At the Team Nationals Championship in Portland, the North Allegheny girls and Episcopal Academy boys closed their historic seasons.
The North Allegheny contingent came out to play at the big dance. The Tigers employed their signature strategy and had success yet again, as they climbed to a 15th-place finish. Led by Wren Kucler, the squad's front four stayed closely connected.
They stayed within a minute of each other. Kucler crossed the line in 61st with just 28 team points. Her 18:17 was impressive on a day mired by windy conditions. Grace Rowley, Eva Kynaston, Erin McGoey, and Robin Kucler rounded out NA's Top 5 and secured a 19:05 1-5 average.
Add in Camile Swirsding and Kendall Lucas, and the team averaged 19:27 through its starting seven.
JoJo Quarzo was the first of three individual Pennsylvanians to cross the line. She finished in 37th and narrowly cracked 18-minutes (17:59).
Carolyn Tarpley (Downingtown West) finished 20-seconds behind her in 64th. Claire Zubey (Owen J Roberts) was just behind her in 90th. The Episcopal Academy boys were able to conclude a dream season on a high note. They averaged 16:30 and a trademark compression of 36 seconds.
The Episcopal boys ran as Newtown Square | Picture by NY MileSplit
The Episcopal Academy boys were able to end a dream season on a high note. They averaged 16:30 and a trademark compression of 36 seconds. Episcopal enjoyed the fourth-fastest compression at the meet.
Episcopal enjoyed the fourth-fastest compression at the meet. Aidan McHugh cracked the Top 100, running 16:13 and snagging 58 team points. Then Michael Woolery, Dakin Ebmeyer, Dawson French, Ethan Zhou, and Eli Engelman finished with 27 seconds of each other. Connor Hanrahan was not far off from that group.
Episcopal finished 21st in the Nation.
Overall, it was a solid day for the Pennsylvania natives who raced in Portland. Both teams and individuals will turn their attention to the Indoor Track season.