Penn-Trafford runners gain experience at annual WCCA meet
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Friday, October 11, 2019 | 5:28 PM
Penn-Trafford’s Joseph Whipkey, left, competes side-by-side with Franklin Regional’s Carson Yohe, right, in the boys’ varsity race during the Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association’s cross country championships on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 at the cross country course located at Westmoreland County Community College’s campus.
Penn-Trafford’s Damian Dynys competes in the boys’ varsity race during the Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association’s cross country championships on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 at the cross country course located at Westmoreland County Community College’s campus.
Penn-Trafford cross country coach Paul Conrad knew is teams would be outgunned at the annual Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association meet last Wednesday at Westmoreland County Community College.
But with two young squads, Conrad knows the future could be bright with the right work ethic. The boys and girls teams each finished seventh.
Junior Pat Driscoll was the only P-T boys runner to earn a medal by finishing ninth with a time of 17 minutes, 16.4 seconds. Driscoll placed 10th in 2018.
While no other Warriors runner finished in the top 15, Conrad was pleased with his runners’ times.
“They all improved their times,” Conrad said. “They took a good chunk of time off. Now we have to continue take more steps.”
The boys squad consists of junior Joe Whipkey (37th, 18:52.3), senior Haydon Wolfe (43rd, 19:13.8), freshman Damian Dynys (56th, 20:07.9), freshman Zach Zigarovich (58th, 20:14.8), freshman Andrew Sansonetti (62nd, 20:21.7) and junior Connor Watson (63rd, 20:21.9).
Conrad shares Driscoll with the golf team and Whipkey with the soccer team.
He sees a bright future if the runners continue to work hard.
“This was the first big race for the freshmen,” Conrad said. “We’re young and a lot of the teams are young.”
The top runner for the girls’ squad was sophomore Chloe Bonson. She placed 10th in a time of 20:43.5.
Junior Emily Kleinschmidt placed 22nd in a time of 21:42.1, and senior Julia Vislosky was 24th in a time of 21:51.2.
The other runners were sophomore Sierra Morgan (52nd, 24:46.8), freshman Victoria Davis (68th, 26.40.9) and junior Madison Simmons (77th, 31:20.8).
Greensburg Central Catholic sophomore Corinn Brewer won the girls WCCA race in 18:54. Latrobe senior Rachel Harter, a four-time placewinner, was second with a time of 20:00.3, followed by Hempfield junior Lily Schmadel (20:12) and Greensburg Salem senior Jamie Tanto (20:14.7).
Hempfield won the team title with 54 points, ahead of Greensburg Salem (76) and Kiski Area (85).
The Norwin boys, minus top runner junior Alex Jubert, ran away with the team title with 43 points. Leading the way was senior Jacob Tarosky, who won in 16:18.5. Kiski Area (71) and Latrobe (73) finished second and third, respectively.
Greensburg Salem’s Noah Calistri (16:45), Norwin’s Dominic Spatolisano (16.47), Latrobe’s Justin Carlson (16.47) and Latrobe’s Joseph Hill (16:52) rounded out the top five in the boys race.
The Penn-Trafford runners will compete at the Tri-State championships Thursday in preparation for the WPIAL championship meet Oct. 24. Both meets will be held at Cal (Pa.).
Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.
Tags: Penn-Trafford
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