For a second straight week, the North Allegheny girls and boys put forth a dominant performance at a major meet.
Last week, it was at the Red, White & Blue Classic. This time, it was across state lines at the Boardman Spartan Invitational in Youngstown, Ohio. The Tigers took home team titles in the meet's premiere varsity races, D1 against some of Ohio's top squads. NA, which swept AAA team titles last year at the PIAA State Championships, have shown that that sweep could be in the cards again in 2021.
NA Girls Edge Out Morgantown Again
The North Allegheny girls beat out West Virginia squad Morgantown at Red, White & Blue last week by five points. At Boardman on Saturday, the gap was three points, but it was once again a victory for the Tigers. NA scored 72 points to Morgantown's 75 for the D1 team title.
Leading the way for NA was freshman Wren Kucler, who went 19:02 for third overall, the top Pennsylvania girl in the race. NA put two others in the top ten with sophomore Eva Kynaston taking sixth (19:15) and freshman Robin Kucler placing eighth (19:34). Senior Maura Mlecko was 21st in 20:19 and freshman Camille Swirsding was 34th in 20:34 to round out the top five for the Tigers.
It was another impressive run for NA, with three freshman in the top five and a 1:31 gap for its 1 through 5 runners. The Tigers topped the strong Morgantown (WV) team and third-ranked D1 Ohio squad, Shaker Heights.
Pine-Richland's Meredith Price was fourth overall in 19:09 for her third strong performance in as many weeks. The same goes for Mount Lebanon's Logan St. John Kletter, who came across fifth in 19:13 for her third strong race of the season so far. In the team standings, Pine-Richland was seventh, while Mount Lebanon placed 15th.
NA Boys Ride Another Conservative Start To Victory
Just like they did at Red, White & Blue, the North Allegheny boys went out relatively slow, but the Tigers made some big moves to capture the team title. NA scored 105 points to roll to the team victory by 51 points over second place over Ohio's fourth-ranked team St. Ignatius.
The freshman led the way once again, with Jack Bertram as NA's top boy on Saturday. Bertram went 16:33 to take sixth place, moving up from 14th at the midway point in the race. Senior Scott Nalepa was 14th overall in 16:42 and senior Ryan Podnar took 22nd in 16:56. Graham Wolfe was 29th, Michael Gauntner was 34th and Gregory Kossuth took 37th. The pack running was on full display again this week; it was a slim 37-second 1 through 5 spread for NA.
Taylor Allderdice had another strong team showing, placing 12th in the D1 team standings. Holden Eagle was 20th and Jack Barnhisel was 21st, both running 16:51.