Kiski Area girls, Fox Chapel boys win Division I, Section 4 cross country titles

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 | 4:49 PM

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Temperatures hovered in the low 80s with sunny skies at last year’s WPIAL Division I, Section 4 cross country championship meet at Northmoreland Park.

It wasn’t nearly as warm Wednesday — low 60s — when runners from Armstrong, Fox Chapel, Kiski Area, Gateway, Plum, Penn Hills, Woodland Hills, and Franklin Regional gathered there to decide this year’s fastest individuals and teams.

The Kiski Area girls and Fox Chapel boys bested their respective fields to win section team titles.

Woodland Hills junior standout Annabel Johnson was the top individual girls finisher, crossing the line in a time of 18 minutes, 37.20 seconds, just 4 seconds off her triumphant time on the Northmoreland Course at the Kiski Area Invitational on Sept. 13.

She took top individual honors by 23 seconds, but the Kiski Area girls bested all of the other teams with a 6-0 record to win their second team title in three years. The Cavaliers were the runners-up to Fox Chapel last year.

Kiski Area had all five of its scoring runners place in the top 11, led by senior Lauren Ciuca in third (20:17.70).

“It was really nice out there today. It was the right amount of sun, and I loved the breeze,” said Ciuca a senior and a member of the Kiski Area marching band color guard who also is in her first year running for the Cavaliers. “It wasn’t even that muddy for raining two days ago. It was just a lot of fun today.

“We were all really pumped to run and ready to race. We did really well here two weeks ago (at the Kiski Invite), so that gave us a lot of confidence. This again is great motivation for us heading into meets the next couple of weeks, including WPIALs.”

Fox Chapel, led by a runner-up finish from sophomore Cecilia Ressler (20:00.10), was second at 5-1.

The rest of the girls top 10 featured Kiski Area freshman Marie Roberts in fourth (20:37.40), Cavaliers sophomore Addison Stankay in fifth (20:52.80), Fox Chapel freshman Ella Shevchuk in sixth (21:11.80), Foxes senior Sara Michalak in seventh (21:18.50), Armstrong sophomore Amelia Bissell in eighth (21:21.20), Kiski Area sophomore Audrey Fowkes in ninth (21:23.20), and Fox Chapel sophomore Maggie Carter in 10th (21:23.80).

On the boys side, it was a clean sweep for Fox Chapel, which brought home its sixth straight section crown.

The Foxes were dominant, with the top five individual finishers, and ended with a 6-0 team record. For good measure, Fox Chapel also had runners place eighth and 13th through 15th.

Senior Ethan Vaughan followed his Kiski Invite title with a first-place finish Wednesday in a time of 16:27.00.

He crossed the finish line 37 seconds ahead of fellow Foxes senior David Black (17:04.10).

Junior Michael Costello (17:14.50) was third, followed by senior Nicky Clump (17:21.10) in fourth and senior Doug Lisotto (17:33.10) in fifth.

“I was expecting we would get at least top four,” Vaughan said. “But top five is such a good surprise. I am super happy for Doug. He ran so well.

“We’ve been consistent with our team performances for a while, and I am super happy to be a part of this team and help us keep this (title streak) going.”

The rest of the individual top ten saw Kiski Area senior Justin Gross take sixth (17:37.40), Cavaliers senior Justin Tucker place seventh (17:40.80), Fox Chapel sophomore Nolan Gwin finish eighth (18:00.70), Franklin Regional senior Will Weaver take ninth (18:06.70) and Franklin Regional junior Mason Gray cross the finish line in 10th (18:09.30).

Wednesday’s section championship meet acted as an unofficial kickoff to the stretch run to the WPIAL championships set for three weeks from Thursday at White Oak Park.

“This meet definitely makes it seem more real, that we’re getting pretty close to WPIALs,” Vaughan said. “We’re really trying to kick it into high gear, trying to prevent injuries and train hard. We just want to continue to do what we do at this time of the year. It’s pretty exciting.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.