It’s Cochran in Class 3A, and then everybody else
Mia Cochran won the cross country triple crown last year when she captured the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A titles for the second consecutive season and was named the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year for the first time.
Yet, there still remain quite a few things the Moon senior wants to accomplish before she graduates and heads to an as-yet-to-be-determined college. And an encore to 2020 is not out of the realm of possibility.
“It’s really cool to know that I’ve had such success the last few years and I’d like to add some more titles in track because I didn’t get a sophomore year [ because of COVID-19], so I kind of missed out,” Cochran said. “But I’m just trying to make it the best possible — hit every big meet that I can and just go for it.”
No WPIAL runner has won the Gatorade Player of the Year twice in a row but it has been done three times previously. Since the award was first given for girls cross country in 2008, the only other WPIAL runner chosen was Brianna Schwartz of Shaler in 2015.
Over the past couple of years, Cochran has come to the realization that to find competition at her level, she has to travel. Last year she won the WPIAL title by 36 seconds over Jenna Lang of Bethel Park and the state championship by 18 seconds over Caryn Rippey of Wilson.
That makes Cochran the pacesetter who is running against the clock rather than a strategizing competitor who has to plan while in an elite pack.
“Because of COVID last year I really didn’t get the chance to go out and race against girls that really push me until I got out to Indiana and ran there and had a big national stage to race,” Cochran said. “Running in Pa. was a lot different because, if I really wanted to run a fast time, I had to be out in front and not let anyone else set the pace. I didn’t really enjoy it, but it’s what I had to do to run fast.”
It also means that, if she is to challenge herself this year, she may have to seek competition elsewhere.
“When I don’t have girls that are crazy faster against me, I just end up racing against the clock,” Cochran said.
While Cochran is a prohibitive individual favorite, North Allegheny enters the season as the three-time defending WPIAL and PIAA team champion. The Tigers will return sophomore Eva Kynaston who finished eighth individually last year, as well as senior Maura Mlecko and junior Alexa Sundgren, from the team’s top-five finishers in the WPIAL finals a year ago.
Class 1A
Corinn Brewer is the top returning individual runner in the Class 1A field this year, but returning to California (Pa.) University for the finals and taking home her first WPIAL title isn’t the primary focus of the Greensburg Central Catholic senior.
“I’ve just been focusing on track right now and [last] weekend, I was competing in the decathlon, so I’ve been training on working on my jumps and throws for track, so I haven’t gone into distance yet,” Brewer said. “I’m just going to have a shorter cross country season than most people, but I’ve kind of always done that.”
Brewer ran a 19:54 in the WPIAL finals last year to finish behind Shenango alumna Carmen Mevit and was 13 seconds better than the fourth-placefinisher, Chelsea Harman of Shady Side Academy, who is the No. 2 returner from last year.
Brewer ran the 800 meters, the 1,600 meters and competed in the pole vault at the WPIAL track finals.
While Brewer remains the runner to beat coming into the season, Mohawk, which captured its first team title in school history, returns all five of its top runners from a team that scored 63 points last year.
Leading the way for the Warriors will be sophomore Nadia Lape, who finished sixth overall last year, along with sophomores Evelyn and Lillian McClain and Aricka Young, and senior Sidney Andrews.
Class 2A
North Catholic spent a lot of time climbing the mountain behind Vincentian in Class 1A before the school closed after the 2020 school year. With the Royals gone, the Trojanettes would have had the upper hand in the classification, but instead moved up to Class 2A where champion South Fayette had moved up to Class 3A.
All the shuffling benefited North Catholic, which brought home the school’s first title. And there is little doubt the Trojanettes will be in the thick of things this year as they return six of their top seven runners, including fifth-place finisher sophomore Grace Lazzara.
They will also be pushed once again by Montour and sophomore Lakyn Schaltenbrand, who leads a contingent of all seven returning Spartans from last year’s squad who competed in the WPIAL finals.
Both Lazzara and Schaltenbrand, the individual runnerup, will be chasing Brownsville junior Jolena Quarzo, who will be seeking her second consecutive crown.