Girls 7peat as WPIAL Champs, Boys take silver.

It was great conditions for a fast WPIAL cross country championship in White Oak Park. The girls won in dominant fashion with 76 points compared to second place Norwin who had 121. The boys lost a close battle, scoring 90 points, 10 points away from victory. 

The girls were lights out from beginning of the race, showing they were the strongest team at each course split. Five of the seven runners ran lifetime personal records and the two runners that didn’t were very close to their personal bests. The top four tigers were all seniors. They were led by Robin Kucler who had an outstanding race, placing 3rd in 18:02. Elizabeth Pizon set a new lifetime best with an 18:56, grabbing 12th overall. Camille Swirsding was incredible with a 19:05, placing 16th (lifetime best). Kendall Lucas had a strong performance, securing 18th place with a sporty 19:12. Junior Elinor Handel locked in the victory for the tigers with a 32nd place finish and lifetime PR (19:46). Sophomore Gabby Pizon was only a second back from Elinor with fantastic finish, placing 3rd with a 19:47 (lifetime). Junior Tess Pagnotto had lifetime best to round out the top seven and make so all scoring tigers were sub 20 minutes (19:56).

The boys placed second behind a strong performance by Norwin. Junior Andrew Peigh had another great day leading the tigers with lifetime best time of 15:37. Senior Jack Bertram had a great last race on the white oak course, placing 6th with a fast 15:54. Senior Tyler Davis knocked a couple more seconds off his best time with 16:25 and 22nd place finish. Senior Anthony Miklos came on in the second half of the race to place 27th (16:35). Senior Jackson Beemer set a lifetime best of 16:39, placing 33rd overall. Senior Sebastian Klimchak had a solid performance to place 6th for NA and 49th in the race. Senior Greg Abel rounded out the top 7 with a 17:24, placing 73rd.

Both teams qualified for the PIAA State Championship in Hershey next Saturday.