In it for the long run
September seems like such a long time ago. Just ask Jim Nagle.
On Thursday, the Seneca Valley cross country coach saw both of his teams advance to next weekend's state finals, thanks to their performances at the WPIALChampionships at Cooper's Lake Campground.
With the top four teams in each division moving on to states, the Raiders boys team placed second in Class AAA with 152 points to finish behind runaway winner North Allegheny (53).
The girls team grabbed the fourth team spot in the Class AAA race with 211 points, behind Mt. Lebanon (137), Latrobe (184) and North Allegheny (187).
In the Class AA race, the Mars boys team also advanced, placing second with 122 points. Avonworth won with 98 points.
The Seneca Valley girls team, which placed fourth last year and advanced to states, started out the season 0-3.
"There were some meets we didn't have enough people to score," said Nagle. "I was thinking we were a very, very, very long shot. We just got healthy."
The top scorer for the Raiders girls was Kelly Hahn, who placed 10th with a time of 19 minutes, 59 seconds.
The boys team placed 11th at last year's WPIAL finals with Chris Cipro qualifying for states as an individual by cracking the top 25.
This time around, Cipro led the way again, placing fourth with a time of 16:35. The Raiders' top five point-scorers placed in the top 60 and seven runners in the top 75.
"I think (the teams') times were close to being their bests for the season," said Nagle. "They've improved tremendously (over last season). They worked hard."
For the Mars boys team, Cody Kier was fifth overall with a time of 17:25.
Her team's second-place finish seemed to catch Mars coach Joelle Patterson a bit off-guard.
"We figured anywhere between fourth and seventh place. We didn't plan on second," said Patterson. "It was a nice surprise. The kids really stepped up and ran hard."
Stadelmyer and Lewis had strong performances to help pick up some higher places, while Workman ran with a shoulder injury suffered in Wednesday's 2-0 WPIAL Class AA soccer playoff loss against Beaver."He basically ran with just one arm," said Patterson. "He gutted it out."Other WPIAL qualifiers for the state championships include: Butler's Ben Porter (eighth, 16:45) and Knoch's Ben Hutterer (33rd, 17:13) in the Class AAA boys race, and Freeport's Kristen Prazenica (29th, 21:53) in the Class AA girls final.<B>Class AA GirlsTop 4 Team Qualifiers (out of 28 teams):</B> 1-Riverview 86, Quaker Valley 108, Avonworth 124, Greensburg Central Catholic 156Freeport (16th, 434 points): <B>29-Kristen Prazenica 21:53</B>, 54-Christine Marty 23:02, 90-Brittany McShane 24:14, 130-Alex Toy 25:50, 131-Karolyn Kasely 25:51, C144-Cassie Treshok 26:27, 167-Katy Screen 28:49<B>Class AA BoysTop 4 Team Qualifiers (out of 37 teams):</B> 1-Avonworth 98, <B>2-Mars 122</B>, 3-Quaker Valley 156, 4-Greensburg Central Catholic 204<B>Mars (2nd, 122 points): 5-Cody Kier 17:25, 13-Justin Stadelmyer 17:43, 27-Mike Lewis 18:06, 37-Derek Workman 18:37, 40-Jake Montag 18:39, 67-Chris Alakhani 19:16, 74-Marc Funderlich 19:20</B>Freeport (22nd, 544 points): 68-Matt Thaemert 19:16, 96-Sergei Dines 19:46, 106-Alex Wheeler 19:57, 116-Eric Dunn 20:08, Matt Hall 20:55, 181-Cory Chelko 21:37, 192-Bryan Tague 22:05<B>Class AAA Girls</B><B>Top 4 Team Qualifiers (out of 45 teams):</B> 1-Mt. Lebanon 137, 2-Latrobe 184, North Allegheny 187, <B>4-Seneca