It came long before school was even in session for the Knoch girls cross country team.

Long before a watershed victory against rival Riverview.

Long before wins against Deer Lakes and Greensburg Central Catholic Tuesday afternoon.

The seeds of the first girls cross country section title in the 32-year history of the program were planted this summer.

“I knew it the very first day,” said senior Sammy Jo Barnes. “We had such a great turnout and my girls had never run better. We became so close. Everything fell into place.”

That carried over into the first meets of the season, as well as at invitational races.

The wins piled up and so did the thoughts that Knoch was about to make history.

“I think we knew even last year that we could do this,” Barnes said. “We knew Riverview would be our biggest challenge — they beat us last year.”

When Knoch finished second without its second-best runner at the California (Pa.) University Invitational in early September and when Barnes compared their times to the ones reported in meet results for Riverview, she felt confident.

On Sept. 23, that confidence was rewarded.

The top five finishers in the girls race all wore Knoch uniforms, Barnes leading the way.

“It was so amazing,” Barnes said. “After I finished, my eyes zoomed back to watch the girls finish. It was such a great feeling to see my girls come in one by one.

“I was standing by the Riverview coach and I could tell he was thinking, 'Where are my girls?'”

Knoch served notice then that they were destined to be Division II Section 1 champs.

They finished the deal Tuesday in another dominating performance, closing the season with an 11-0 record.

Barnes finished second overall in a tri-meet at Deer Lakes with a time of 21 minutes, 48 seconds. Corrin Brewer of Greensburg Central Catholic won the meet with a time of 21:35.

Sophomore Elyse Chess was third (23:24), sophomore Tumiko Kuo fourth (23:38), senior Heather Wittmer, who took two years off from running and returned this season, was fifth (24:07).

Knoch had eight of the top 10 placers.

Barnes, who placed sixth at the WPIAL meet and 30th at the state meet last season, has taken a group of young runners under her wing this season as a senior.

In fact, she often refers to them as “my girls.”

“Elyse is already beating my records from when I was a sophomore,” Barnes said. “We worked so hard. My girls and I are so close — we do everything together. We always have our eyes on the prize.”

That prize includes faring well at the coming WPIAL meet.

Knoch would like nothing better than to finish in the top three and send its entire team to the PIAA championships, Barnes said.

“The section title was just one of our goals,” said Knoch cross country coach Wess Brahler. “Second was a district title. There's still more these girls want to do.”

For the short term, at least, the Knights will relish this milestone.

“Like our coach said, no one can take this away from us,” Barnes said. “Knoch girls cross country, 2019, were section champs and that will be forever.”