CROSS COUNTRY: Chambersburg has strong showing in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH >> The Chambersburg cross country team had a successful trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday for the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Invitational at Schenley Oval.

The Trojan girls placed second in the team standings with 81 points, just behind Oakland Catholic's 77, and ahead of Butler (121) and Mt. Lebanon (153). The boys placed fourth with 100 points, behind Mt. Lebanon (70), Central Catholic (75) and Davis Hilliard, Ohio (93).

For the girls, Abby Yourkavitch was the runner-up for the three-mile race with a time of 18:17.30, trailing only Lauren Finikiotis of Oakland Catholic (18:14.20). Kaylee Mowery placed third in 18:34.

"I think this was our best team performance of the year," Chambersburg girls coach Chris Monheim said. "The conditions were bad, but Abby was great again today. She led nearly the whole race but was out-kicked at the end. Kaylee had her best cross country race ever – it was a breakthrough performance. The gap between her and Abby is getting smaller."

Also for the Trojans, Cadie Kiser took 14th in 19:36, Sydney Parson was 29th in 20:31 and Livvy Sommers placed 34th in 20:49.

Monheim said, "Cadie Kiser backed Abby and Kaylee up with a big race, and Sydney Parson also had a big meet. Three or four weeks ago, she was a JV runner, but she's moved up every meet."

Trojan boys coach John Ambrosio was also pleased with his team's performance.

"It was our best invitational of the year," he said. "We were up against some good teams and got fourth, and our time gap was only 43 seconds – that's what we need to have a shot at getting to states."

The top five Chambersburg runners were Chris Wurtz (11th, 16:38), Alex Hayden (12th, 16:38), Tanner Amsley (20th, 16:50), Andrew Feldman (27th, 17:10) and Matt Hoover (34th, 17:19).

Ambrosio said, "I was proud of their attitude, because they embraced the bad conditions. We're getting better every trip out. Amsley had a good race and was right behind the top two. Feldman was strong again and Hoover really impressed by cracking our top five again."

Pittsburgh C.C. Invitational

Note: No official results were available.

Other Chambersburg boys: 37.Quinn Mangan 17:24, 46.Ian Mangan 17:39, 57.Patrick Zook 18:00, 59.Dylan Culler 18:01.

Other Chambersburg girls: 49.Cassie Essie 21:20, 52.Rachael Sollars 21:22, 53.Ally Neidigh 21:23, 65.Maddie Essis 21-40, 97.Kami Schuler 23:08.