall in the Class AAA division in 17:14. Kiki Thornton placed 14th overall in the girls’ Class AAA race in 19:56.

“From the start, they performed very well. We look for them to keep topping their times at states,” CV coach Lori Poe said.

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