Local Athletes Compete In PIAA State Class-A Cross Country State Championships, Coaches From Clarion Area, North Clarion And Clarion-Limestone Share Thoughts Their Teams And On KSAC Fraternity
(Photos submitted: Above image: Morgan McNaughton – Front -fourth from right – with the other Girls’ Class-A medalists)
A number of local athletes competed in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Class-A Cross Country Championship, on Saturday, November 8th at the Hershey Parkview Course, in Hershey.
The top finisher among the local contingent, was Clarion-Limestone’s Morgan McNaughton, who finished with a time of 20:45.7 in the Girls’ Class-A Race, placing 22nd to earn a medal and All-State honors. The top 25 runners medal and make All-State.
Three other area runners competed in the Girls’ Class-A Race. Clarion Area’s Bella Scott finished in 66th place, with a time of 21:54.1. North Clarion’s Brynn Seigel ran a 22:05.0, good for 72nd place. Brynn’s Teammate Jordyn Hendrickson also ran in the race.
Anna Stitzer from Penns Valley was the Girls’ Class-A Champion, running in a time of 19:32.0. Grace Neubert from Elk County Catholic finished fifth, for the top finish from District Nine.
Other District Nine Top 25’s include: Elk County Catholic’s Sophia Bille – 17th, Smethport’s Jenna Gregory – 19th and Northern Potter’s Courtney Martin – 23rd.
Notre Dame Green Pond was the Girls’ Team Champion. Elk County Catholic finished 6th and Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference’s (KSAC) Cranberry finished 7th.
There were a total of 251 runners in the Girls’ Class-A Race.
The top finisher among local runners in the Boys’ Class-A Race was North Clarion’s Kaine McFarland, who ran an 18.15.3, good for 53rd. Clarion-Limestone’s Logan Lutz finished 117th, with a time of 18:47.1. C-L’s Ty Rankin was 169th, running a 19:19.4 and North Clarion’s Aiden Thomas ran 19:10.1 for 154th.
District Nine had one runner make Class-A All-State, Kevin Sherry from Coudersport who finishes 20th.
There were a total of 259 runners in the Boys’ Class-A Race.
Team Champion was Hughesville. Cranberry finished 8th and Elk County Catholic finished 12th.
Three local coaches Clarion Area’s Keith Murtha, Clarion-Limestone’s Nicole Oakes and North Clarion’s Roxanne McFarland shared their thoughts on the meet, the season, the careers of many of the athletes and the great comradery and friendship of these athletes and coaches. As testimony to the closeness of these programs, Clarion-Limestone and Clarion were travel partners for a number of years and some of the Clarion Area and North Clarion runners tend to train and race together during the summer. I have put some of the coaches’ comments in bold that emphasize the great bond between these programs, with other KSAC schools and all of District Nine, for that matter.
Clarion Area Head Coach Keith Murtha
Championship season from the KSAC race to districts and hopefully the State Championship is quite a journey, intense, exciting, memorable, so much fun and occasionally heart breaking! One thing that is a little unique in cross country and track and field is the competitors typically become very good friends and each other biggest supporters. Morgan McNaughton (Clarion-Limestone) committed herself to training this summer and had what I feel is an MVP season. Hannah Burgoon (Moniteau) is just a championship runner, having come on to run really strongly in this championship stretch 2 years in a row. The Cranberry girls are the definition of a team and training group constantly making each other better!
Bella Scott battled through some injuries this season, but I am proud of the way she finished her high school career placing in both KSACs and districts. Finishing in the top 25 percent of the state’s best runners. She finishes with the 3rd best performance in school history, at Clarion Area, behind Eva Lerch and Molly Smathers. She is committed to Nova South Eastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, a Division II university to continue her academic career in Biology and athletic career in cross country/track and field!
Perhaps, the most impressive fact was Cranberry and Elk County Catholic finished 6th and 7th in the State and of the top 25 who are honored as “All State,” five are from District 9, including Morgan McNaughton. And Hannah Burgoon finished a difficult 29th! The only other district to put two teams inside the top ten was District 7 (WPIAL)!
On the boys side, a few things stood out. First would be the absolute dominance of Cranberry from runners 1 through 8, a true team, led by Matt Woolcoock, who had an MVP season. He didn’t have his best day at states, but he has had an amazing high school career since 8th grade and has lot to give. Kevin Sherry, from Coudersport, burst on to the scene at districts last year and had a phenomenal sophomore season to finish 20th and earn “All State” honors. Logan Lutz from C-L had a fantastic freshman year that he capped with a trip to Hershey.
I said sometimes the journey is heartbreaking and that is the case for Clarion Area runner Gavin Hoover. Coming off an amazing junior season where he finished 22nd and garnered All State honors, Gavin has battled with illness and injury all season long. However he prepared for a big districts. Gavin was in state qualifying position, when he gave everything he had and simply couldn’t finish that final race.
But as the great runner Steve Prefontaine says “to give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift!” It’s heartbreaking in the moment and aftermath, but Gavin and Matt have had fantastic careers. I know they are looking forward to track season and Gavin is meeting with college coaches preparing for a bright future!
I am always proud to be a District 9 Coach when we head to Hershey and represent the character, community and success of these fine athletes and their coaches, year in and year out and I only expect this to get stronger!
Clarion-Limestone Head Coach Nicole Oakes: We are tremendously proud of the efforts all of our athletes put in this year, and that led to us taking the most individuals to the state championship in our 5 years of coaching.
