Greensburg Salem boys win Class AA title at Tri-State cross country meet

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 7, 2017 | 7:51 PM

It was a big day for runners from smaller schools at the annual Tri-State Track Coaches Association cross country meet Saturday at Cal (Pa).

Despite summerlike temperatures (mid-80s) and a brutal quarter-mile hill near the two-mile mark, South Fayette senior Sam Snodgrass and Brownsville senior Gionna Quarzo, both from Class AA schools, captured the overall titles.

Instead of running separate races for each classification, which would be six races, a computer divided the runners.

The top Class AAA boys runner was Central Catholic's Max Steffey, who finished second overall, and the Class A winner was Serra Catholic's Lukas Dunaway, who was ninth overall.

The Class AAA girls winner was Upper St. Clair's Claire Hoffman, who was second overall, and the Class A winner was Serra Catholic's Ava Dzurenda, who was 18th overall.

For Snodgrass, it was another big win against some of the top runners in the WPIAL. He also won the Red, White and Blue Invitational last month.

As he tried to cool down, he told some friends he probably shouldn't have won because of cramps in his side.

“I was holding my side throughout the race,” Snodgrass said. “I guess I powered through it and ended up winning.

“This is a good stepping stone for future races. Next week, we have Slippery Rock and then we have the WPIALs. I won the 3A race at the Red, White and Blue even though we're 2A. Our coach wanted to see how we'd do, and we did well.”

Snodgrass' winning time was 16:57.30.

Greensburg Salem's Mark Brown finished third, Cameron Binda was fourth and Dylan Binda was eighth overall, which helped Greensburg Salem win the Class AA boys' team title. The Golden Lions finished with 31 points, and South Fayette was second with 40.

“I wouldn't say I'm satisfied, because you're never satisfied, but I'm happy because it was so hot, and I couldn't ask for anything else,” Brown said. “I look forward to October because the temperatures are in the 60s and 50s. We were strong down low, and we did pretty well as a team.”

Upper St. Clair was the Class AAA winner, and Serra won the Class A title.

Quarzo said she was surprised she won because she was competing against quality Class AAA girls. Her winning time was 20:26.95.

“This means a lot because of the competition I was facing,” Quarzo said. “I'm happy that I won. I was hoping to finish third, maybe second. The hill is tough, but I'm getting better.”

Behind Quarzo and Hoffman were Baldwin's Macy Hale, Greensburg Salem's Emma Andrasko and Brownsville's Sara Vance.

Quarzo and Vance helped Brownsville to the Class AA girls' title, while Upper St. Clair (AAA) and Serra (A) were the other team winners.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Brownsville, Central Catholic, Greensburg Salem, South Fayette, Upper St. Clair