Pictured Above - Benjamin McBride at the Riverside Kickoff - Photo by David Nguyen
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As conference and league meets are in full swing, standout youngsters continue to impress during the Championship portion of the season.
The Pennsylvania season will continue through November, with post-season competition extending to December. In that time, we'll be highlighting some of our "Future Stars".
These are athletes, typically underclassmen, who have the potential to be stars tomorrow. We will highlight a couple of athletes each week.
Forest Hills • Class of 2028
Freshman Bella Asherl is wasting no time to make a name for herself.
She is the current PA No. 2 1A runner with a personal best of 18:36.00, which she recently ran on October 16th at the LHAC Championships, where she finished fourth. Ascherl finished 14 seconds behind fellow 1A District 6 competitor and current state leader Natalia Mavridis (Richland), who is coming off of a breakthrough track season in which she placed seventh in the 2A 3200 at the PIAA State Championships.
Ascherl's league meet wasn't her breakthrough performance this year but another consistent step towards her rising potential. On October 5th, she won the Bald Eagle Invitational in 18:50.93, cracking the 19-minute mark for the first time.
With a few weeks to go before the PIAA State Championships, Ashcerl is already proving to be one of PA's top 1A contenders.
Norwin • Class of 2028
It's not every day you see stand-out freshmen, so when two are from the same school, they shouldn't be overlooked.
Benjamin McBride and William Little are two Norwin Knights from the class of 2028 who are high-level 3A competitors in the WPIAL (District 7).
McBride boasts an impressive personal best of 16:35.00 from the WCCA Championship, where he finished sixth, beating many top WPIAL competitors. McBride was his team's fourth runner, critical to their league meet victory.
Another stand-out performance for McBride this season was his 16:42.48 fifth-place finish at the Bald Eagle Invitational. He was his team's fourth runner on that day.
As for William Little, he rocks a personal best of 16:51.89 from the Bald Eagle Invitational, a time that shouldn't be overlooked for a freshman. He was the team's fifth and final scoring runner in the race.
Both boys have already run impressive times and have the potential to be integral parts of Norwin's success in the postseason.