Cranberry's Beatrice Kolesar, Rocky Grove's Isabel Griffin and Oil City's Corabel Shiley medaled in the state cross country meet this morning, earning medals by finishing in the top 25.

Kolesar took fourth place in 19:50, while Griffin was 18th in 20:34 in the 1A girls. Shiley was 23rd in 20:04 in the 2A girls. The meet was held at Hershey's Parkview course. 

The Berries, last year's state champions, did not repeat after graduating some talented runners, but finished 11th with six of their seven entries being underclassmen.

Mercer's Maggie Jewell won the race in 19:28, and Shady Side Academy -- one of the teams that was "supposed" to win last year, did take first place this time around. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH), another pre-meet favorite in 2024, was second to Shady Side on Saturday.

Mercer was fifth, District 9 champion Central Clarion, settled for eighth, and Lakeview was 10th.

There were 22 teams and 250 runners.

Elena Ishman was 38th for Cranberry, followed by Darien Wenner 115, Ava Earp 167, Marina Mourchian 202, Karli Schneider 211 and Zofia Earp, the only senior, 241. Cranberry qualified its whole team after finishing second to Clarion in the District 9 meet last week.

Franklin's Alayna Gahr was 115th in the 2A race. Her time was 22:04. Both Shiley and Gahr are juniors. Meadville's Megan Puleio, a senior, was 11th.

Cathedral Prep won the 2A team title.  Grove City was 11th among the 21 teams. 

Saucon Valley's 5-foot-tall Virginia Kraus was the 2A state champ, rounding the course in 17:48 to become the first four-time state champion in the history of the meet. The winning time in 3A girls was 18:17; seven runners were under 19 minutes in that classification.

Girls history

Shiley is Oil City's first state medalist since Marty Marczak finished 18th in 1987. Carol Winger (1976) also took 18th place. Shiley was 32nd in each of the last two years.

Griffin, who was 22nd last season and 23rd in 2023, was Rocky Grove's first state medalist since Maggie Prorock came in 12th in 2013. The Orioles had one other state medalist, Shanelle Peters, 18th in 1998.

Kolesar was 17th last year. Before that Kelsey Hanna was 22nd in 2023. McKenna Spence was a four-time state qualifier, taking sixth in 2012, 17th in 2011, 12th in 2010 and 32nd in 2009. The late Melanie Ishman finished 12th for the Berries in 1991. Sandwiched around her were Amy Straub, 23rd in 1997 and Kathy Clark, 20th in 1986. Franklin's most prolific state performer was Savannah Carr, ninth in 2016. She was also 23rd in 2015 and 24th in 2014. More recently, Nadalie Latchaw was 26th in 2023.

Boys results

Rocky Grove's Gauge Gierlach was 48th in 1A boys, which had two more local entries in Cranberry's Dalton Wenner, who was 79th, and sophomore teammate Daniel McCain, 124. Gierlach ran 18:08. Wenner 18:28 and McCain 19:07.

There were 257 runners in 1A, and finshing dead last was the aptly named Achilles Fitzpatrick of Marian Catholic. His time was 24:31.

Michael Fritz of Northwest Area won the race in 15:59. Team champion was Elk Lake. Lakeview was third, Central Clarion fourth, Wilmington ninth and Elk County Catholic 10th. 

In 2A boys, Oil City's Rilee Matalino was 84th in 18-minutes flat and Keegan Kirkwood was 113th in 18:19.

Hughesville won the 2A state title. Grove City was third and Brookville fourth. Harbor Creek was eighth.

Jonah Montagnese of Quaker Valley ran 16:00 to win individual honors.

Boys History

Oil City's Henry Winger owns the top finish locally in the boys state cross country meet. He took third place in Class A in 1973. The year before he was 24th. Another Oiler, Mike Renninger, placed fifth in the 1982 3A meet. Renninger also took 10th in 1983 and 14th in 1984.

Franklin's Caleb Prettyman, was sixth in the 3A 2023 meet. Still another Oiler, Dave Bender, was 12th in 1970. Jacob Eshelman took 18th for Franklin in 2018.

Three Cranberry runners finished in the teens in either Class B or, later, 1A: Mark Preaster was 15th in 1973 and then Harrison Keenan was 16th in 2015 and 23rd in 2016. Teammate Sam Lander was 18th in 2016 and 23rd in 2015. 

For Rocky Grove, Dave Mora was 19th in 1980 and Easton Adamczyk was in 2023.