Five things to watch at the WPIAL cross country championships

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 | 7:09 PM

The annual WPIAL Class AAA, AA and A boys and girls cross country championships will be held Thursday at Cal (Pa.). It is a new venue for the next two years after Cooper’s Lake Campground decided it no longer wanted to host the event.

The event begins at 12:45 a.m. with the Class A girls race. That will be followed by the Class AA girls at 1:30, Class AAA girls at 2:15, Class A boys at 3 p.m., Class AA boys at 3:45 and the Class AAA boys at 4:30.

The top four boys and girls teams in Class A and the top three in Class AA and AAA advance to the PIAA championship on Nov. 3.

The top 20 boys and girls runners (non-team qualifiers) in Class A advance, while the top 15 advance in Class AA and AAA move on.

A warm up?

North Allegheny senior Zach Kinne, who committed to Duke earlier this week, transferred to NA from Illinois prior to the season. He said he used last week’s Tri-State Coaches Association race as a warm up and get a look at the Cal (Pa.) course. He finished second to Mt. Lebanon senior Patrick Anderson.

Learning a lesson

Greensburg Central Catholic freshman Corinn Brewer won the Class A race at the TSTCA meet last week. She ran the Cal course earlier this season and dropped more than a minute off her time. She learned to pace herself better in the second race.

The Hill

If you’ve never run the Cal course before, it’s known for ‘The Hill,” which is located between the 1- and 2-mile mark. Runners say you have to be careful running down the hill because you don’t want to use all your energy due to the steepness coming up. It will make or break a runner.

Class AA boys team title

Odds are that the WPIAL Class AA team title will come down to two teams — New Castle and Greensburg Salem. The Golden Lions are led by the trio of Cameron Binda, Mark Brown and Dylan Binda.

Ladies first

The three girls races will open the championship. It will be interesting to see if Fox Chapel senior Sarena Seeger can defeat North Allegheny junior Hannah Lindgren again; Seeger edged Lindgren by two seconds last week at the TSTCA meet.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, New Castle, North Allegheny