The State College girls cross country team won its seventh consecutive Mid Penn Conference championship and the boys squad claimed its second in a row on Saturday in Newville.
Junior Marlee Kwasnica was the top runner for the Lady Little Lions with a fifth place overall finish, while senior Trent Dinant led the boys team by taking fourth place overall.
“The team competed incredibly well today, working together in a big way to clench the win. It was top notch competition out there and everyone really embraced the challenge of it,” Lady Little Lions’ coach Rebecca Donaghue said. “Our top seven placed amongst the top 35, showing nice strength in our team depth.”
For the State High girls, the 55 team points marked their best finish during the seven-year title run, outpacing second-place Mechanicsburg by 13 points in the AAA and overall standings.
Kwasnica led the Lady Little Lion pack with a fifth place overall finish (all divisions) in a time of 19:00.94 on the rain-soaked course at Big Spring High School.
Sophomore Chloe Poindexter (20:16.16) and juniors Amy Devan (20:17.61) and Natalie Koncoski (20:20.26) took 14th, 15th and 16th place, respectively.
Junior Alex Antoniono placed 23rd with a time of 20:37.98, while sophomore Abigail Bigger (20:56.08) and junior Grace Morningstar (21:05.55) finished 29th and 31st, respectively. Junior Ava Langelaan rounded out the team’s top eight with a time of 21:45.23 and a 45th place finish.
On the boys side, State College claimed the AAA and overall titles with 55 points.
Dinant led the way for the Little Lions with a fourth place overall finish (all divisions) in a time of 16:25.06.
Fellow senior Charles Endres was close behind, finishing at 16:28.14 to claim sixth place.
Junior Nick Sloff’s time of 16:37.57 was good for 11th place overall, while senior Tony Tzolov placed 23rd at 17:06.01.
Freshman Griffin Selber took 29th place with a time of 17:15.82. Sophomores Owen Vaira (18:17.02) and Samuel Endres (18:26.56) and senior Ethan Morningstar (18:37.42) rounded out the championship showing for the Little Lions with overall finishes of 70, 74 and 78, respectively, out of 208 runners.
Next up for the State High boys and girls teams are the District 6 Championships on Oct. 30 in Reedsville.