Valley 211</B><B>Seneca Valley (4th, 211 points): 10-Kelly Hahn 19:59, 19-Emily Wolfarth 20:05, 20-Megan Powell 20:08, 65-Joelle Scarnati 21:18, 97-Yolien Peeters 21:58, 219-Clara Watson 23:45, 220-Lauren McKinney 23:48</B>Butler (19th, 567 points): 50-Jessica Vernon 20:57, 57-Tess Crispin 21:08, 79-Chelsea Cooper 21:35, 174-Sarah Clouse 22:59, 207-Fontaine Graham 23:29, 217-Ashley King 23:43, 221-Liz Graham 23:49Knoch (31st, 817 points): 114-Alyssa Kunkel 22:10, 143-Kayla Davis 22:32, 181-Kylie Shaw 23:02, 187-Sarah Robb 23:07, 192-Nicole Fleishner 23:17, 200-Dana McCarren 23:24, 205-Melissa Balsiger 23:27Mars (33rd, 861): 127-Gabri Pierre 22:18, 145-Samantha Brandon 22:35, 161-Cara Hudac 22:47, 189-Nichole Hardt 23:09, 239-Amara Czech-Thompson 24:19, 243-Michelle Perri 24:30, 247-Chloe Pierre 24:34<B>Class AAABoysTop 4 Team Qualifiers:</B> 1-North Allegheny 53, <B>2-Seneca Valley 152</B>, 3-Mt. Lebanon 190, 4-Baldwin 209<B>Seneca Valley (2nd, 152 points): 4-Chris Cipro 16:35, 10-Cam Stauffer 16:50, 30-Louis Butler 17:07, 50-Andrew Razanauskas 17:31, 58-Dan Dickey 17:40, 68-Matt Marchese 17:48, 71-Eric Geddis 17:51</B>Butler (228 points): <B>8-Ben Porter 16:45</B>, 38-Steven Monnie 17:20, 45-Rob Miller 17:27, 67-Rich Elias 17:48, 70-Wayne Dailey 17:50, 102-Jonathan Fleming 18:04, 142-Steel Flynn 18:33Knoch (518): <B>33-Ben Hutterer 17:13</B>, 101-Cory Steinhagen 18:03, 106-Brian Tackett 18:08, 122-Mike Fugate 18:19, 156-Vince Moxie 18:42, 184-Luke Tabacchi 19:07, 226-Owen Venesky 19:49Volleyball<B>Penn-Trafford 3, Butler 0 — </B>Amy Achesinski had nine kills and seven blocks, Sam Harris had 17 digs and Yuki Schaper had 16 digs for the Golden Tornado, but the host Warriors prevailed 25-14, 25-20, 25-18 in this WPIALClass AAA first-round playoff game."This was a first step for our program, the first big step," said Butler coach Meghan Lucas. "We needed to have a taste of the playoffs, and we got it (Thursday)."Hopefully this will carry on for the future. I have to congratulate my seniors, Amy Achesinski and Yuki Schaper," Lucas added.<B>Montour 3, Freeport 2 — </B>The Yellowjackets held a 2-1 advantage before the experienced Spartans rebounded to take the final two sets, the final one at 15-9.Freeport dropped the first set 25-23 before grabbing the next two. In the fifth set, it trailed 7-1 before the comeback fell short.<B>New Brighton 3, Knoch 1 — </B>Kirsten Brant had 13 kills and Zoe Hughes added 10 kills, but the Lions prevailed 24-26, 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 in this Class AA first-round playoff game at Seneca Valley.Leanne Wiefling added eight kills and 10 service points, and Michelle Steinmiller had nine points for Knoch (14-3).<B>Redbank Valley 3, Moniteau 0 — </B>The Warriors (4-14, 4-12) closed their season with a KSAC loss to the host Bulldogs 25-17, 25-9, 25-21.The junior varsity team also fell, 25-8, 25-16.Girls Soccer<B>Freeport 2, Quaker Valley 1 (2 OT) —</B> Kayla Eckman scored her second goal of the game in the second overtime to give the Yellowjackets the WPIALClass AA quarterfinal victory at North Hills.The win also gives the Yellowjackets a state playoff berth.Freeport (17-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Eckman scored off an assist from Alyssa Blake. The Quakers (14-4) knotted the game at 1-all early in the second half.Freeport will face South Park (16-5-2) Monday at a site and time to be determined.
