Knoch's Jolene Kunkel placed fourth, Alyssa Kunkel was 13th and Shannon Evanchec 20th at the Tri-State Cross Country Invitational at Cooper's Lake Thursday, which helped the Knights finish second out of 39 teams.

Greater Latrobe finished first with 58 points, led by the top two placewinners in Natalie Bower (first, 17 minutes, 58 seconds) and Abby Hewitt, followed by Knoch (122), North Allegheny (173), Mount Lebanon (266) and Seneca Valley (270).

Jolene Kunkel finished with a time of 18:59, Alyssa Kunkel had a 19:48 and Evanchec had a 19:59, while teammates Emilee Hertwick (32nd) and Christina Corigliano (53rd) rounded out the team's top five.

"The Norwin girls were not there and they are a legit No. 2 team, and we're right in there," said Knoch coach Wess Brahler. "I anticipated third place. Then, once we saw Norwin was not there, I thought we'd have a chance for second place.

"The girls are excited and there's still some gas left in the tank and we're looking forward to next Thursday (at the WPIALChampionships)," Brahler added.

Seneca Valley was paced by a pair of top 10 finishes by Megan Powell (fifth, 19:06) and Erin Lopresti (ninth, 19:32).

Butler finished in eighth place, led by Ashton Dolan (18th, 19:58), Danica Snyder (33rd, 20:16) and Ashley Crawford (44th, 20:37), while Mars was 22nd, led by Samantha Brandon's 61st place finish (20:51).

In the boys meet, Butler, Seneca Valley and Knoch finished fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively, while Mars was 26th out of 48 teams.

North Allegheny won with 36 points, as all five scoring runners placed in the top 15. Mount Lebanon was second (104), followed by North Hills (121) and Baldwin (186).

Evan Gomez finished 20th (16:42) and Ben Porter 24th (16:46) to lead the Tornado. Cam Stauffer (seventh, 16:17) and Andrew Razanauskas (26th, 16:51) led the Raiders charge while Brian Tackett (25th, 16:48) paced the Knights.

Girls2-Knoch (122): 4-Jolene Kunkel 18:59, 13-Alyssa Kunkel 19:48, 20-Shannon Evanchec 19:59, 32-Emilee Hertwick 20:15, 53-Christina Corigliano 20:42, 210-Tina Gallo 24:24

5-Seneca Valley (270): 5-Megan Powell 19:06, 9-Erin Lopresti 19:32, 52-Joelle Scarnati 20:41, 72-Kristen McKinney 21:05, 132-Lauren McKinney 22:04, 195-Megan Peaco 23:34, 196-Anna Homitsky 23:34

8-Butler (292): 18-Ashton Dolan 19:58, 33-Danika Snyder 20:16, 44-Ashley Crawford 20:37, 85-Ashley King 21:16, 112-Emily Petrak 21:41, 123-Gretchen Geibel 21:52, 143-Trisha Brandt 22:17

22-Mars (577):61-Samantha Brandon 20:51, 87-Paulina Hanczewski 21:17, 114-Gabri Pierre 21:45, 154-Brynn Workman 22;32, 161-Elizabeth Parsons 22:42, 162-Salina Smialek 22:45, 177-Cathlene Matuzak 23:13

Boys5-Butler (267): 20-Evan Gomez 16:42, 24-Ben Porter 16:46, 59-Grant Baron 17:22, 69-Lance Dugger 17:32, 95-Matt Crawford 17:49, 118-Tim Karls 18:08, 149-Tommie Smith 18:32

6-Seneca Valley (308): 7-Cam Stauffer 16:17, 26-Andrew Razanauskas 16:51, 54-Alex Mascio 17:20, Brendon Lemmex 18:02, 114-Eric Geddis 18:05, 115-Mark Davis 18:07, 227-Chris Matessa 19:28

8-Knoch (323): 25-Brian Tackett 16:48, 70-Owen Venesky 17:32, 71-K.J. McCrea 17:32, 78-Dillon Schwertz 17:37, 79-Chris Cetnar 17:38, 135-Van McCarren 18:19, 223-Paul Kletzli 19:24

26-Mars (723): 48-Nick Edinger 17:16, 89-Jake Montag 17:47, 129-Chris Akilhani 18:16, 189-Sean Gannon 19:01, 268-Kale Cimperman 20:27, 276-Colby Mathews 20:37, 277-Jacob Hunter 20:37

<B>Clarion 3, A-C Valley 0 — </B>Erika Rothen had seven kills and Samantha Kerlin and Lauren Snyder had three kills apiece, but the top-ranked Bobcats prevailed 25-17, 25-11, 25-18 in KSAC action.A-C Valley (12-3, 10-3) will await the District 9 playoff meeting next week.

Slippery Rock's Heather Finecy recorded a hat trick in a 3-0 victory over Hickory Thursday.