Moon’s Cochran a champion again at Red, White & Blue Classic

By: Michael Love
Saturday, September 11, 2021 | 7:42 PM

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Moon senior Mia Cochran truly has the hang of the White Oak Park cross country course.

The Moon senior and two-time WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champion defended her Red, White & Blue Class 3A title Saturday, holding off Morgantown (W.Va.) junior Irene Riggs by three seconds.

Cochran won with a time of 17 minutes, 26 seconds, three seconds ahead of Riggs and 37 seconds clear of the third-place finisher, Mt. Lebanon sophomore Logan St. John Kletter.

While Cochran claimed individual gold, the North Allegheny girls captured the Class 3A team title with three finishers in the top 10 and all five scoring runners in the top 25.

The Red, White & Blue Classic returned to White Oak Park for the second year in a row after being moved from the Schenley Oval last year because of covid limitations. It also was the site for last year’s WPIAL championships.

The Class 2A and Class 3A boys and girls races were Saturday morning, while the Class A boys and girls teams ran Friday evening.

Awards were presented to the top two teams in Class A and top three teams in Class 2A and Class 3A as well as individual honors to the top 20 Class A boys and girls and top 25 boys and girls in Class 2A and Class 3A.

Avonworth senior Lindsay Hartle took home top individual honors in the girls Class A race with a time of 21:03.

Winchester Thurston, with all five runners placing between ninth and 19th, topped the team standings with 66 points, edging District 6’s St. Joseph Catholic Academy by six points.

Brownsville junior Jolena Quarzo dominated the Class 2A girls field, defending her 2020 title in a time of 17:50, more than a minute ahead of runner-up Anna Cohen, a senior from Quaker Valley.

District 6 power Central Cambria placed three in the top 10 en route to the Class 2A girls team title.

On the boys side, Riverview and Winchester Thurston are no strangers to each other, having battled for the WPIAL Class A title the past several years.

While the Bears got the upper hand in those meetings, the Raiders came out on top Friday.

Riverview triumphed with 50 points to 59 for Winchester Thurston and 62 for third-place Eden Christian.

Winchester senior Lance Nicholls, third in the Class A race at WPIALs last year, won the Class A individual title Friday in 16:23.

District 10’s Grove City boys had perhaps the most complete team performance of the two days of racing with four runners placing in the top 10 and the fifth scoring runner taking 17th.

It totaled just 42 points, outdistancing runner-up Hampton (118).

Ringgold sophomore Ryan Pajak was the lone boys runner in all three varsity races to go under 16 minutes as he finished the Class 2A race with a time of 15:44.

Pajak’s time was nine seconds ahead of Class 3A top runners — North Allegheny freshman Jack Bertram and Peters Township junior Brett Kroboth — who finished with times of 15:53.

Bertram and the third-place finisher, senior Scott Nalepa, fronted the North Allegheny effort to the Class 3A team title ahead of runner-up Allderdice and third-place Fox Chapel.

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: Allderdice, Avonworth, Brownsville, Eden Christian, Fox Chapel, Hampton, Moon, Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny, Peters Township, Ringgold, Riverview, Winchester Thurston