Sep 11, 2002 By Jim Downey 3 min read

HILLER – From Josh Crable’s lean at the finish line to a trio of Falcons holding of Waynesburg Central’s Jeff Fox, the Brownsville boys cross country team had everything fall into place Tuesday for a pair of hard-fought Section 4-AA home victories. Brownsville avenged so many close losses to the Raiders with a 27-29 win over Waynesburg. The Falcons had no trouble with Fort Cherry for a 19-38 win while Waynesburg salvaged a split with a 23-34 victory.

Waynesburg was the defending section champion and used a victory at Brownsville last year as a catapult to the title. The finish had many subplots, beginning with the battle for the top spot between Crable and Waynesburg’s Frank Bryan.

The two runners alternated leads throughout the Brownsville course, though Bryan held the edge as the two entered the final home stretch. Bryan faded a bit and Crable used the slight advantage to sprint just ahead of the Waynesburg senior though both were credited with a time of 18:55.

Given the way the race unfolded, with all other things being equal, if Bryan would have finished first then the Raiders and Brownsville would have tied at 28-28 with the edge going to Waynesburg due to displacement of the sixth runner.

Bryan gave it all he had on a road course in temperatures that were around 90 degrees.

“I just ran my hardest. He was hurting, so I surged (late in the race). I try to run as fast as I can. I wanted my time to be a little better.”

Like Bryan, Crable is a middle distance man during track season. He saw Bryan’s leg turnover slowing down, so he made the most of his opportunity in the final one-tenth of the race.

“I could tell his stride was slowing down. (Bryan) ran a heck of a race. He’s the hardest battle I’ve had all year,” Crable said. “(The heat) changed my approach. I couldn’t hold my normal pace because of heat. This is the first time we’ve beat them (in his career).”

The race for the win began to unfold after Waynesburg’s Drew Headlee came in third. A trio of Falcons followed with Charles Brady in third, Cory Watkins fourth and Joe Franks fifth. After three Fort Cherry runners came in, Fox broke the string and led a trio of Raiders home in Matt White, Brad Mirkovich and Jack Haines.

Chris Martin closed the door for Brownsville, and then John Marshall slammed it shut to give the Falcons the edge in the early days of the section race.

Brownsville coach Joe Carei was well aware the race isn’t always run at the front of the pack. It’s often times the guys who are still on the course when the leaders are cooling down that make the difference.

“It was a long time in coming. We deserved it before, but I don’t know if we deserved it today,” Carei said. “This is what we are gunning for. We wanted a good start.

“The No. 2-3-4 guys were it. The No. 6-7-8 guys are more important than No. 1. It’s the ultimate team sport. Cory really stepped up today.”

Waynesburg Central coach Duane Bowers knew the race would be close and realized one of his guys would have to step it up to win.

“I hoped our No. 3 man would be up there a little bit closer. I knew it would be close. We’re evenly matched. Anyone of our guys steps up one place and there’s the race. We’ll have a good season. The top two runners are veterans, but the rest are first-year runners.”