BY SCOTT WALSH
Times-Shamrock Writer
Elk Lake’s girls’ cross country team finished second at the PIAA Class AA girls’ team standings on Saturday in Hershey. In the front row, from left, are Kellie Grosvenor, Elizabeth Trowbridge, Cassie Salsman, Jenny VanEtten, Lainey Bedell and Kirsten Hollister, back row, coach Marc Weisgold, Emily Williams, Abby Zdancewicz, Maria Trowbridge and coach Will Squier. PHOTO COURTESY OF ED KING
Three points. That’s all that separated the Elk Lake girls from a second straight state cross country title.
Last year when they won the Class AA crown, the Lady Warriors scored 77 points. On Saturday, they totaled 75, but still fell just short of District 1St.BasilAcademyat the PIAA Championships at the Parkview Cross Country Course.
Senior Maria Trowbridge and freshman Jenny VanEtten ledElkLake, finishing 11th and 15th, respectively, to earn individual state medals.
However, St. Basil placed its first four runners in the top 42 and scored 72 points to force the Lady Warriors to settle for the silver.
Second place wound up being the theme forElkLake. Later, in the Class AA boys race, junior Luke Jones ran 16 minutes, 17 seconds to finish second behindNorth Schuylkill junior Brendan Shearn, who ran16:15.
Despite the two near-misses, there wasn’t any disappointment to be found in theElkLakecamp.
“Just to have the opportunity to come to states and race is amazing in itself,” Trowbridge said. “To come away with a medal is overwhelming. We’re so happy and blessed to be able to do what we have.”
According to coach Will Squier,ElkLake’s girls had their worst race of the season at the District 2 Championships – even though they wound up second in the team standings.
In the days leading up to the state meet, the Lady Warriors worked hard to bounce back and they did.
It just wasn’t enough.
“We ran a great race and came up three points short,” Squier said. “We were in there against a real great team. Going into this race, looking at all the stats, we felt St. Basil was the team to beat. We did everything we could. It was close.”
Trowbridge sparked the Lady Warriors’ surge. She struggled at districts and finished 16th, but rebounded Saturday to run19:39.
“I’ve been struggling with some different things. I’ve had a touch of anemia and I’ve been tired, exhausted,” Trowbridge said. “I didn’t have my best race at districts. The same thing happened last year and I was a little nervous and anxious today.
“But this was my last (high school) race. Being a senior, I knew I just had to leave it all out there and run for the other girls on the team.”
VanEtten admitted she wasn’t expecting to win a state medal because she is only a freshman. But she wound getting one after crossing the finish line in19:44.
“Earlier this season, we came down here for the (PIAA) Foundation race and I think that benefitted me,” VanEtten said. “That day, I was nervous because it was the state course. But today, I knew what to expect and what had to be done. I was more comfortable.”
Junior Kirsten Hollister placed 31st in20:28. Junior Lainey Bedell was 57th in20:57. Senior Abby Zdancewicz was the team’s fifth runner across the line in 79th in21:10, but the Lady Warriors still could not overtake St. Basil.
Emily Williams (21:58, 138th) and Kellie Grosvenor (22:53, 210th), both juniors, wereElkLake’s sixth and seventh runners.
“In years past, we’ve won a couple by one or two points,”ElkLakecoach Marc Weisgold said. “Sometimes it shakes out your way, sometimes you fall a couple points short. But the effort was there by all the girls.”
Elk Lake’s Luke Jones, right, trails behind first place finisher Brendan Sheam, left, during the PIAA Class AA boys’ race in Hershey. Jones went on to finish second at 16:17. PHOTO COURTESY OF ED KING
As for Jones, both he and the coaches credited senior teammate Will Bennett for helping Jones get ready for the state meet.
Bennett is Elk Lake’s No. 2 runner and someone, Squier insists, would have contended for a state medal.
But at the District 2 Championships, Bennett picked an inopportune time to have a bad day. He placed 36th and failed to qualify for states.
Rather than pack it in for the season, Bennett practiced daily with Jones. According to Squier and Weisgold, the workouts were not easy.
“I just tried to work him as hard as possible to make sure he was prepared for this race and stayed focused,” Bennett said. “I was just trying to support him and be a good teammate.”
Jones was grateful for what Bennett did.
“He’s really a good person to do that,” Jones said. “I respect him a lot and was really excited he came down here to watch me run.”
After the first mile, Jones was in eighth place. At the two-mile mark, he was tied for fourth with Holy Cross’ Rico Galassi.
In the third mile, Jones moved into second place and tried reeling in Shearn on the final hill before the finish line. But Shearn was able to hold him off, forcing Jones to settle for second.
Jones’ time would have placed him seventh in the Class AAA race.
“We told Luke how to run this race and what he needed to do and he did it exactly,” Squier said. “He ran the race perfect.”
The Blue Ridge boys’ team, who took second in District II to earn a berth to states as a team, finished 13th with 300 points in the team standings, as Quaker Valley took first with 90 points.
Coming in first for the Raiders was Jake Hinkley, who took 79th overall at17:51.
Hinkley was followed by teammates Michael Robbs in 116th at18:04, Teejay Loomis in 132nd at18:14, Chris Carlsen in 142nd at18:18, Ethan Mansfield in 214th at18:56, Patrick Cramer in 253rd at19:37and George Ward in 254th at19:37.
In the girls’ race, Montrose’s Samantha Bennici took 91st overall with a time of21:17. Also competing wasBlue Ridge’s Casey Purdum who took 93rd at21:19.
Susquehanna’s Ivy Christensen placed 114th at21:39and Montrose Area’s Allison Lewis took 185th at22:34.
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