Fox Chapel runners beat heat to win another section title

By: George Guido
Saturday, October 8, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Some cross country runners thought the weather was a bit hot at the WPIAL Division I, Section 4 meet Oct. 5.

But it wasn’t too hot to prevent Fox Chapel from winning its fourth consecutive boys section title at Northmoreland Park in Allegheny Township.

The Foxes had a team score of 37, outpacing Kiski Area’s 63. In the girls meet, Fox Chapel was edged by Kiski Area, 45-46.

All five male and female performers from Fox Chapel medaled, finishing in the top 15.

“We had a goal to go out and get five in that top group, and we did that,” Fox Chapel coach Tom Moul said. “I was happy with the way they competed, with the way they prepared and how they raced. There was great competition, as we expected, and these teams train and are so well-coached. I was proud of what the guys did today.”

Foxes junior Rowan Gwin again did well on the Northmoreland course, finishing atop the boys leaderboard at 16:53.9. Gwin also won the Kiski Area Invitational at the park on Sept. 16.

Said Gwin: “I felt pretty good going into it. I knew there was one really good kid (Gateway’s Kefimba Cisse) who didn’t run at the Kiski Invite. It was pretty hot on the course.”

Cisse finished second to Gwin at 17:01.1.

Fox Chapel sophomore Ethan Vaughn finished third at 17:05.5. Other Fox Chapel medal-winners were Max Kaizer, who finished eighth, Altai Yumak at 10th and David Black at 15th.

“We brought it home pretty good,” Gwin said. “All five of us brought home a medal. That’s what we came here to do.”

“This is a pretty young team,” Moul said. “I think it’s a nice boost of confidence for the boys. They are section champions, and not many teams in Triple-A get to say that.”

Fox Chapel’s Clara Kelly, meanwhile, finished fourth in the girls competition with a time of 21:02.9.

Kelly finished behind first-place Eliza Miller of Kiski Area, Annabelle Johnson of Woodland Hills and Tatiana Holt of Kiski Area.

“We had a goal of going out there and trying to win,” Kelly said. “So for me, that meant I had to stick to the second Kiski girl (Holt). I tried my best to keep her in my vision. When I got up that hill, I tried to stay close and tried to pass her, but she is a really strong runner. I was just trying to beat the heat all race. It was difficult.”

Finishing right behind Kelly was teammate Marin Airik at 21:12.4.

Also medaling for the Foxes was Emily Harajda at eighth, Sara Michalak at 14th and Charlotte McLeland at 15th.

“I think the girls performed spectacularly,” Kelly said. “We knew what we wanted to do. A lot of the girls used each other and stuck together to get up the hills.”

Moul said he liked the section format of one large meet instead of focusing on dual meets through the week.

“Both teams used that opportunity to train to their advantage and ran well today,” he said.

The temperature was 65 degrees at the start.

Next up for the Foxes will be the TSTCA meet at Cal (Pa.).

Tags: Fox Chapel