Daniel Jaskowak fought long and hard to take the lead in Saturday’s PIAA Cross-Country Championships.

But unfortunately for the Grove City junior, it didn’t take long for someone else to take it.

Jaskowak wound up in second place in the Class AAA race with a time of 16:06, just 3 seconds behind Hatboro-Horsham’s Conner Quinn.

“Danny took the lead with about a half a mile left,” Grove City coach Mike Sample said. “But the kid from Boyertown (Brett Kelly) and Quinn took the lead back over.

“Danny’s got 400, 500 meters left but he let them get a little too far. He went after it, but just ran out of real estate. If he had a little bit more, he could have caught (Quinn),” Sample added.

“Coming down the last hill before the bridge, I took the lead,” Jaskowak said. “After we crossed the bridge and got on the path, (Quinn) retook the lead. I thought, ‘OK, Danny, you just gotta hold on.’”

Jaskowak was able to get past Kelly, who finished at 16:10 for third place.

A top-five or top-10 finish was what Sample expected for Jaskowak. The second-place performance was the highest place by an Eagle runner since Mike McWilliams captured the 1988 and 1989 championships.

“On a given day, 10 different runners could’ve won the race,” Sample said. “I don’t know if he was given a shot by others who knew about the runners. They didn’t really know him and it’s hard for another kid to pop in there.”

Jaskowak agreed the pace was going to dictate how he finished.

“I was going more for position,” Jaskowak said. “I wanted to place as high as I could. If that meant fifth place or 10th place, then so be it.

“Mostly, the coaches were telling me, ‘Don’t set the pace. Let them set the pace and let them break the wind out front.’ That held true as long as I could, then I made a move.”

Jaskowak thought he was in trouble early as he crossed the bridge on the way out.

“I looked up and saw the La Salle kid (Tom Coyle) and saw he was up about 30 meters,” Jaskowak said. “That made me nervous there but it got to a point where I went down a couple of hills and made up a lot of ground.”

Jaskowak’s performance helped the Eagles, who won the District 10 meet to advance as a team, place 19th out of 24 teams.

The team could have placed much higher, but two of Grove City’s runners were tripped up at the start and battled to work their way through the pack.

“It was a gutsy performance by our freshmen (Aaron Benka and Ryan Budnik), who got trampled at the start,” Sample said.

Other Grove City finishers in the team competition were Ryan Whiteman (17:45, 81st, 170th overall), Ben Hoffman (18:04, 100th, 202), Ian Brown (18:14, 109th, 213), Benka (18:14, 110th, 214), Budnik (18:28, 127th, 235) and Alex Knaby (18:51, 148th, 262).

n Also in the Class AAA race, Mars’ Sean Gannon was 99th overall (17:22) and Chris Georgiadis 197th (18:00), while Seneca Valley’s Madison Goodman was 117th (17:29), Ben Nickel 123rd (17:31) and Jake Perri 238th (18:32).

n In the Class AA boys race, Eden Christian Academy sophomore Carter Smith, of Cranberry Township, finished 28th with a time of 17:16, while Karns City junior Matt Slagle was 216th at 18:57.

n In Class AA girls, Sewickley Academy’s Caitlin Bungo, a Mars area resident, finished 16th overall, with a time of 19:45.

Freeport, which qualified as a squad, placed 15th with 410 points. St. Basil Academy won the state title with 72 points.

Kayla Zboran led the Yellowjackets with a time of 20:53, was 19th among team competitors and 52nd overall. She was followed by teammates Rebecca Dudek (21:00, 23rd, 60), Hayley Davis (23:06, 108th, 220), Laura Will (23:37, 129th, 244), Nicole Miller (23:40, 131st, 247), Carol Amadee (24:35, 150th, 268), Marrisa Mattioli (25:21, 159th, 277).

Other area finishers were Grove City’s Evyn Selden (73rd, 21:07) and Karns City’s Lacee Scheerbaum (216th, 22:57).

In Class AAA girls, Butler’s Holly Keefer finished 147th overall with a time of 20:53, while Mars’ Maggie McChesney (21:31) was 197th.

Volleyball

A-C Valley captured its first-ever state playoff berth by placing second in the District 9 Class A Championships Saturday at St. Marys High School.

The Falcons (15-2) lost to eventual champion Clarion 25-14, 25-19, but upset top-seeded Port Allegany 25-18, 25-17 and went on to beat Ridgway 25-17, 25-23 with the winner getting the second state playoff spot coming out of the district.

“It’s very exciting,” said Falcons coach Doug Knox. “I couldn’t be more excited for these girls. It’s a lot of work between the season and J.O. and I couldn’t be happier for their accomplishment.

“This is the way I expected them to play this year. It’s nice they’re doing it now,” Knox added.

For the tournament, Meredith Snyder had 17 service points, 26 assists, 11 kills and seven blocks, Emily Quaill 22 assists; Mikayli Terwilliger three blocks; Kelsey Boocks 12 points and seven blocks; Alexis Linamen 16 kills, 12 points and 13 digs; Tricia Kerlin 11 kills and nine digs and Abby Wetzel 12 points and 28 digs.

With the win, the Falcons will face District 10 champion Linesville at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cochranton.