The Slippery Rock girls cross country team wasn't expected to dethrone three-time defending champion Villa Maria at the District 10, Class AA championships.

Then again, expectations don't have heart and desire.

The Rockets brought both to Sharon's Buhl Park on Saturday.

Sophomore Calley Bridges led Slippery Rock's performance with a ninth-place time of 21 minutes, 12 seconds as the Rockets captured the district crown with a total of 124 points.

Villa Maria was second with 134, followed by Union City's 135.

"It was a spectacular effort by the girls," said Rockets' coach Tony Consbruck. "And it was such a muddy course. The times are not reflective of the true effort."

Also finishing in the top 30 for Slippery Rock was senior Jill Laux (15th, 21:20) and freshman Andrea Shaffer (29th, 21:48).

"We changed to longer spikes," Consbruck said regarding the sloppy conditions. "I told the girls that they were good mudders, like the horse-racing term."

The victory is the Rockets' first-ever district title and sends the squad to its first PIAA championship, to be held Saturday in Hershey.

"We've done some pretty impressive things this year," said Consbruck. "We knew the potential was there."

Grove City finished 13th in the girls standings.

Grove City's boys were eighth while Slippery Rock finished 16th in the boys competition.

Following are Slippery Rock's finishers.

Girls

9-Calley Bridges 21:12, 15-Jill Laux 21:20, 29-Andrea Shaffer 21:48, 33-Sarah Thompson (22:08), 38-Sarah Opp (22:15), 39-Brittany Lyons (22:15), 94-Amanda Kellogg (23:48)

Boys

51-Peter Eilenfiedt (19:14), 74-Chase Conti (19:38), 81-Dan Hartzell (19:46), 87-Mac Bowser (19:56), 177-Chuck Rager (21:52), 181-Callihan Spigler (22:05).

Union's Brett Moore was the top local finisher at the District 9 Class AA cross country championships Saturday with a fifth-place finish of 17:34.

Karns City's Travis Hendell finished sixth with a time of 17:42, helping the Gremlins place fifth out of 17 teams with 144 points.

Moniteau's Eric Hillard was seventh overall (17:49), as the Warriors were seventh in the team standings with 180 points.

KC's Chris Harmon was tenth individually at 18:07.

Moniteau was 10th out of 13 teams in the girls' competition, led by Amy Gladd's 19th-place time of 22:59.

Following are all local finishers.

Girls

19-Amy Gladd (M) 22:59, 46-Samantha Kristufek (M) 24:44, 54-Nikki Stiner (M) 25:05, 56-Hannah Beck (KC) 25:11, 70-Michelle Gebhart (M) 26:26, 72-Samantha Ryan (KC) 26:42, 88-Ellie Hillard (M) 29:42, 95-Noelle Minteer (KC) 33:17

Boys

5-Brett Moore (U) 17:34, 6-Travis Hendell (KC) 17:42, 7-Eric Hillard (M) 17:49, 10-Chris Harmon (KC) 18:07, 13-Aaron Smith (M) 18:18, 32-Dale Grimm (KC) 18:59, 39-Matt O'Malley (M) 19:15, 42-Andrew Harmon (KC) 19:18, 59-Ben Blank (M) 19:51, 72-Eric Kriebel (KC) 20:16, 82-Lucas Rodgers (M) 20:39, 91-Mike Kosick (M) 21:04, 96-Gabe Alcorn (M) 21:11, 98-Justin Smith (KC) 21:17, 101-Jon Burns (KC) 21:32, 125-Cameron Adams (U) 24:02, 129-Ryan Lucas (U) 24:52, 131-Josh Bowser (U) 24:56