Meet the Top 6 girls cross country runners to watch in Butler County ahead of 2024 PIAA season
There may be no girls cross country team better positioned in the WPIAL to dominate for the next few years than North Catholic.
Remarkably young last season, the Trojanettes finished fourth in the PIAA Class 2A Girls Cross Country Championships in November. And nearly all of that talent is back for at least another two years.
Coach Tim Souders thinks he has a deep and loaded roster this season on the girls side. He has some ideas who might step up, or make a successful leap to varsity, but it’s still early. Four of the girls who ran in that final meet in Hershey are juniors or sophomores this year. And there’s an intriguing crop of freshman who posted impressive times a year ago in diocese competition who could provide depth or push some of the veterans.
But while NC looks loaded this fall, there is other talent around Butler County. Here are six of the top cross country runners, listed alphabetically, in the county you don’t want to miss this season:
Dunn just needs to stay healthy and she could be one of the best runners in the WPIAL Class 2A field. She missed nearly all of the season before returning just in time for the postseason. Despite missing much of her training, she still finished 19th in the WPIAL Class 2A Girls Cross Country Championships in 20 minutes, 47.7 seconds and then came in 145th (22:18) in the PIAA championships.
Kirschner has the chance to be one of the best District 9 girls runners for the next few years, based alone on her times at the district Class 1A championship and states. The then-freshman finished tied for 13th (22 minutes, 20 seconds) with North Clarion’s Abbie Hastings, another freshman, in districts, then impressed at the PIAA Class 1A championship with a 22:25 for 85th.
The first freshman to cross the finish line in the WPIAL Class 3A championship was Long, finishing 13th in 19:06.8. The next freshman to cross? Seneca Valley’s Paige Damico in 30th (20:01.1). A lot of the conference’s top runners in front of her last year are now graduated. Can Long, who finished 38th in the state 3A championship in 19:51, climb the podium even further while still being one of the youngest runners?
This may be cheating a little bit to list two girls in one spot, but it’s hard to separate the two veteran Golden Tornado runners. With Ava Brewster (20th at WPIALs, 49th at states) graduated, it’s on McLister and McGarrah, under the direction of first-year cross country coach (and longtime track and field head coach) Mike Seybert to lead the way for Butler. The pair should be capable; McLister crossed the WPIAL Class 3A finish line in 19:39.4 for 22nd place and qualified for the state meet, with McGarrah not far behind in 19:39.4 for 25th.
The WPIAL Class 2A field looks like it will have a few faces getting awfully familiar with each other at the finish line the next few years. Meeuf is the reigning district champion after posting a 19:01.3 last year, more than three seconds faster than anyone else. “Madeline was a little bit of a surprise postseason,” North coach Tim Souders said. She finished 10th (19:32) a week later in the state championships and will be one of the anchors of this talented Trojanettes team.
