We’ve seen this story play out the past three years. Unionville vs Pennsbury for the state championship, only this time, Unionville entered the meet as the defending champions. After last week’s district meet, Pennsbury looked like a team ready to challenge for their 4th state title in 5 years, while Unionville were looking to get one big race put together for their title defense. Cardinal O’Hara was waiting in the wings to crash the party up front should any of those two teams slip up.
Pennsbury grabbed the race by the throat early on and set a high bench mark for their competitors to chase. Pennsbury left a lot of work for Unionville and Cardinal O’Hara to make up, especially with two runners in the top 15. O’Hara was caught in the crowd a little bit with Unionville battling for 2nd.
But in Unionville style, the champions made a massive push in the 2nd part of the course through the big hills to get back in the race. O’Hara looked to bounce back after a slow start by getting their group close together. At the final stretch, Olivia Sargent of Pennsbury was able to score the one team point with her runner up finish ahead of Olivia Young of Unionville. Hannah Molloy of Pennsbury cracked the overall top ten ahead of Kacie Breeding of Unionville. Unionville then closed the gap on Pennsbury with the next three team places, the front running of Sargent and Molloy was enough to reclaim the title over Unionville 68-73, one point closer than the 6 point margin of victory for Unionville last season. O’Hara earned their best finish in school history, finishing 3rd with 104 points.
Despite a conservative start to the race, Brianna Schwartz of Shaler Area turned it up into a new gear and created a healthy lead in the 2nd two miles of the race. Her surge through the rest of the race put her 9 seconds off the course record that was set last year by Tessa Barrett of Abington Heights. Her time of 17:39 is still the 2nd fastest time on the course. Sargent ran a seasonal best 17:48 for 2nd. Madeleine Davison of North Allegheny capped off an excellent season, finishing 3rd in 17:57, her first time under 18 on the course. Marissa Sheva of Pennridge returned to the medal stand with a 4th place finish in 18:05. Kelsey Potts of Mount Lebanon put together a strong race to finish 5th in 18:08.