Leader of the pack: Lady Raiders’ Trimmer area’s top runner
Grace Trimmer had a late start to her final cross country season because she was in concussion protocol for the first month.
The Uniontown senior truly hit the ground running, though, with first-place finishes in the A.J. Everhart Invitational, TSTCA Cross Country Championship and FCCA Cross Country Championship, a silver medal in the WPIAL Class AA Championship, and a fifth-place finish in the state meet.
Trimmer truly ran away from the local field for repeat honors as the Herald-Standard Girls Runner of the Year.
Trimmer also led the Lady Raiders to the section and county team titles.
Teammate Charley Murtha joins Trimmer on the first team. The freshman earned a berth into the PIAA Class AA Championship after she finished 18th in the district meet. She was All-County by placing eighth overall in the FCCA Championship.
Albert Gallatin senior Mia Medved returned after a year hiatus for a strong season. Medved finished second to Trimmer in the county meet and A.J. Everhart Invitational.
Medved had the misfortune of competing in the Class AAA race in the district meet. She placed 34th overall with a time of 19:47.7, finishing 10 spots and 17 seconds from the last PIAA qualifying berth. Had Medved competed in Class AA as the Albert Gallatin boys had, the senior would’ve finished in the top 10 and went to the state meet.
Laurel Highlands teammates Isabella Baker and Taylor Schwertfeger both had solid fall seasons for a first-team nod.
Baker placed third in the county meet, fourth in the Everhart Invitational and 13th in the WPIAL Class AA Championship for a berth into the state final. Schwertfeger placed fifth in the FCCA meet and Everhart Invitational, and also earned a spot in the state meet after finishing 24th in the WPIAL Championship.
Southmoreland’s Lexi Ohler had a solid season. The senior finished third in the Everhart Invitational, eighth in the WCCA meet and earned a berth into the state meet after she finished fourth in the WPIAL Class AA final.
Belle Vernon freshman Brooklyn Steeber had quite a first season after she finished fourth in the FCCA Championship and 14th in the WPIAL Class AA meet for a berth into the state final.
Ringgold sophomore Lily Brenneman rounds out the first team Brenneman finished second in the Washington County Coaches Association meet and earned a berth in the state meet after she finished 21st in the WPIAL Class AA meet.
Connellsville’s Abby Zavatchan and Zoey Thomas, Geibel Catholic’s Emma Larkin, Uniontown’s Paisley Murtha and Arrington Scott, and California Lucia Meiss receive honorable mention recognition.
Joe Everhart led the Uniontown girls to section and county team titles, as well as a fourth-place finish in the WPIAL Class AA final.
NOTES: Ohler, Meiss and Steeber, along with Belle Vernon’s Lily Walsh, Bella Tatar and Heidi Beitler, all earned Section 5-AA first-team all-section honors. … Belle Vernon’s Claire Sokol and Calvary Chapel Christian School’s Chelsea Glumac and Rosie Startare earned honorable mention recognition. Greensburg C.C.’s Shea House, daughter of Max House and Margaret Zylka House, also was named to the honorable mention squad.