24th Annual Centaur Invitational 2001

Center Valley, PA

Meet Information

3.1 miles

Sunny, Warm

Stepp and defending District 11 champ Paula Giguere, now a soph., should give Parkland a great chance to repeat as state champs. (photo: Craig Lowthert)

Katie Stepp, a freshman transfer from Ohio, has burst onto the PA XC scene with a bang, taking her first high school invitational against teammate and defending District 11 champ Paula Gigurie, and several other state medallists. That makes the road easier for the defending state champions. But does it? They were defeated in this race by Easton 73-79 which placed five runners in the top twenty. Stepp outkicked Red Lion's Kate Papenberg to win by just three seconds with a 19:24 on the tough course. In the boys race, Council Rock showed early season strength that everyone feared they had, beating a strong Hatboro-Horsham team 49-97. Mike DiDio won the race in 16:17.

(PHOTO AND RESULTS COURTESY OF CRAIG LOWTHERT)

A new star was born on the local cross country scene at Saturday's Centaur Invitational
at DeSales University, but the big splash made by Parkland's Kate Stepp was overcome by
a sea of red.

Make that a sea of Red Rovers.

Stepp won the girls race, but Easton won the team championship and served notice to the
defending state champion Trojans that they will not have an easy road to a repeat.

The Red Rovers placed five girls among the top 20 scorers to edge the reigning PIAA
queens 79-73 in the first big meet of the 2001 season.