Norwin girls, Hempfield boys win WPIAL 3A cross country titles

By: Paul Schofield And Michael Love
Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 9:30 PM

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Sirens were blaring Thursday afternoon in the Norwin and Hempfield school districts.

That is because the schools’ cross country teams were given a huge welcome home with a firetruck parade after winning WPIAL Class 3A titles. The Norwin girls, Hempfield boys and Norwin sophomore Benjamin McBride were crowned champs.

The Norwin girls won their first team title since 2009 with an impressive 36 points, outscoring PIAA qualifiers Fox Chapel (93) and South Fayette (108).

The Knights had five finishers in the top 14 overall and six in the top 23.

Junior Emily Dansak led the way with a third-place finish. Senior Annie Czajkowski followed in fifth, junior Jillian Ryba sixth, junior Addison Farrah 13th and junior Anna Dansak 14th.

The team picked up Czajkowski, who had a rare off day.

“The team just kept getting better throughout the season,” Emily Dansak said. “We knew if we all did our best, we would win. I could tell early on that Annie was not herself, but the team picked up the slack.”

Czajkowski said she was bothered by various things, including lack of sleep.

“I just did not have a good day,” Czajkowski said. “But the goal was to win the WPIAL title, and we did.”

Norwin coach Brian Fleckenstein said it took a lot of hard work to win the title.

“We were looking for the girls to run strong as a group, and the girls definitely did not disappoint,” Fleckenstein said. “They came through. You know all seven girls ran really strong.”

Czajkowski said a lot of boxes were checked this season.

“Section champions, (Westmoreland) county champions and now WPIAL champions,” Czajkowski said. “We have one more to check, the state championship.”

The Norwin boys got the firetruck parade in 2024. This year, the Knights placed third in the team race.

Hempfield, for the first time, won the team championship.

The Spartans, led by runner-up Jonathan Stetchock and fellow senior Ryan Ewing in seventh, claimed Class 3A gold with 67 team points, besting runner-up North Allegheny (79) and defending champion Norwin (108).

All five of Hempfield’s scoring runners placed 25th or better, including senior Isaiah Bittner in 16th, junior Troy Payne in 18th and senior Carter Moody in 24th.

The Spartans placed sixth last year.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Stetchock who finished in 15 minutes, 37.50 seconds. “We’ve been looking at this for four years. It’s amazing that we finally accomplished it. It was a dream come true.”

McBride also had a dream run, winning the Class 3A individual championship. He became the first Norwin champ since Justin Gaydos in 1995. He clocked a 15:27.80 to win by 10 seconds over Stetchock.

McBride moved up from 26th last year as a freshman and dropped more than a minute from his 2024 time.

“I had been thinking about this race since last year,” McBride said. “I knew I had a shot at winning it, and to go do it today in that fashion is just insane to think about. I am so excited. I am just so proud of the whole team. (Sophomore) Alex Barrett was injured the entire season, and he only ran one race. But he came back and ran a 16:01, which is awesome. It was just a total team effort.”

Barrett, Norwin’s second runner, placed 11th.

Latrobe junior Charlie Heese qualified individually for states with an eighth-place finish (18:55.10).

South Fayette sophomore Angela Teng was the Class 3A girls winner. She pulled away from the pack early and breezed to the title, shocking the field.

Hempfield had two girls qualify for states. Senior Chesnee Smith placed eighth, and freshman Sofia Weimer was 16th.

“I am so happy,” Smith said. “It has been a long time coming. I am so grateful to have the support of my teammates and coaches.”

Smith broke a personal record by 40 seconds.

“It was a great day,” Weimer said. “I broke my personal record by a minute. This was a big accomplishment.”

Belle Vernon sophomore Brooklyn Steeber will return to states after earning another WPIAL medal at White Oak.

Fourteenth in her WPIAL debut last year, Steeber moved up the ladder to seventh Thursday with a time of 19:45.60, a little slower than her fifth-place finish on the same course at White Oak last week.

“I felt all right,” Steeber said. “It wasn’t what I was hoping for. I was hoping for more like top five and a PR, but it’s OK.

“The weather conditions this week were worse compared to last week with how cold it was. I think it definitely affected my performance.”

Steeber heads to states hoping to cut time from her 20:59.63 run at Sept. 20’s PIAA Foundation meet on the same Hershey course.

“I am really excited for states,” Steeber said. “I definitely want to improve my place at states from last year and get a PR from the Foundation meet.”

Westmoreland County didn’t have any individual top-10 finishers from the Class 2A boys race, but Belle Vernon junior Leonidas Soto wasn’t too far behind.

He finished in 16:35.70, good for 13th overall and a trip to states. He came to WPIALs off an eighth-place finish at Tri-States.

Soto crossed the finish line 34th at last year’s WPIAL championships.

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

In the boys race, Greensburg Central Catholic senior Lukas Czegan qualified for states by finishing 22nd. In the girls race, GCC sophomore Ainsleigh Stickle placed 11th.

Tags: Norwin