Winchester Thurston runner finishes career on top
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Winchester Thurston senior Tristan Forsythe joined some very elite company Saturday when he won the PIAA Class 1A cross country title.
Over the past 20 years, there have only been seven WPIAL runners in the three classifications who won the boys state cross country title. This is also the first time during that stretch that the WPIAL has had champions in three consecutive seasons.
Last year, Ben Bumgarner of Waynesburg became the first to capture the Class 2A title since 2006, while Griffin Mackey of Sewickley Academy won the Class 1A crown in 2015. No one from the WPIAL has won Class 3A since Ryan Gil of North Allegheny in 2010.
Class 2A boys
Greensburg Salem junior Mark Brown has consistently been among the better runners in the WPIAL this season, but he did something rare in the PIAA Class 2A finals.
He dropped his time in the week from the WPIAL to the state championships. By doing so he improved his placement.
Brown, who finished sixth when he ran the WPIAL course at Cooper’s Lake Campground in 16:48, posted a 16:30 at the state championships last week in Hershey to finish sixth overall, 34 seconds behind champion Isaac Davis of Shore.
In addition, Brown was also the top finisher from the WPIAL, crossing the line five seconds ahead of Indiana sophomore Kendall Branan.
Class 3A boys
Seneca Valley won its second consecutive WPIAL Class 3A team title but, like so many others, found tough sledding at the state level.
Over the past 30 years, only three WPIAL schools have been able to parlay success within the district into a PIAA championship. North Allegheny won three titles, in 1997, 2010 and 2014, Central Catholic won the only title in school history in 1990 and Mt. Lebanon took home the gold in 1998.
Though the Raiders didn’t win, there is still optimism for next season.
Junior Seth Ketler, the runner-up in the WPIAL individual finals, came in sixth overall and was the No. 2 finisher out of the WPIAL, just two seconds behind North Allegheny sophomore Dan McGoey. Fellow junior Sam Owori came in 23rd, while Connor Volk-Klos was 74th, but just 41st among runners whose team qualified.
Class 3A girls
North Allegheny senior Clara Savchik came into the season as the defending WPIAL Class 3A girls cross country champion and appeared ready to defend her title. And she did. Sort of.
Savchik, who finished third at the WPIAL finals Oct. 26 at Cooper’s Lake Campground, rebounded in the state championships by coming in second — and was the top runner from District 7 — six seconds behind Elizabeth Mancini of Cardinal O’Hara, who crossed the line in 18 minutes, 18 seconds. Savchik’s time of 18:24 was also 10 seconds faster than third-place Savannah Shaw of Upper St. Clair.
Shaw was also second in the WPIAL behind Oakland Catholic junior Hannah Schupansky, who came in a disappointing 15th with a time of 19:12.