North Allegheny boys, girls living up to high expectations

North Allegheny had high expectations for its cross country teams coming into the season.

That’s what happens when both the boys and the girls are the defending WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champions.

When the year began, though, the boys looked more like a squad that would contend for a title, not a frontrunner to repeat. But as the campaign progressed, both have rounded into form and are looking like the favorites at the WPIAL finals Thursday at California (Pa.) University.

“We’re right where we want to be at this time of the season,” North Allegheny coach John Neff said. “We’re very excited to go into next week.”

North Allegheny’s boys had a rough start to the year as the team was still coming together. The Tigers finished second to Mt. Lebanon in the annual Red, White and Blue Classic at the Schenley Oval before rebounding with a solid second-place finish behind Massillon Jackson at the Boardman (Ohio) Spartan Invitational.

Now, as the teams begin their preparations for the WPIAL championships and, potentially, the PIAA races, both the boys and girls seasons have come into focus. And both are living up to their lofty promise.

North Allegheny’s girls team won both races.

On Sept. 21, North Allegheny got an opportunity to run in the PIAA Foundation race as a preview of the state finals and both comported themselves well. The girls finished first, beating secondplace State College by 60 points as senior Hannah Lindgren finished second overall behind Moon sophomore Mia Cochran. The boys finished second overall behind Lower Merion despite not having top runner Daniel McGoey in the lineup.

Like many of the larger schools, North Allegheny competed in the Tri-State Track Coaches’ Association meet on Thursday at California. Getting a chance to run the course as a precursor to the WPIAL finals is something both the girls and boys will use to their advantage when they plan their strategy heading into next week.

“I think it’s a big benefit because the course is definitely a challenging one that has mixed terrain — it has a big hill on it and it has some fast stuff on it,” Neff said. “It’s a thing where, the more comfortable you are with the race, the better you’re going to do the day of and I think it’s a great thing we can preview it a week out.”

North Allegheny did not compete in the Marty Uher Invitational Aug. 31, so for some of its runners, it was the first time they ever faced its challenges.

“We have some young kids that have not run on that course before. Sometimes you lose sight of it and think the veterans are running this,” Neff said. “That’s not necessarily the case. I think it’s good for the kids who have run it before and it’s even better for the kids who haven’t had the chance to run it yet,”

And North Allegheny isn’t about to look past the WPIAL championships and ahead to potentially defending its two state titles.

“WPIALs is something you never look past,” Neff said. “To win the WPIAL championship is a great goal and, when you’ve done it, you’ve had a great season and we love to be in that conversation for WPIAL champs.”

Class 1A boys

Winchester Thurston has won the past three WPIAL Class 1A boys titles and may be headed to a fourth consecutive title next week.

“I would say that all systems are go,” Winchester Thurston coach Bruce Frey said. “We tried to bridge the gap between competitive and challenging workouts and stress-related injuries. We’ve been able to do that so far and, for now, we appear to be fit.”

Winchester Thurston edged Wyalusing Valley, 70 -83, in the Foundation meet and may be considered the front-runner to win the state title for the first time since 2016. That may seem to be bad news for the rest of the WPIAL, but the Bears aren’t about to celebrate lifting championship trophies just yet.

Winchester Thurston won’t be running the TSTCA meet at California, but will run the Freedom Invitational just as it did a year ago. One of the reasons is so the Bears can get a good look at Riverview, the school that has finished as the WPIAL runner-up each of the past three years.

“The gap is a lot thinner than you might imagine, especially with Riverview in it,” Frey said. “In our mind, Riverview is no worse than No. 3 in the state and they’re right there with Wyalusing.”