D7-AAA Girls - Team & Individuals Breakdown
- Preseason Rankings: Team | Individual
- State Qualifying Spots For Teams: 3
- State Qualifying Spots For Individuals: 15
- 2019 Individual Champion: Mia Cochran (Moon Area) - 18:14
- 2019 Team Champions: North Allegheny - 41 points
Individuals Breakdown
Mia Cochran of Moon Area had a terrific sophomore season in 2019. After winning the pre-state Foundation Invite at Hershey, Cochran won the MAC title and then ran away with the WPIAL title, and closed it out with her first state title. Cochran went 17:53 at Hershey -- her fastest 5K time of the season -- at states to win by 18 seconds.
Cochran will be going for the repeat at the state meet, but she will see a challenge from a western PA rival, senior Emily Carter of Bethel Park. Carter, a recent Oklahoma State commit, was third at WPIALs and then second to Cochran at the state meet. She's a talented runner that ran 17:19 at the Mingo Classic last fall and went sub-18 on two other occasions. A pair of the state's top runners hail from the same district and it will be exciting to see Cochran and Carter race this fall.
There's no shortage of talent hailing from the WPIAL in Class AAA after the top two, though. Many of these girls will be in the mix for top ten finishes at the state meet. North Allegheny's Keeley Misutka is the top returner for her team this year after a strong 11th place finish at the state meet last year. She was sixth in the WPIAL last season. NA's Alexa Sundgren (eighth in the district) is also back this season after an impressive freshman season. So is Rachel Hockenberry, a 2018 state medalist and Maura Mlecko, who was 62nd at states last year. All three should be factors near the front.
Oakland Catholic's Tesslyn Helms was fourth at districts and 39th in the state during her breakthrough junior season; she's back and should be a force during her senior year. Speaking of breakthroughs, Pine-Richland's Natalie McLean, who took 11th at districts, was 38th at states, and she'll look for another big stretch run of her season this year. Her teammate Meredith Price -- 12th at districts -- should be close by.
South Fayette's Lauren Iagnemma was third in D7-AA last year and 13th in the state. She moves, along with her team to AAA, and we can expect her to race well with these girls in a new classification. Seneca Valley's trio of rising seniors Dylan Kirchner (ninth in the district), Gabrielle Kutchma (tenth in the district), and Bailey Royhab (42nd in the state) should all make some noise as well. Butler's Jennifer Cichra, Shaler Area's Samantha Hennen, and upper Saint Clair's Claire Hoffman are among the other talented returners in the WPIAL this fall.
Team Preview
It was a repeat for the North Allegheny girls in AAA last fall, as the Tigers took home another state title at Hershey during another strong season on the trails. Pulling off a three-peat is never easy, but this is a talented squad with a good culture that will look to retool and compete for some more hardware in 2020.
Gone is the team's leader from last season Hannah Lindgren, who graduated, but returning is Misutka, Mlecko, Sundgren, and Hockenberry -- a solid top four. NA will turn to its depth to fill out the varsity team and compete for the district and state crowns.
It won't be easy, though, with a number of very strong teams in western PA, as per usual. Upper Saint Clair was third in the district and then ran its best race of the season at Hershey a week later to take fourth in the state. USC has a tight pack with a 1-5 gap right around 30 seconds. It returns five varsity girls from its district meet squad last year (four from its states lineup). If those girls can move up in the field, this is a very dangerous team to keep an eye on.
Seneca Valley earned the other state spot out of the WPIAL last year and then went on to place eighth at Hershey. Six varsity girls are back, and the Raiders will have a good shot at competing for the district title after an impressive 2019 campaign.
The AA team state champions from South Fayette move to AAA this season, which make things even more interesting in the WPIAL's large school classification. The SF title squad loses a pair of graduated girls, but brings back a good core led by Iagnemma and Angelina Gabriel, who was 24th in the state as a freshman. While it's a step up in classification, South Fayette will still be right in the mix for a state spot this fall.
Pine-Richland was fourth in the district last season, with a young squad that brings back six varsity girls this season. P-R was an unlucky fourth in the district last year, but should be right up there as well, battling it out for a top three spot with some great potential. Oakland Catholic, Butler, Moon Area, and Mount Lebanon are among the other teams that have a shot to make it to states in the very strong WPIAL Class AAA.
There are just three state spots allotted to D7-AAA, which is really a shame because a number of deserving squads have to stay home each year. Nonetheless, it will be another exciting season in the WPIAL with a number of state caliber squads duking it out.