In the girls race, Morgan McNaughton saw the effect of her hard work pay off, she has put in the time, and throughout the season was able to see the effects, finishing the race and earning a medal. Rounding the final stretch Morgan ran past me placing 24th, and I knew she was either going to have to give what she had left to kick and start passing or be passed, she took the information and used her determination to secure herself a medalist spot.
Moniteau’s Hannah Burgoon finished 29th today and really seemed to peak at just the right time; her progress over the season and performance today should also really be celebrated. It’s been a back and forth between the two with Morgan claiming the KSAC title, Hannah edging out Morgan at Districts.
The kids in the KSAC conference are the biggest supporters of each other, they really celebrate the successes and enjoy encouraging one another. Morgan, Hannah, Bella and Brynn, as well as the many strong Cranberry runners may represent different teams from our area, but I am certainly proud of the way they band together to represent our conference.
The comradery on the boys side is so much the same, bringing a freshman and a sophomore to run. They were both very nervous. Throughout the season Kaine McFarland from North Clarion, who ran a wonderful time on the tough state course, and Gavin Hoover of Clarion area have both been great calming encouragement to our younger boys.
Also helping out today was Ty’s big brother, and 2019 C-L state Qualifier, Braden Rankin. Lions XC functions as a family and both boys certainly look up to Braden and his experience.
The message we kept pushing to Logan and Ty was to have a great race, finish strong and proud, and be ready to use it to keep building a team next year. I think they both did just that, Logan and Ty are both very coachable athletes, they apply all the nuggets of information they are given and trust us to help them get the best results. If the momentum continues, in coming years, Lions Cross Country has our eyes set at even more successes at the state level.
North Clarion Head Coach Roxanne McFarland: I do echo what Nicole has to say about how these kids and how they support one another, they are all amazing! I believe a lot of that starts at home and with the coaches too! The runners in this KSAC have been wonderful to one another and it does melt my heart when I see them helping each other and showing such amazing sportsmanship. Seeing Kaine talk to the other runners; before, after and even during the race makes me very proud to be his mom and his coach. We have several pictures of him throughout the season, showing that sportsmanship to his team and all the other teams. And, as Nicole said, returning C-L runner Braden Rankin has been a big influence to Kaine as well, and I know he and Kaine spoke yesterday too. He is a very positive uplifting kid!
We were very excited at North Clarion to be taking four runners to States this year, (and we had one kid miss the trip by one spot, but he is a freshman, so that will just make him more hungry for next year!)
As far as my individual athletes. Kaine and Brynn have led their teams all season. Both of those kids put in all their summer mileage and came into the season with heavy goals and a strong desire to qualify for the State Meet. We are so very thankful to see the season end as it did for both of them, being able to reach their goals after all the hard work and determination. I have always liked the saying, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” That being said, it’s always a little scary coming into the District race praying that the kids run the same way they have all season and praying that nothing fluky happens that takes that honor away from them.
Aiden is a very determined, hardworking, respectful young man as well. This is only his second year ever running, which I think is amazing. He was in a hot pursuit after Kaine this season and by the end his times had dropped significantly, earning himself a trip to States. Kaine and Aiden have worked very hard together and it has been fun to watch their friendship grow as well.
Jordyn tends to come on slower at the beginning of the year and progresses to her level of talent by the end of the season. We were excited to see her reach her goal of qualifying for the state meet as well, especially since she is a senior. She ran a very strong race at the D9 meet.
About yesterday’s race:
Kaine had an amazing race yesterday at Hershey, finishing 53rd overall. He ran a career Personal Record (PR) time on the difficult Hershey course. He said it was so much fun and was nothing but smiles for hours after the race. Once again, we have pictures of him in the starting box with another team (people we did not know) and there he is smiling and talking with those runners. Kaine finished first out of all the KSAC runners yesterday, after passing Cranberry’s Colin Zerbe in the homestretch, and finished 4th out of the D9 runners. What a great way to end his junior year. Again, we are just so thankful that God blessed him with a great season and allowed him to reach his goals and see all of his hard work pay off.
Aiden also ran a very strong race. I believe he had a little more pre-race jitters because he had never seen the State Meet before. He did not know what to expect and he was shocked by the amount of runners in the race. We told all the kids before the race started that getting there was the accomplishment; now just go out and enjoy their last race. We expect them to try their best, but when it is all said and done, I just want to see smiles and happy kids! They all did amazing to get themselves to that level of competition! We let them all know how proud we were of them for making it there! What a great experience for Aiden and now he knows what to expect for next year!
Brynn and Jordyn also had some pre-race jitters yesterday. They both had competed at the State Meet last year, with their team, but that was the year of Covid, so things were very different. Brynn, a sophomore, ran a very strong race yesterday, finishing 72nd out of over 250 runners. We were very pleased with her performance and so happy that her hard work also paid off!! Unfortunately, our senior, Jordyn, had to step out of the race after the first mile and did not get to complete her final race.
Overall, the experience was great and we had happy runners afterwards! We call that a win!
Congrats to all the local runners on their successful cross country season! I believe we come from a great part of the state and it is truly a pleasure to coach beside all of these wonderful coaches. We have a great group of people in our KSAC and I feel so blessed to be a part of it!
(Congratulations to all the area runners and coaches for this fine meet and so much, much more!!!!What an inspiration!!!!!!!!)
(Thanks to all the photographers: Diane Lutz, Bonnie Wolbert, Melissa Shoemaker, Brett Gearhart and Coach Murtha!)