Hampton boys, girls cross country teams out to make history in different ways

By: John Grupp
Saturday, August 31, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

The Hampton boys and girls cross country teams are trying to run into the record books this season.

But they would take different paths.

The boys are looking to become only the second program in 61 years to win four consecutive WPIAL Class 2A cross country titles, while the girls are eyeing the team’s first trip to the PIAA championships since 2000.

“That’s definitely our goal,” said Heather Dietz, who has never had a team reach states in two decades as girls coach. “The girls are extremely motivated to qualify for states as a team. … They want to put Hampton girls cross country on the map.”

The defending PIAA Class 2A champion boys, meanwhile, face an uphill battle in their bid to four-peat. The Talbots graduated a pair of top six WPIAL finishers, including multiple track state champion Dale Hall, and must contend with loaded Quaker Valley, the prohibitive preseason favorite in Class 2A.

“Every year we’ve had to prove something,” said senior Chris Belch, the Talbots’ top runner and the fourth-place finisher at last season’s WPIAL championships. “This year it’s just going to be proving that we’re still Hampton and we’re still going to be good.”

Belch is joined by seniors Nathan Gardner and Miles McKinney and sophomores Josh Wukitch and Lu Santos as the Talbots’ top-five runners. Wukitch finished 14th in the WPIAL finals last season — the only freshman in the top 20 — as the Talbots won their third straight district title and first PIAA crown in program history.

But winning four WPIAL titles in a row has proved elusive. Since Class 2A cross country was formed in 1963, seven programs have three-peated, but only one managed to extend the streak (Quaker Valley won six in a row from 2007-12).

Quaker Valley, coincidentally, is the team to beat. The Quakers return five top 50 WPIAL runners from last season’s third-place team.

Hampton coach Dean Longwell said getting quality depth behind top runners Belch and Wukitch is the key.

“We need to stay healthy and a lot of it is our 3-4-5 (runners),” Longwell said. “If they run the way we are capable, I’d like to say we could challenge. But Quaker Valley is the favorite.”

Hampton will get a look at Quaker Valley at the Red, White & Blue Invitational on Sept. 7 at White Oak Park.

The Talbots girls also are looking for big things. They placed fourth at the WPIAL Class 2A championships last season and barely missed states — the top three teams advance. They return three runners who qualified for the PIAAs as individuals — seniors Kevyn Fish (13th at WPIALs) and Abby Hall (18th) and sophomore Claire McKinney (24th) — and five of their top six overall.

Hampton, third in the Nixon TFXC WPIAL Class 2A girls preseason rankings, also brings back sophomores Rebekah Hall (29th) and Karina Bonnar, and welcomes first-year cross country runner Marissa Bigante, a junior.

“I think the team is really, really motivated, especially as we’ve progressed toward the top the past few years,” said Fish, a three-time PIAA qualifier. “I think we have a really good chance (to make states). We have a strong team. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Like the boys team, Dietz said much of the girls’ success will hinge on the back-end of the lineup. Last year at WPIALs, 39 girls crossed the wire between Hampton’s fourth-place and fifth-place runners. The separation cost the Talbots, who ended up 13 points behind Uniontown for the final berth to states.

“Closing that gap is really important,” Dietz said, “and they all understand that.”

Tags: Hampton