Knoch’s French comes through at WPIAL cross country meet

By: Michael Love And Paul Schofield
Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 9:10 PM

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Carter French said it was going to be a challenge to keep pace with Quaker Valley junior Jonah Montagnese in the Class 2A boys race at Thursday’s WPIAL cross country championships at chilly White Oak Park.

The Knoch junior did his best in his quest for WPIAL gold, but Montagnese was just too tough.

French, who won the Tri-State meet on the same White Oak Course last week, finished second in a time of 15 minutes, 36.60 seconds. Montagnese took home the title in 15:08.70.

“I think I ran a really smart race,” French said. “I knew it was pretty cold, and everyone went out pretty hard. I knew they would come back, and I had to be patient. Knowing what Jonah had done this year, I thought he was probably going to take it, so I am pretty pleased with the second-place finish considering how deep the field was.

“I thought I would stick with (Montagnese) for probably the first (1,000 meters). After that, I knew he would go, so I knew it would be between me, (North Catholic sophomore) Jack (Steineman) and (North Catholic senior) Tyler (Carroll) for second. I was just ready to battle it out at the end.”

French moved up to second from fifth at WPIALs last year, and he will head to states in Hershey on Nov. 1 hoping to improve on his 11th-place finish from a year ago.

“It’s a good feeling to go back and know I will be competitive in that field and hopefully battle for a top three (finish),” French said. “It’s a hilly course, and all we do is train on hills, so it will be my type of thing. I want to just go there and leave it all out there on the course.”

French won’t be alone as he will head to states with teammates in sophomore Connor McCool (23rd, 16:57.90) and junior Grady Robb (30th, 17:14.60) .

Knoch finished seventh in the team standings with 195 team points, 15 shy of fourth. The top four teams in boys Class 2A qualify for states.

Freeport sophomore David Kristine also punched his ticket to states with his 14th-place finish (16:38). He missed states last year by three places.

In Class 2A girls, Knoch junior Natalie Zolinas dedicated herself to improvement at WPIALs, and that work paid off.

As a freshman, she placed 46th overall and out of the running for an individual state qualifying spot.

But this time, she rocketed up the standings and crossed the finish line at White Oak in sixth overall with a time of 19:42.80, a marked improvement from last year’s 21:27.20.

“It is awesome,” Zolinas said. “I came close (to states) last year, but I didn’t make it. It was a great feeling to know that I wasn’t right on the edge this year.”

Zolinas ran to a 19:29.85 in the Class 2A girls race at Tri-States last week and took sixth.

“I definitely got a better start last week, but overall for both weeks, I felt really strong in my races, and I knew I could get it done,” Zolinas said. “Now, the goal for states is just to go out, have fun, and run hard.”

Burrell freshman Raegan Ruckus made a splash in her WPIAL debut as she also earned a top-10 medal in eighth overall (19:54.50).

She was one of just two freshmen – Oakland Catholic’s Annie Leland placed third – to finish in the top 30.

In Class 3A, the Fox Chapel girls qualified as a team for the PIAA championship. They finished second behind Norwin (36) and ahead of South Fayette (119). The Foxes finished with 93 points.

The Foxes were led by Claire Loiudice (15th), Cecilia Ressler (17th), Bridget Hemingray (18th), Ella Shevchuk (20th) and Maeve Sherry (28th).

“The girls did a super job,” Fox Chapel coach Tom Moul said. “After finishing behind South Fayette at Tri-States, the girls were confident they could beat South Fayette.

“That was our goal: qualify for states. I knew they had a chance.”

This is the eighth team (four boys and four girls) Moul has qualified for states. Ressler and Shevchuk qualified as individuals last year.

Fox Chapel senior Michael Costello, meanwhile, led all Alle-Kiski Valley runners in the Class 3A boys race with a 15th-place finish in a time of 16:07.10. He moved up 13 spots from 28th at WPIALs last year and dropped almost 29 seconds.

Kiski Area senior Sam Plazio will make his fourth trip to states in as many attempts despite falling nine spots from last year to 20th overall (16:10.30).

The best 15 Class 3A boys individual finishers not on one of the three state-qualifying teams punched tickets to states, and Fox Chapel freshman Asher Eckel made it with little room to spare. He was the 15th and final runner to earn a berth to states with a time of 16:22.20, making the cut by two seconds.

In Class A, Sewickley Academy sophomore Zachary Sharara and Shady Side Academy junior Charlotte Barker took top honors.

Sharara breezed to the title, running a 15:41.60. Mohawk senior Scott McConnell was second, and Riverview junior Ashton Saunders was third.

Saunders finished strong and just missed earning a silver medal.

“I am semi-pleased,” Saunders said. “I was hoping for second place. It was kind of a weird race, but it ended up being good at the end. I thought the pace would be a lot harder, and it was not.”

Neither the Riverview boys nor girls qualified for states as a team, but four girls did earn their way to Hershey. They are Kirsten Levarse (29th), Rosa Lascola (31st), Saraya Sanderson-Bey (34th) and Grace Johnson (36th).

Tags: Fox Chapel, Knoch, Riverview