Full results at runhigh.com. Click here.
BROOKVILLE, Pa. — In a new venue for the District 9 Cross Country Championships, all four races were run at the Brookville Area High School course Saturday afternoon.
The four team titles went to the St. Marys girls and DuBois boys in Class 2A in the morning session while the Cranberry boys and North Clarion girls won titles in Class 1A in the afternoon races.
With a slimmer list of state qualifiers this year due to COVID-19, each district sends its top finishing team in each class with the top five non-championship team finishers advancing as well in Class 2A and top six in Class 1A.
Individually, Bradford’s Korie Dixon won the first race of the day in Class 2A girls, finishing the 3.1-mile course in 19:47, three seconds ahead of St. Marys’ Samantha Hayes. Hayes and teammates Brianna Grotzinger (3rd, 20:15), Kyla Johnson (5th, 21:28), Madison Blythe (6th, 21:53) and Kelsey Bellotti (16th, 23:49) combined to score 31 points for a seven-point win over Bradford (38) and Punxsutawney (51) in a three-team race.
The five state qualifiers outside of St. Marys were Dixon, Bradford’s Caitlyn Taylor (4th, 21:06) and Hannah Lary (7th, 22:07), and Punxsutawney’s Laura Rittenhouse (8th, 22:09) and Elizabeth Long (9th, 22:10).
Five teams made up the Class 2A boys’ field and DuBois won with 38 points, 10 ahead of Punxsutawney (48) with Bradford (63), St. Marys (91) and Clearfield (125) rounding out the field.
Chucks senior Aiden McLaughlin won the race in 17:29, 12 seconds ahead of DuBois’ Joe Foradora, who combined with A.J. Deemer (5th, 17:48), McKellen Jaramillo (6th, 17:55), Ryan White (10th, 18:29) and Jaedon Yarus (12th, 18:40) for the winning lineup.
Non-championship qualifers were Bradford’s Ryan Cottillion (3rd, 17:44), Clearfield’s Ben Luzier (4th, 17:46), Bradford’s Ian Pilon (7th, 18:01) and Punxsutawney’s Andrew Barnoff (8th, 18:12).
In girls’ Class 1A, North Clarion put six runners in the top 20 finishers and scored 49 team points, 22 points ahead of runner-up Brookville (71) with Moniteau (77), Cranberry (92), Elk Co. Catholic (102), Smethport (173), Brockway (174), DuBois Central Catholic (213) and Otto-Eldred (218) rounding out the nine-team field.
Smethport junior Jenna Gregory won the race in 20:22, 14 seconds ahead of Northern Potter’s Courtney Martin. Oswayo Valley’s Cheyenne Mehl was in third with the only other sub-21. North Clarion’s Rache Bauer was fourth in 21:07 while the next three finishers, fifth through seventh overall, captured the last three non-team qualifying spots — Moniteau’s Hannah Burgoon (21:27) and Jenna Blauser (21:31) and Elk County Catholic’s Sophia Bille (21:36).
The Cranberry boys dominated in their win, scoring 43 points after placing three runners in the top six and all five of their scorers in the top 17. Elk County Catholic was a distant second with 108 points with Clarion-Limestone (141), Brookville (163) and North Clarion (167) making up the top five.
ECC senior Joe Wolfe won the race in 17:00, 21 seconds ahead of Cranberry’s Matt Woolcock. Coudersport’s Kevin Sherry (17:34) was third and Clarion’s Gavin Hoover (17:55) finished fourth with Cranberry’s Colin Zerbe and Christian Miller finishing fifth and sixth.
The last three qualifying spots went to Brookville’s Calvin Doolittle (7th, 18:12), DuBois Central Catholic’s John Piccirillo (8th, 18:14) and Keystone’s Koby Buzard (9th, 18:19).
The PIAA Championships will run on two days this year. The Class 1A races are Friday, Nov. 6 for Class 1A (1:30 p.m. girls, 3:30 p.m. boys) and Saturday, Nov. 7 for Class 2A (9:30 a.m. girls, 11:30 a.m. boys).
