Area runners have stellar fall season
No one can deny that it has been a great fall season for Greene County high school athletics, maybe one of the best in recent history. No matter the sport, it seems like multiple teams and individuals have done more than make the area proud of their sporting accomplishments.
Nearly everyone in and around Waynesburg is well aware of the dominant first few months of the school year put forward by the Red and Black that included three section titles, not to mention Aaron Yorio’s hole-in-one that led to a trip to the PIAA championships.
Though the WCHS football team didn’t qualify for the postseason, two of the other four county schools punched their respective tickets. Mapletown will travel to Northgate to face the Flames on Friday, while the Tri-County South champions from Carmichaels will host Springdale. Speaking of the Mighty Mikes, the volleyball team faced off with Greensburg Central Catholic on Tuesday after advancing to the WPIAL quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
Whether it is football, soccer, volleyball or golf, the county has carved out a spot in all these sports. However, there is one form of competition that local athletes have found more success in than any as the temperature has dropped and the leaves have faded from green to shades of red and yellow.
Cross country, both high school and college, has enjoyed just as much, if not more success than its fellow fall sports inside the county borders. Just in case you don’t keep up on the latest developments in recent distance running competition, here is some of the news upon which you have been missing out.
The Waynesburg Central boys will be represented at Friday’s PIAA AA Championships by the senior/junior duo of Ben Bumgarner and Cade Rush. Bumgarner came just three second shy of accomplishing his goal of a WPIAL title, while Rush placed 15th in the 211-runner field.
After grabbing more than their respective shares of headlines this past winter and spring, Madison and McKenna Lampe have once again reached the highest level of a sport in which they are competing. While most know the pair for leading the West Greene girls basketball and softball teams into the postseason, particularly during last year’s run to PIAA Class A softball title game, the two added some more impressive individual accolades to their respective resumes.
The twin stars both placed in the top 18 of the WPIAL Class A Championships, which qualified them for the state championship meet. McKenna Lampe finished in ninth place overall, while Madison completed the course in 18th place.
Last, but certainly not least, the Waynesburg University women’s cross country team completed a race that began all the way back in August, when it was picked as the heavy preseason favorites to win the recent Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Championships. The Yellow Jackets not only lived up to those lofty expectations by claiming the program’s first league crown, but exceeded them by dominating the field at Saint Vincent College.
Waynesburg grabbed eight of the top 10 spots in terms of individual finish, including the top two, which were claimed by another pair of swift-footed twins, seniors Emily and Katie Latimer. Ironically, it was Katie who typically finished ahead of her sister throughout the 2016 campaign, but the day belonged to Emily, who became the school’s first-ever PAC individual women’s cross country champion.
The Jackets also grabbed the conference’s team sportsmanship award and veteran head coach Chris Hardie picked up his second PAC Women’s Coach of the Year award in the past three seasons. The squad now turns its attention to the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 12.