Franklin Regional runners prepare for WPIAL championship meet

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 19, 2018 | 7:33 PM

Running provides comfort for Franklin Regional senior Clare McCarthy, so much so that she feels at home whether she’s participating in a cross country race or just jogging for fun.

“For me, running is a huge stress reliever,” McCarthy said. “Just finishing a race and that sense of joy is very rewarding. It’s nice to put all this work into something and see it come out in racing, with improving times makes it all worth it.”

Given what cross country has meant to her, it’s understandable McCarthy has felt some sadness as the final practices of the season wind down, but she’s hopeful she and her teammates can put together one final good race when they go to the WPIAL championships on Thursday at Cal (Pa.).

I have had a really good experience here with cross country the last four years,” McCarthy said. “I’m excited to have this last chance and hopefully top it off with a good finish.

“I’m looking forward to being with the team one last time, because it’ll probably be one of my last chances to run with a team.”

McCarthy was Franklin Regional’s top finisher at WPIALs in the girls event, placing 48th last year. She had surgery in the summer, which limited her ability to train. She eased her way back in and admittedly was behind where she wanted to be to begin the season, but she is coming off one of her best performances of the year at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association meet. She placed 15th at WCCAs, earning a medal for the second consecutive year.

“She was a little bit behind going into the season from a mileage standpoint, but she’s such a hard-fighting girl and she worked to get back into shape,” Franklin Regional coach Jim Passarelli said. “She improved as the season went on. At counties, she ran a really good race on a tough, muddy course. She’s always competed so well at WPIALs and if she can have another competitive race she has that chance to get to (states).”

Another runner who has been a “bright spot” according to Passarelli is freshman Mia Tarantini.

Tarantini placed 13th at WCCAs and was the highest finishing Franklin Regional runner. Passarelli said Tarantini is still learning how to be consistent, but the future is bright for her.

“She’s still learning how to race that 5K distance, so she’s a little bit up and down with her races,” Passarelli said. “She’s become more consistent throughout the year, and WPIALs will be a very good experience for her, and hopefully in the years to come we have something special with her.”

Passarelli credited senior Kaitlyn Kitch for improving her times and being a good leader for the younger runners.

The course at Cal is a new venue for the WPIAL championships this year after it had been held at Cooper’s Lake in Slippery Rock for several years. McCarthy ran the Cal course her freshman year and said it is known for having a steep hill in the middle that is about a half mile of incline.

To prepare for WPIALs Passarelli put for emphasis on steeper hills in training.

“In Western Pa., you can’t run without hills, but we’ve changed what hills we’ve run,” Passarelli said. “We have the same basic training plan, but we’ve altered it by putting a lot longer and steeper hills. When it was at Cooper’s Lake, there was that big hill at the beginning and then some rolling hills in the middle, so we didn’t use any really big hills in our training. This year, we did a lot more training on the bigger hills to prepare for it.”

Franklin Regional’s boys team graduated six of its top seven finishers from last year’s WPIAL meet. That left a team comprised mainly of freshman and sophomores, so they’re going to use this year as a learning experience. Freshman Alex Duffus has already shown some promise. He placed 18th at WCCAs.

“It’s one of those things where we aren’t finishing up as high as we would like at invites, and we’re not winning every dual meet that we have, but I’m trying to get these kids to buy in that next year and maybe even the year after is the goal for them,” Passarelli said. “They want those immediate returns on their hard work, and I can’t blame them for that, but if they can just be patient, keep on working and improving we’ll have a pretty good team by the time these guys are seniors.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

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