Mia Cochran described the course for the PIAA cross country championships as soft in some spots. But when she crossed the finish line, she had a spot in WPIAL history next to a legend.
Cochran, a junior at Moon, won the PIAA Class 3A championship in Hershey for the second consecutive year, finishing with a time of 18 minutes, 28 seconds. Her time was 18 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Since the PIAA started staging girls championships in 1974, Cochran is only the second girl from the WPIAL to win back-to-back state titles in the largest classification. The other is Baldwin’s Carole Zajac, who won in 1988-89. Zajac is one of the best distance runners in Pennsylvania history and went on to win NCAA at Villanova.
“I never knew that. That’s just crazy to me,” Cochran said.
One other WPIAL female runner (Vincentian’s Marianne Abdallah) won three titles in a row from 2013-15, but they came in Class 1A.
This year’s championship was much different than last year for Cochran. In the past, all contestants ran in one race for each classification. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, each classification had three races this season. Second-place finisher Caryn Rippey of Wilson did not even run in the same race as Cochran.
“She ran before me, so I had no clue going into my race what she ran,” Cochran said. “It was pretty interesting. It was so much harder without having people pushing you. Plus, it was pretty hot.”
Cochran was one of two champions from the WPIAL. The other was Shenango senior Carmen Medvit, who won the Class 1A girls championship with a time of 20:16. Medvit also was the WPIAL champion.
The next-best finisher from the WPIAL — boys or girls — was Brownsville sophomore Jolena Quarzo, who won a silver medal in Class 2A girls with a time of 19:38. Blue Mountain junior Olivia Haas was first in 18:56.
In team competition, North Allegheny had the brooms out for the second time in three years as the Tigers pulled off a sweep of the Class 3A boys and girls championships.
The North Allegheny boys won with 49 points. Junior Scott Nalepa was North Allegheny’s top finisher in eighth place at 16:33.
The North Allegheny girls won with a score of 59. Senior Keeley Misutka placed fifth for North Allegheny in 19:10.
First Published: November 7, 2020, 11:52 p.m.
