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Butler runners headed to state meet

It had been a decade since the Butler girls cross country team qualified for the state championships.

Golden Tornado coach Rick Davanzati felt it was time for that streak to end — and his runners agreed.

Led by Danica Snyder's 17th-place time of 19 minutes, 32 seconds, Butler placed fourth in the team standings at Thursday's WPIAL Class AAA Championship at Cooper's Lake.

The top four teams from the WPIAL will compete at the PIAA title meet Nov. 7 in Hershey.

"All year, I tried to tell the girls that they have the ability to go to states," said Davanzati. "But it's going to come down to believing in yourselves and putting it all together at WPIALs."

Also making the trip for Butler will be Ashton Dolan, Katresa Savisky, Trisha Brandt, Rachel Ferguson, Ashley Crawford and Alexis Swiergol.

Rachel Konieczny will serve as an alternate for Butler's girls.

Class AA Girls: Freeport freshman Kayla Zboran placed second at Cooper's Lake.Her time of 19:35 seconds was five seconds behind Quaker Valley's Sarah Miller, who won the title at 19:30."It's her first year, but I had a feeling that she could place in the top five or even win it if everything went well," said Freeport coach Bob Livrone."She had the lead with about 200 meters to go, then the girl from QV passed her," added Livrone. "But Kayla ran a smart race today."

Seneca Valley's Andrew Razanauskas (seventh, 16:19), and Butler's Evan Gomez (26th, 16:51) and Grant Baron (28th, 16:54) are going to Hershey, as is Freeport's Nick Gentile, who placed 11th in the Class AA meet at 17:19.Following are results from the WPIAL Cross Country Championships, held Thursday at Cooper's Lake.The names of runners who qualified for the PIAA Championship meet are in boldface type.<B>Class AAA Girls</B><B>Butler (4th):</B> <B>17-Danica Snyder 19:32, 25-Ashton Dolan 19:48, 47-Katresa Savisky 20:27, 63-Trisha Brandt 20:43, 75-Rachel Ferguson 20:56, 76-Ashley Crawford 20:56, 77-Alexis Swiergol 20:57</B><B>Knoch (8th):</B> 30-Emilee Hertweck 19:57, 57-Jolene Kunkel 20:39, 59-Cristina Corigliano 20:41, 62-Shannon Evanchec 20:43, 92-Katie Jones 21:14, 206-Val Travis 23:14, 222-Nikki Binnie 23:39<B>Mars (20th):</B> 86-Maggie McChesney 21:07, 108-Samantha Brandon 21:25, 138-Phoebe Pierre 21:53, 141-Gabri Pierre 21:58, 145-Michelle Perri 22:02, 178-Carly Clark 22:36, 205-Elizabeth Parsons 23:13<B>Seneca Valley (23rd):</B> 36-Erin Lopresti 20:10, 135-Lauren McKinney 21:50, 147-Emily Seibert 22:05, 168-Ally Zezinka 22:28, 169-Liz Buechele 22:29, 185-Grace Saluga 22:44, 204-Kristen McKinney 23:11<B>Class AAA Boys</B><B>Butler (10th):</B> <B>26-Evan Gomez 16:51, 28-Grant Baron 16:54</B>, 78-Evan Bauer 17:45, 95-Steven Stauffer 17:58, 103-Adam Olsen 18:07, 120-Lance Dugger 18:14, 125-Christopher Grooms 18:18<B>Knoch (13th): </B>35-KJ McCrea 16:58, 47-Van McCarren 17:18, 64-Dillon Schwertz 17:35, 71-Chris Cetnar 17:40, 198-Paul Kletzli 18:53, 218-Ethan Hacker 19:10, 234-Grayson Hixon 19:24<B>Seneca Valley (19th):</B> <B>7-Andrew Razanauskas 16:19</B>, 65-Alex Mascio 17:36, 132-Brendon Lemmex 18:20, 177-Jake Perri 18:48, 189-Chris Matessa 18:50, 219-Elijah Brinker 19:10, 264-Andrew Schroeder 19:55<B>Mars (39):</B> 113-Scott Slaney 18:12, 124-Sean Gannon 18:16, 249-Zach McManus 19:37, 276-Jacob Hunter 20:14, 279-Colby Mathews 20:16, 287-Grant Arnold 20:36, 298-Ryan Winner 21:07<B>Class AA Girls</B><B>Freeport (15th):</B> <B>2-Kayla Zboran 19:35</B>, 106-Lauren Screen 23:56, 124-Carol Amadee 24:35, 149-Zoe Reitz 25:28, 158-Julia D'Amico 25:57, 179-Cheyenne Conrad 26:42, 181-Rachel Sadecky 26:43<B>Class AA BoysFreeport (21st):</B> <B>11-Nick Gentile 17:19</B>, 50-Kevin Keppel 18:28, 151-Eric Snyder 20:17, 163-Lucas Kubeldis 20:29, 190-Kyle Zboran 21:14, 232-Zach Will 22:18, 256-Joey Sadecky 23:52

Maura Randolph had 15 kills and Camblin Leonard added 12 as the Planets blanked Quaker Valley 25-12, 25-22, 25-20 in a first-round WPIAL Class AA playoff match at Blackhawk.Lara Caraway added 10 digs and Madie Hudac had 37 assists for the Planets, who play the Indiana-Kittanning winner in the quarterfinal round next week.<B>South Fayette 3, Knoch 0 — </B>Stephanie Eagal and Julia Kleinfelder had five kills apiece, and Jessica Gross chipped in with 14 assists, but the Knights lost this first-round WPIAL Class AA playoff match to the host Lions.

In PIHL Class A action, Knoch defeated Freeport 4-1 while Mars blanked South Fayette 5-0.No details were available.

In a battle of two teams headed to the District 10 soccer playoffs, Grove City and Mercer battled to a scoreless tie Wednesday.The Eagles (13-3-2) managed five shots on goal while goalie Luke Biddle made two saves.Grove City will face Erie Central Tech in the district quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Monday at Harbor Creek High.

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