The champions Holy Cross had the opportunity to defend their title against their two biggest threats to their championship, Central Cambria and Elk Lake. Early indications suggested that this would be one of the closer team title races of the day and it proved true. In an early twist, Elk Lake ran with serious intent to upset both teams, having three runners close by in front of the majority of their main competitors’ runners. Holy Cross and Central Cambria had work to do in the 2nd half of the race to close the gap.
The victory came down to which team would have the closest 1-5 spread, which is something that Central Cambria had mastered for most of the season. A big performance from their seasonal number 5 runner Carly Kaschalk, combined with a 72 second spread, 20 seconds better than the District 2 combination, was enough to push Central Cambria to their first Class A championship, and first state championship since the last of 3 titles in a row in 2009. Elk Lake earned the 2nd position, defeating district rivals Holy Cross on the state course for the 2nd time this season. The three teams were separated by 21 points, 72-84-93.
The individual contest was the Marianne Abdalah show. The sophomore and defending champion was ahead of the field before the field reached the 800 meter mark and she never looked back. The champion made it two for two with a time of 18:35, 54 seconds ahead of freshman Emma Seifired of Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. 3rd place went to Lauren Grobneck of Eden Christian Academy in 19:30. Mackenzie Greenfield of Holy Cross set her team up to succeed with her 4th place finish in 19:37 to edge out Sydney Gilkey of champions Central Cambria.