Palya makes most of Everhart Invitational
Laurel Highlands’ Jeffrey Palya patiently bided his time, making his move to the front of the pack on his terms and never slowing down Saturday morning to win the A.J. Everhart Invitational hosted by Uniontown on the grounds of Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. A pack of runners, including Connellsville’s Joe Villaneuva, went out hard early in the race. Palya expected the frantic start so he just fell into his pace and steadily moved up on the field.
“They went out hard. I expected it,” said Palya. “I set the pace up the first long hill. I just went out in the first mile to get a feel for the field.”
The race was almost a mirror of his last effort when the Mustangs hosted Connellsville in a Section 2-AAA meet. Palya went out and set the pace with Villaneuva in tow not too far behind.
Though official times were not available in the boys race, Palya won his first Everhart title in 17:27 with about the same cushion he had over Villaneuva when they ran Tuesday.
“I was surprised,” Palya said of the spaced-out finish. “I know there’s a lot of schools here.”
Palya missed last year’s race with an intestinal ailment, so that, coupled with this being his senior year, gave him a lot of incentive.
“I definitely wanted to win. Just to be running again is a gift from God,” said Palya.
The last place Villaneuva thought he would be was leading the pack early in the race.
“I wasn’t expecting me to be in front,” said Villaneuva. “A little past the mile mark, Palya took over and dominated the hill like I expected he would. He put in on the second time up the hill. He’s just tremendous.”
Villaneuva was pleased with his finish, an improvement of five places from last year.
“(Palya) was in front of me going up the last hill. I figured it was now or never, so I pushed it up the hill.”
Given the way the two have run in the recent past, Villaneuva, the defending county champion, really seems to feed off the Laurel Highlands senior.
“If he can do well at the WPIALs, I should do okay.”
The race for the team title began to develop after the two runners finished, and Norwin had the strongest pack with three runners in the top 15 and all five in the top 25, led by Larry Lenhart in third and Josh Hooke in fifth, to win the team title with 56 points.
Connellsville wasn’t far behind in second with 77 points. Arlo Helms won an individual medal by finishing seventh. Alan Nedley (14th) and Jeremy Molinaro (20th) gave the Falcons four finishers in the top 25.
Southmoreland’s Chris Kiefer earned his first top-10 medal by finishing sixth. Since he wasn’t familiar with most of the runners, he came in with a simple philosophy.
“I just wanted to run hard and improve on last year,” said Kiefer, who also plays soccer for the Scotties. “I wanted to be in the top five.
“This was my last time here and I wanted to run hard. I knew if I stayed with (Connellsville’s Joe) Villaneuva and (Arlo) Helms, it would be a good race.”
Greensburg Salem’s Tony Salvio was eighth, Taylor Allderdice’s Aaron Weidonan finished ninth and Franklin Regional’s Kevin Baldaserve was 10th.
NOTES: Laurel Highlands coach Bob Costello will keep his streak alive this morning as only one of 27 runners to compete in every Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race, started back in 1977. … Uniontown’s John O’Neil was the first runner to finish from the host team in 24th place. … Waynesburg Central’s Heath Jacobs (26th), Brownsville’s Cameron Coffey (47th) and Frazier’s Steve Cowen (72nd) led their respective teams home. … Albert Gallatin’s Logan Howard, the lone Colonial to finish, placed 31st.