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The Norwin High school girls enjoyed a fine 2008 cross-country season.
The Lady Knights finished third at the PIAA Class AAA State Championships — the best showing in Geary Tray’s 24 years as coach — and have six of their top seven back.
Not surprisingly, Norwin enters the season with high hopes — and is expected to be among the state’s top three in the PennTrackXC.com preseason rankings.
Could this be the year the Lady Knights win the school’s first District 7 (WPIAL) crown?
“I think we do have a chance,” said junior Jenna Gigliotti (left), the Lady Knights’ top returner. “It would be very rewarding to win the title. We’ve worked really hard and we have the potential. There’s a chance we would be there.”
To earn a WPIAL championship Oct 29 at Cooper’s Lake in Slippery Rock, Norwin would have to overtake rugged Greater Latrobe, which has won three of the last four district titles, including two in a row. Latrobe was second at AAA states last year, 17 points ahead of the Lady Knights.
While Latrobe lost Nos. 2-4 to graduation, the Wildcats should again be formidable. They are led by senior Mary Jo Jakubek (eighth at states) and superb freshman Hanna Green, who ran a 5:15 mile as a seventh-grader.
Norwin, which begins its season at Friday’s Gateway Invitational, has only beaten Latrobe once in nine tries over the past two years of dual meets, invitationals and championship events. That was at 2007 states, where the Lady Knights ended up eighth and the Wildcats 10th. Norwin, which hosts Latrobe in a dual meet Sept. 16, hasn’t taken a dual meet from Latrobe since 2000.
“They’re our rival, year in and year out,” Gigliotti said. “They always produce good runners and they have tradition. They’re the team to beat at the WPIAL meet. We hope to do well against them. Our team is ready to take on the challenge and see what we can do.”
Gigliotti, who was second at WPIALs and fifth at states last year, is District 7’s top returning runner. She and sophomore Jenna Kuhn (52nd at states), senior Shelby Haitz (85th) and sophomore Autumn Greba, who are joined by senior No. 6 girl Nicole Gunkle, junior No. 7 Autumn Gaska and other varsity candidates from last year, are coming off of productive spring track campaigns.
Gigliotti, who was also the No. 2 to Leslie Kovach as a freshman, finishing 14th at WPIALs (second among ninth-graders) and 56th at states, said she hasn’t set any specific individual goals.
“It’s more about improving my times and getting better,” she said. “I always want to make sure I put in my best effort. I want to be satisfied with what I’ve done.”
As the new No. 1 since Kovach (second at states) graduated, Gigliotti is being asked to lead by example, just as Kovach did when she became the top girl as a junior.
“When Leslie was the leader, Jenna pushed to run with her,” Tray said. “Now, she has to set the stride pattern. Hopefully, the other kids will begin to follow her. I tell the kids, ‘Key on the No. 1 runner and close the gap.’ She’s such a great kid. She’s not a talkative person — she’s a quiet leader.”
Consecutive state team berths — the program’s others were in 1997 and ’99 — have boosted the confidence of Gigliotti and company, just as getting to Hershey in ’07 for them did last fall.
“A lot of those kids had the opportunity to know what states is like,” Tray said. “It really paid off getting there.”
As for a high state ranking, Gigliotti and Tray say they’d welcome it.
“I’ve never been in that situation,” said Tray with a chuckle. “I also know how girls are. Bodies change and things happen. I don’t build it up. If people believe we’re that good, I’d tell the girls, ‘Go out and prove it.’ ”
“In past years, we’ve kind of been the underdog,” Gigliotti said. “People didn’t expect our performance. It would be different if we got a lot (a high ranking) — we’re not used to the attention. It might be a little more pressure, but we’re not going to worry about that. We’ll just do our best and not worry about what other people think about us.”
Still, she admitted the thought of a banner season, complete with the Lady Knights’ first district title, is food for thought during steamy summer workouts.
“It’s motivation on a really hot day,” Gigliotti said. “That’s what we’re working for — we know what the payoff could be. It does add excitement and fun to it at all.”