Girls' White Race - Recap
The meet didn't exactly go off without a hitch.
The electronic beep gun, which has been common to see on the track in PA, but hasn't been mainstreamed on the cross country course made an appearance at the start line on Saturday. It apparently confused some teams, who didn't start the race with the rest of the athletes. That included pre-race favorite Lauren Trapani and her Warrior Run teammates.
The PIAA made the decision to allow the roughly 13 teams to run in the Blue Race (2A), which started 45 minutes after the White Race. However, the results of the 1A runners competing in the Blue Race would be filtered into the White Race.
Tina Capparell of Marian Catholic won the 9 AM race, running 19:18 in a mostly solo effort. Delone Catholic's Leanne Sneeringer was next across in 20:15.
But Trapani, the talented freshman, who ran 17:41 at Lock Haven to open up her career, took the White Race win while racing in the Blue Race. Battling with Eastern York's Maddie McLain, Trapani pulled away in the finishing stretch, running 18:56 on what she called the most challenging course she had ever run.
Vincentian Academy took home the team title with 79 points. Freshman Tara Lucot took seventh place to pace VA, which figures to be one of 1A's favorites this year. Warrior Run wound up second with 88 points, led by Trapani, but aided by a two through five spread of just 25 seconds. Marion Center Area and Holy Cross each scored 113 points, but Marion Center got the advantage with a sixth runner.
Watch an interview with Trapani after the race: