Madeline Meeuf, sports, 10-27-2023

Scanning the front of the pack at Thursday’s WPIAL Class 2A girls cross country championship meet, North Catholic coach Tim Souders realized Trojanettes sophomore Madeline Meeuf was expertly carrying out his blueprint at White Oak Park.

“When we looked at the results from the other meets earlier this year at White Oak, it seemed like the girls who had the strongest finish were the ones who were a little bit more conservative for the first mile,” Souders said. “Madeline, she hit her splits perfectly — 5:55 the first mile, 6:15 the second mile.

“I saw her at two miles and I don’t know if she heard me, but I yelled to her — I think she was in fourth place at the time — ‘You can be WPIAL champion! It’s possible! Why not go for it?’”

It’s safe to say Meeuf — who placed first with a time of 19 minutes, 1.1 seconds — was listening.

“I tried to stick to those (splits) the whole race as best I could,” Meeuf said. “Going up that hill on the second lap, I knew that I was contending for first. I could hear my coach yelling that if I could just push a little more, I could do it.

“That’s what really set me over the edge to win.”

West Allegheny’s Grace Fritzman (19:04.3), Uniontown’s Grace Trimmer (19:05.6), and Woodland Hills’ Annabel Johnson (19:08.3) followed closely behind.

North freshman Gracie Plastino (19:36.6) finished eighth and senior Grace Lazzara (19:39.9) ninth, as the Trojanettes also took home the team crown with 80 points — 19 better than runner-up Montour.

“Going into the season, we had some high expectations,” Souders said. “We thought we could contend for a WPIAL championship and maybe even a state championship.”

The Trojanettes finished second in the Red, White, and Blue Classic at White Oak Park in early September, third in the PIAA Foundation XC Invitational a few weeks later, and won the team title at the Youthtowne Clash before the turn of the month.

“Then, we kind of got bit by the injury bug over the last month,” Souders said. “It was mostly, like, trips and falls. That was the frustrating part of it. ... It wasn’t overuse injuries.”

Junior Keelin Schessler sprained her ankle stepping on a curb. Freshman Alyssa Urling fell down during a section meet and hurt her knee. Sophomore Sydney Dunn missed most of the season after accidentally stepping in a hole at an early-campaign meet at California (Pa.).

“It was a tale of two seasons this year — the first half and the second half,” Souders said. “We just tried to get to today as healthy as we could.”

Dunn returned three weeks ago and finished 19th (20:47.7) Thursday. Lazzara also recently returned after dealing with shin splints.

Senior Alex Gongas, a 6th or 7th runner for much of the year, stepped up and finished 49th Thursday (22:26.0). Urling was 64th (22:55.9) and Schessler 91st (24:01.8).

Meeuf was 31st with a time of 21 minutes, 20.7 seconds at least year’s WPIAL meet, which was held at the California (Pa.) University path.

“What a difference a year makes,” Souders said. “Last year, she was 30-something. She was the first athlete out of qualifying for states. ... It’s a testament to all of her hard work.”

Meeuf was a regular at optional summer practices, only missing out when her family went on vacation. Even then, she was training.

“That was key, just increasing her mileage as she develops,” Souders said. “We emphasized threshold work during the second half of the summer. That really gave her the strength, aerobically, to handle the harder workouts once the season got underway.

“That’s when she really had her breakthrough.”

On Oct. 7, Meeuf set a personal best at the Legends Meet in Cortland, Oh., dipping under 19 minutes for the first time. Now, just about three weeks later, she wears a district crown.

“We talked the last few weeks about how the field was wide open this year,” Souders said. “I told Madeline, Grace, and Gracie that it’s wide open this year — ‘Any one of you guys could be the individual champion and we could be the team champion.’”

It was all about execution — and a will to bring her team a championship.

“I knew that the title was up for grabs,” Meeuf said. “As soon as I went into that second lap and we were all neck-and-neck, I knew that one of us was going to pull ahead. I really wanted that to be me.”

Knoch senior Ava Santora (19:59.6) placed 12th and qualified for states.

In 3A girls, Mars freshman and state qualifier Hailey Long finished 13th in 19:06.8. In terms of Butler’s state qualifiers, senior Ava Brewster placed 20th with a time of 19:36.7 and junior Makayla McLister 22nd (19:39.4).

Golden Tornado junior Madison McGarrah crossed the finish line 25th (19:52.6) and Seneca Valley freshman Paige Damico was 30th (20:01.1).