Butler County cross country coaches have announced their 2024 All-County boys and girls runners.

Freeport’s Michael Braun, who won the WPIAL Class 2A boys championship and finished second in the PIAA championship, and Butler’s Zari Golojuh, who medaled in WPIAL and was the top local runner in states, are this year’s top boys and girls runners.

The teams — which include for boys and girls a runner of the year, team of the year, coach of the year, first and second teams, and honorable mentions — are voted on by coaches from each school in the county at the end of the season.

Meet this year’s boys and girls all-county teams:

Michael Braun, sr., Freeport

Braun closed out an impressive high school cross country career with gold in WPIALs (15:18.9) and silver in states (16:05). He’ll run at Penn State next year in cross country and as a track and field distance runner. Before that, he was scheduled to run in the Foot Locker Regionals and possibly nationals before turning his attention to the winter indoor track season and spring outdoor season.

Team of the Year: Freeport

Coach of the Year: Melissa Schaeffer (Freeport)

Logan Rogers, jr., Butler

Rogers was the Golden Tornado’s top finisher at districts, finishing 17th in 16:21.4 to help Butler to a fourth-place team finish.

Zach Slear, sr., Butler

Slear finished 117th in the state meet (17:27) as Butler’s lone representative and was 19th in WPIALs (16:23.3).

Ethan Thomas, jr., Butler

Thomas came in 24th in the WPIAL meet in 16:28.4.

Brendan Eicher, so., Butler

Eicher was fourth on the team at WPIALs and finished 34th in the meet in 16:39.8.

Carter French, so., Knoch

French led all local runners with an 11th-place medal at the PIAA Class 2A championships, crossing the finish line in 16:35. He came in fifth in the WPIAL championships in 15:58.2.

Kyle Kochanski, sr., Mars

Kochanski was second in the county only to Max Smith (more on him below) in WPIALs with a 15th-place medal (16:17.2) came in 152nd (17:43) at states.

Tyler Carroll, jr., North Catholic

Carroll came in 23rd in the state 2A meet in 16:48, which followed up a WPIAL championship in which he finished seventh in 16:05.

Max Smith, sr., Seneca Valley

Smith led the Raiders, who finished fifth, at WPIALs with a 10th-place finish in 16:01.6. He came 43rd at states in 16:47.

Sawyer Shoup, sr., Seneca Valley

Shoup was the third across the finish line for SV at districts, finishing 38th in 16:44.4.

Butler: Shae Sintz

Karns City: Noah Weiland, Griffin Booher

Moniteau: Peyton Beck

North Catholic: Jack Steinman

Seneca Valley: Julian Varlotta, Hunter Peterson, Ian Wahl, Riley McGee

Slippery Rock: Hunter Doerflinger

Freeport: David Kristine, Calvin Lindsay, Ben Brestensky

Mars: Colton Rearick

Zari Golojuh, fr., Butler

Golojuh headlines a freshman-heavy All-County team after she finished 67th in the PIAA Class 3A championships, crossing in 20:15. She qualified for the state meet with a 22nd-place finish at WPIALs in 19:26.8, pacing the Golden Tornado as they finished fifth in the district championships.

Team of the Year: North Catholic

Coach of the Year: Tim Souders (North Catholic)

Madison McGarrah, sr., Butler

McGarrah helped Butler to fifth in WPIALs with a 28th-place finish in 19:37.

Makayla McLister, sr., Butler

McLister was not far behind her teammates in the district meet, finishing 35th in 19:49.2.

Anna Morris, fr., North Catholic

Morris led a fifth-place team finish in the PIAA Class 2A championship, crossing in 20:47 for 45th individually. That followed her fourth-place WPIAL finish (19:39.5) that helped the Trojanettes to silver.

Caroline Sell, fr., North Catholic

Sell finished seventh in the district championship (19:49.6) and then came in 102nd in 21:30 in Hershey a week later at states.

Sydney Dunn, jr., North Catholic

Dunn, the veteran of her NC teammates on this list, came in 18th in the district meet (20:15.6) and followed that at states with a time of 21:20 for 80th.

Maggie Killian, fr., North Catholic

Killian was toe-to-toe with classmate Morris at states, finishing in the same 20:47 for 46th place. It was a leap up from her 22nd-place finish (fourth on the team) in WPIALs (20:25.9).

Paige Damico, so., Seneca Valley

Damico wasn’t able to finish the Tri-State Championships or WPIAL championships due to a health issue, but she was one of the area’s top runners during the rest of the season, running a season-best 19:12 at Youthtowne Clash in September.

Sydney Heltzell, sr., Seneca Valley

Heltzell finished 43rd in the WPIAL Class 3A meet in 20:14.2.

Kasey Yeager, so., Slippery Rock

Yeager paced the Rockets with an 18th-place finish in the District 10 Class 2A championships, crossing in 20:20. She finished 138th (22:01) at states.

Butler: Avery Sintz, Macie McLister, Kyra Olivares

Moniteau: Brinn Kirschner

North Catholic: Tessa Driehorst, Ava Sparacino

Seneca Valley: Hannah Jones, Elyse Cilik, Drew Kirchner

Slippery Rock: Leah Perez

Freeport: Mackenzie Magness

Karns City: Miley Mooney

Knoch: Natalie Zolinas

Mars: Madeline James

North Catholic: Keelin Schessler

Editor’s note: This story was corrected at 9 a.m. Tuesday to reflect the correct finishes of Butler’s runners in the WPIAL championships.