PIAA Championship Preview: Class A Girls

Northeast Bradford will be on the hunt for gold on Saturday, led by two consistent front runners, Gracelyn Laudermilch and Anaiah Kolesar. They won the District 4 title by placing their top five runners in the top 20. 

Out of District 2, Montrose is a team that will be upfront. They won their district title with a respectful 1:52 1-5 split putting five runners in the top 11. The only concern for this team is that they don't have a six or seven runner to add depth or act as displacers. However, this hasn't seemed to faze the squad, as they have competed well all season. 

York Catholic is a solid team that has gained much momentum this season. From winning the PIAA Foundation meet to taking the District 3 title and finishing 1-2-3-5 last weekend. This team looks ready for a battle. 

York Catholic Head Coach discusses crucial District 3 Title

Winchester Thurston and Elk County Catholic are two teams that can mix things up. These squads tied for second at the PIAA Foundation meet this year and won their respective district (Winchester Thurston - District 7, Elk County Catholic - District 9). 

The 1A girls will kick off the action on Saturday. Even with a clear favorite, it should still be a fun race to watch and there are many runners capable of earning a medal.

Virginia Kraus (Moravian Academy), a freshman, is coming into the state championship meet with a lot of momentum. She is the only 1A runner to run under the 18-minute-barrier this year. Doing that once is impressive, but she has done it twice. Once at the Northampton Cross Country Invitational, where she won the race in 17:55.00, and again at Paul Short, where she took 4th in the Brown race running 17:52.30. Kraus is also the District 11 individual champion. If the young star can keep up the strong performances, she has excellent odds of earning a state title.

Virginia Kraus after her District 11 Win.

Things start getting interesting when you look at the top two individuals coming out of District 10. Annasophia Viccari (West Middlesex), a freshman, and Willow Myers (Mercer Area), a senior, have been looking strong this season. Viccari has had a solid freshman campaign. She stepped-up last weekend when she beat Myers, an experienced veteran of the sport, to take the individual district title. It will be fun to watch these two run on Saturday. Expect to see Myers improve from her 9th-place finish last year.

Kate Moncavage (Southern Columbia Area) is another returning state medalist competing on Saturday. Moncavage earned the 7th place medal last year, and she'll be gunning for a top 5 finish. Her most notable performance this season was at the 2022 SHIK/PHAC Invitational, where she won in a time of 18:54.00. She is also the champion out of District 4. Gracelyn Laudermilch (Northeast Bradford), the runner-up from District 4, is another capable contender. She finished 53rd last year but has noticeably improved this season, running as fast as 18:58.70 at the Owego Invitational.

Grace Neubert (Elk County Catholic) not only won the District 9 title in a time of 19:10.20, but back in September, she also won the PIAA Foundation Meet. She is also the returning 5th-place medalist from last year.

Out of the WPIAL, expect to see Chelsea Hartman (Shady Side Academy) at the front. She's the District 7 champion and finished 14th last year at the state meet in 2021. There's also a good chance of seeing Lexi Fluharty (Riverside), District 7 runner-up, in medal contention. She finished 53rd last year but has significantly improved this year.

Chelsea Hartman after winning the District 7 Title

District 3 champion Madeline Murphy (York Catholic) and 2022 PIAA Foundation Meet runner-up is one to watch out for.

Karis McElhaney (York Catholic), Hope Hearing (Eden Christian Academy), and Alexis Abbet (Aquinas Academy of Pittsburgh) are other runners to keep an eye on.