Saturday’s PIAA cross country championships in Hershey again will feature a cross section of experience over the six races.
Several from the Alle-Kiski Valley are making return trips seeking medals and top finishes while other are making their debuts at the state’s climactic high school event.
While Fox Chapel junior Cecelia Ressler is back at states for the second time — she ran to 38th last year — the rest of the youthful Foxes girls team will experience the PIAA meet for the first time.
Fox Chapel finished runner-up at the WPIAL Class 3A championships Oct. 23 at White Oak Park and earned a team trip to states for the first time since 2018.
Four Foxes runners finished in the top 20 at WPIALs, led by freshman Claire Loiudice (15th), Ressler (17th), sophomore Bridget Hemingray (18th) and sophomore Ella Shevchuk (20th).
Freshman Maeve Sherry helped secure the runner-up WPIAL finish in 28th.
“It would have been hard to say because we are so young,” coach Tom Moul said of the team’s state qualifying finish at WPIALs.
“Bridget Hemingray wasn’t a varsity runner last year and she made enormous strides. We also had three freshmen that we hadn’t seen before and weren’t sure what to expect.”
The Fox Chapel girls will run at 11 a.m. Saturday and will be joined by Kiski Area senior Kelsi Lott (26th at WPIALs) and Plum senior Mayah Torres (29th).
Torres is grateful for one final high school run. She was the final individual girls qualifier in Class 3A. Her time of 19:37.30 was one second ahead of the first girl out, Canon-McMillan junior Karina Stoner.
The races get an early jump with the Class A girls at 9:30 a.m. and will include a quartet of individual qualifiers from Riverview: sophomore Kristen Levarse (29th at WPIALs), senior Rosa Lascola (31st), freshman Saraya Sanderson-Bey (34th) and junior Hannah Hudack (36th).
The Raiders finished fifth at WPIALs and missed fourth by two points. Only the top four teams head to states.
The Class 2A girls will run at 10:15, followed by the Class 3A girls at 11, the Class A boys at 11:45, the Class 2A boys at 12:30 p.m. and the Class 3A boys at 1:15.
Saturday’s weather forecast for Hershey is favorable for the runners. Temperatures will rise through the 50s during the six races with generally sunny skies.
Knoch junior Carter French, the highest A-K Valley finisher at WPIALs with his runner-up finish in Class 2A, is hoping to move into the top 10 and challenge at the top when he takes to the Parkview course Saturday afternoon.
Last year, French took 11th (16:35) and was the third underclassmen finisher. Quaker Valley junior Jonah Montagnese, this year’s WPIAL Class 2A champion, took seventh.
Freeport sophomore David Kristine will run at states after just missing a PIAA qualifying spot in his debut at WPIALs last year.
French will have company with three Knoch teammates also in Hershey. Sophomore Connor McCool and junior Grady Robb on the boys side and junior Natalie Zolinas for the Knights girls.
Zolinas, who is making her PIAA debut, recorded a top-10 finish at WPIALs, taking sixth in the Class 2A girls race. She will be joined in Saturday’s race by Burrell freshman Raegan Ruckus who made a standout WPIAL debut in eighth overall.
Burrell sophomore Kira Letgers missed a PIAA berth by one place finish and 2.20 seconds.
The Riverview boys had been a PIAA Class A regular in recent years, but this year, a youthful Raiders squad took eighth at WPIALs, short of a top-three team place for states.
However, Ashton Saunders, a junior, will again represent Riverview at states after taking third at WPIALs.
Fox Chapel senior Michael Costello ran at states last year with his Fox Chapel teammates after the group secured a runner-up team finish at WPIALs.
He will be back in the Class 3A boys race, but he will run individually. Costello hops to move up the ladder after placing 142nd last year. He placed 15th at WPIALs.
Foxes freshman Asher Eckel, 26th at WPIALs, will make his PIAA-championship debut.
Kiski Area senior Sam Plazio concludes his decorated cross country career Saturday with his fourth PIAA appearance. He was 79th in the Class 3A boys race last year as the Cavaliers bumped up to the highest classification.
Plazio ran to a 23rd-place medal in the Class 2A boys race as a sophomore and was 72nd as a freshman.