Hooray for Hershey
Red Raiders’ Syner, Davis qualify for state meet
WHITE OAK — Running in what has become his traditional Kit Kat socks at the WPIAL cross country championship meet, Uniontown senior Ethan Syner earned an eighth-place finish in the Class 2A boys race on Thursday at White Oak Park.
Syner crossed the finish line in 16:10 to clinch a second-straight berth in the PIAA Cross Country Championships. The meet is scheduled for next Saturday on the Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.
Syner placed high enough last year to qualify as an individual for the state meet, but the Red Raiders earned a spot as a team.
Uniontown placed ninth on Thursday in the team standings.
Despite another eighth-place finish and running eight seconds faster than last season’s race in the district final, Syner wasn’t jumping for joy after the race, as he was looking to break the 16-minute mark on the course at White Oak Park. He ran 16:00.27 at the Tri-State meet on Oct. 16.
“I would have loved to get in the 15s, but I think it’s due to the weather,” Syner said. “It is 48-degrees right now, and this cold weather just came in three days ago. My body didn’t react to it very well, so I hope to adjust to it before the state meet next week.”
Syner was eighth at the half-mile, mile, two-mile and 2 ½-mile splits, as he did his best to pull in Ringgold’s Dravin Everley, who outlasted Syner for seventh place in a time of 16:08.40.
Both runners pushed each other back-and-forth, as the two have developed a rivalry, but the sportsmanship that is displayed in cross country, which is unlike most sports, was evident as Everley and Syner galloped down the final 10th of a mile to the finish line.
“Ethan and I were pretty much neck-and-neck the whole race,” Everley said. “We were talking to each other and trying to motivate one another to work on passing people. Ethan really pushed it at the end, so I had to do whatever I could to not let him beat me.”
Everley played football his first three years of high school before Rams head coach Jen McMichael convinced him to give cross country a try after track and field ended this past spring. The senior is glad he took his coach’s advice.
“It is awesome to come out here and be able to do this after never running before,” Everley said. “I couldn’t imagine myself doing this probably as early as the spring in track when I was running about 10 miles a week. I am really proud of my team today. They all ran well and hit their PRs (personal records).”
Syner was under the weather last season at the state meet, but hopes to feel 100 percent in what will be his final race in Hershey.
“I was sick at the state meet last year,” Syner said. “It is a very challenging course in Hershey because everyone takes off really fast the first mile, and the second mile is when the hills attack, and that’s where everybody dies. If I pace myself, I should be able to use the hills to my advantage.”
Although the Red Raiders didn’t qualify as a team, Syner will have some company at the starting line, as teammate Logan Davis finished 28th in 17:08.70. The junior was on the team last year that qualified for Hershey, and he hopes the experience will help him this time around.
“It is a really nice feeling to qualify for states as an individual,” Davis said. “We would have liked to get back as a team, but our guys still ran well.
“I didn’t PR today, but I think the weather and the fact that I went out a little too fast at the start were the reasons I didn’t PR. I wanted to keep myself within the top 20 runners because I knew that would be a strong enough finish to get me to the state meet.”
Belle Vernon’s Leonidas Soto just missed the cut in qualifying for the state meet last season, but the junior finished 13th in 16:35.70 to earn a spot in Class 2A boys.
California’s Carter Kent is headed back to Hershey for the third time after the junior finished 18th in 17:15.20 in Class A boys.
Laurel Highlands’ Mason Mahoney was 59th in a time of 17:59.80 in Class 2A boys.
Connellsville’s Ellic Pritts ran a strong race and finished in 16:55.20, but the Falcons compete in Class 3A, and racing in the largest classification hindered Pritts from qualifying for the state meet after he placed 46th overall. The good news for Pritts is that he has three more seasons remaining.