Artie Black became the first Knoch boys cross country runner to advance to the state meet in 16 years, finishing 27th with a time of 17 minutes, 31 seconds at the WPIAL Class AAA cross country meet at Slippery Rock University Thursday.

Black became the first Knights runner to go to the PIAA event since Bill Shaffer qualified in 1988.

Two Butler runners will be joining Black at Hersheypark Nov. 6.

James Rodgerson finished ninth with a time of 16:58 and Ray Melder placed 24th at 17:24 to advance.

In Class AA, Mars' Cody Kier advanced to the state meet with a 13th-place finish in 17:26.

On the girls side, Mars' Brittany Zaborowski missed advancing to Hershey by six seconds.

Class AAA

Boys

Team standings

(Top 4 teams to state; Local qualfiers in bold)

1-North Hills 63, 2-Central Catholic 73, 3-North Allegheny 178, 4-Penn-Trafford 224, 10-Butler 343, 20-Seneca Valley 537, 26-Knoch 643

Butler:

9-James Rodgerson 16:58, 24-Ray Melder 17:24

, 87-Steve Monnie 18:22, 102-Mike Dinger 18:29, 121-John Strutt 18:37

Seneca Valley:

74-Dan Dickey 18:08, 95-Oliver Flynn 18:27, 105-John McPheron 18:30, 123-Cy Fleming 18:37, 140-Ian Carrow 18:46

Knoch:

27-Artie Black 17:31

, 104-Ben Hutterer 18:30, 124-Frankie Moxie 18:38, 185-C.J. Burns 19:23, 204-Chris Racio 1939

Class AAA

Girls

Team standings

1-North Allegheny 144, 2-Oakland Catholic 193, 3-Mt. Lebanon 213, 4-Penn Trafford 219, 15-Mars 467, 18-Butler 542, 25-Seneca Valley 623, 30-Knoch 7:40

Mars:

32-Brittany Zaborowski 20:54, 56-Katie Dederer 21:32, 70-Courtney Moran 21:50, 102-Chloe Pierre 22:33, 207-Caitlin Thompson 24:16

Butler:

76-Karen Geibel 22:01, 85-Sarah Clouse 22:14, 111-Fontaine Graham 22:42, 120-Deanna Diederich 22:50, 150-Nikki Karwoski 23:21

Seneca Valley:

75-Emily Wolsarth 21:55, 96-Lauren Bezier 22:30, 134-Jessica Rinaman 23:06, 137-Melissa Behning 23:10, 181-Jolien Peters 23:49

Knoch:

98-Dana McCarren 22:31, 126-Amber Wilks 22:58, 133-Melissa Balsiger 23:05, 179-Michelle Reimer 23:48, 204-Stephanie Seibert 24:14

Class AA

Boys

Mars:

13-Cody Kier 17:26

, 36-Dan Pierre, 66-Adam Smetana, 83-Mark Stenner, 102-Justin Stadelmyer

Jess Nichols scored on an assist by Helen Phipps with 18 seconds left in the first overtime period to keep the Grove City High School girls soccer team unbeaten with a 2-1 win over Wilmington.Christy Allison scored the first goal for the Eagles (15-0-2). The win also clinched the Region 1 Class AA title for Grove City and assures it a first-round bye in the District 10 playoffs.

Grove City's Dan Van Slyke scored with 1:30 left in regulation as the Eagles and Slippery Rock High played to a 1-1 tie.The Rockets' score came on an own goal by Grove City.Slippery Rock (17-1-2) has a first-round bye in the playoffs, which begin Monday

Hillary Pritts had 17 digs, nine kills and 13 points as the Slippery Rock High School volleyball team secured a playoff spot with a 21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10 win over Greenville Thursday night.Jess Kelly added 16 kills and Sarah Yakima contributed seven points, 12 digs and six kills.Kristen Staugh also excelled with 10 digs, six kills, 32 assists and 10 points for the Rockets (8-4).