Latrobe’s Charlie Heese, Woodland Hills’ Annabel Johnson win at Kiski Area Invitational

By: Michael Love
Friday, September 12, 2025 | 3:32 PM

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Charlie Heese looked ahead of him down the home stretch of last year’s boys race at the Kiski Area Invitational and saw a trio of seniors win the title and take silver and bronze.

The Latrobe junior was right behind them in fourth. On Friday, Heese returned to the Northmoreland Park course seeking to move up and take gold.

And that is just what he did.

Under sunny skies with temperatures approaching 80 degrees in the late morning, Heese ran the challenging course in 16 minutes, 6.7 seconds.

Racing at the Kiski Invite for the third time, he cut nearly 43 seconds off his time from last year. He took the lead at a mile and a quarter and never gave it up, finishing 27 seconds ahead of runner-up Ashton Saunders, a junior from Riverview (16:33.4).

“It didn’t feel too bad,” said Heese who also won the boys Class 3A race (15:37.0) at the Red, White & Blue Invitational last Saturday at White Oak Park.

“It was a little warm, but after running so much over the summer, it feels fine. This was my second race of the season, so I’m still getting going with training and getting to where I want to be. I was a little messed up with my calves this week, so that’s why I didn’t race in spikes. The whole idea was to win as slow as possible. It was tempo pace and tempo effort for today. But I knew I had a good race in me, and I am glad to win it.”

Saunders’ second-place finish comes on the heels of taking fifth in the boys Class A race at Red, White & Blue.

Fox Chapel’s Michael Costello, 13th in the boys Class 3A race at Red, White and Blue and fifth at last year’s Kiski Invite, bumped up two spots Friday to third overall in a time of 16:35.6.

Rounding out the boys varsity individual top 10 were Costello’s Fox Chapel teammate, freshman Asher Eckel (16:44.5), Allderdice junior Will Kuchera (16:50.2), Allderdice sophomore Reeve Flotta (16:51.2), Shady Side Academy sophomore Harlan Cooper (16:53.0), Fox Chapel junior Nolan Gwin (16:56.8), Oil City sophomore Rilee Matalino (16:58.2) and Oil City senior Keegan Kirkwood (17:13.8).

Led by the top-10 finishes from Kuchera and Flotta and with all five of its scoring runners in the top 14, Allderdice won the boys team title with 48 points, six better than Fox Chapel (54).

Shady Side Academy was third (135), Latrobe was fourth (174) and Oil City took fifth (210).

Deer Lakes, fronted by freshman Joshua Jenny in 20th (17:35.9), took sixth, it’s best-ever boys team finish at the Kiski Area Invite.

Nearly 40 schools from all over Western Pennsylvania, including many from the Alle-Kiski Valley and Westmoreland County, descended on Northmoreland Park for Friday’s event that also featured junior varsity and junior high races.

“This race every year brings in the top teams from all over the area and even outside the WPIAL,” Heese said.

“It’s another really good race to see everybody and test yourself against them and the course.”

Woodland Hills senior Annabel Johnson defended her 2024 Kiski Invite varsity girls title.

The Wolverines standout, eighth in girls Class 3A at Red, White & Blue, held off runner-up Charlotte Barker, a junior from Shady Side Academy, and the rest of the field to win in a time of 18:37.7.

“I am pretty happy with how I ran and being able to win this race again,” said Johnson, who was fourth at Northmoreland Park as a sophomore.

“Last week just didn’t feel as good. I wasn’t feeling great during the week, so I don’t know if that influenced it. There also were some really fast girls there, so I have to give credit to them. Today, it was pretty warm, but I was able to run well.”

Barker was 11 seconds back of Johnson at 19:48.8, and Shady Side teammate Josephine Lenart, a freshman, took third (18:55.9).

Richland junior Natalie Mavridis placed fourth (18:57.2), Gateway sophomore Piper Munyon took fifth (19:22.7) and Franklin Regional junior Caroline Shirley placed sixth (19:46.9).

Shirley is back in top form after missing all of last year with an ankle injury. She fared well in her summer of work and highlighted it with winning the high school girls race at the America’s Mile event in July on the North Shore.

“I feel I am in really good fitness shape,” Shirley said. “I have been taking on a heavy training load. I literally lifted yesterday. It’s been a little bit of a challenge to get my legs to race well, but I am feeling really good with my fitness and feeling good about progressing the rest of the season.”

Shirley said Friday’s race also was a nice bounce back effort for her as she was not able to finish her race at Red, White & Blue.

“I just let that race get to me,” Shirley said. “I had an asthma attack, and that affected me. I am glad to finish this race where I did even though the time is not what I wanted.”

Oil City junior Corabel Shiley placed seventh (19:48.4), Shady Side Academy senior Rhyley Bendel took eighth (19:56.3), Plum senior Mayah Torres was ninth (19:59.8) and Allderdice senior Bailey White finished 10th (20:03.9).

Torres, running the Kiski Invite for the third time, recorded her best finish at the event while also cracking the 20-minute mark.

“I felt really good about being up there (in the lead group), because I had never really felt that before,” Torres said.

“There was some fatigue near the end with how warm it was, and I wanted some water. But I was just thinking about what time I wanted, and running for my team really gave me the energy to get to the end. My family and coaches cheering me on really picked me up.”

Fox Chapel, with all five runners finishing 18th or better, and Shady Side, led by its three top-10 finishers, finished tied in the team standings with 62 points.

Kiski Area, led senior Kelsi Lott in 18th (20:37.6), was third with 123 team points, one better than Allderdice (124) and 18 clear of Latrobe (141).

Plum, with Torres and junior Maura Smith (16th, 20:32.3) leading the way, finished sixth.

The runners from Plum, Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional, Gateway, Kiski Area and Woodland Hills, as well as Armstrong and Penn Hills, will return to the Northmoreland Park course Oct. 1 for the Division I, Section 4 championships.

“This race here allows everyone to get a good feel for the course and what to expect when we come back for section championships,” Torres said.

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.

Tags: Kiski Area