With his boys cross country team getting stronger and stronger as the season went on, Knoch coach Wess Brahler figured its was time to go back to basics.

"We've kind of revisited workouts from the beginning of the season," said Brahler. "We've dropped our mileage to bounce our legs back."

The Knights, who placed fourth at the WPIAL Class AAA Championships last Thursday, will lead a large contingent of area runners to the PIAA Championships Saturday at Hersheypark's White Field in Hershey.

The Seneca Valley girls team placed fourth at the WPIAL Class AAA finals and the Slippery Rock girls team won the District 10 Class AA meet last Saturday to advance to the state meet.

"We started the season with the goal we could qualify for states," said Slippery Rock coach Tony Consbruck. "We had everyone back.

"Our goal is to run the best race Saturday. No predictions, but we should be up for that," he added.

So should Artie Black, Kyle Reeping, Ben Hutterer, Chris Recio, Cory Steinhagen, Brian Tackett and C.J. Burns for the Knights.

"Our goal is to be somewhere between eighth and 12th place. I think that's realistic. … They've been really relaxed the whole week. They're running smoothly and are real focused," Brahler said.

Butler's Steve Monnie and Ben Porter and Seneca Valley's Chris Cipro will take part in the Class AAA boys race while Freeport's Brendan Reilly and Mars' Cody Kier will compete in the Class AA boys race.

"I think they're running real well," said Butler coach Rick Davanzati, whose team placed fifth, one spot behind Knoch, which earned the final team spot.

"If you look over the course of the season, the kids kept getting better. Someone like Ben, as a freshman, kept improving all year. They're both good kids who worked extremely hard," Davanzati added.

Joining Reilly and Kier will be Union's Brett Moore, Karns City's Travis Hendell and Chris Harmon and Moniteau's Eric Hillard and Aaron Smith from District 9 and Grove City's Zach Hoagland from District 10, where he placed fourth.

"(Hendell and Harmon) ran decent races last year," said Karns City coach Don Loughry. "Chris was only eight seconds behind Travis. Both boys are running real well and I expect both to have good races."

"(Hillard and Smith) are definitely performing at their peak right now and I anticipate them running a good meet Saturday," said Moniteau coach Jim Metz.

"Zach's been pretty steady and dropping his times all year," said Grove City coach Mike Sample. "He's dropped significantly, not so much in the times, but the quality of athletes (he's beating)."

In the girls meet, the Raiders (Class AAA) and Rockets (Class AA) will try to continue their strong seasons.

Seneca Valley's representatives are Megan Powell, Kelsey Sullivan, Emily Wolfarth, Joelle Scarnati, Lauren Bezier, Yolien Peeters and Nicole Gostkowski.

Slippery Rock's team will include Calley Bridges, Jillian Laux, Andrea Shaffer, Sarah Thompson, Brittany Lyons, Sarah Opp, Janelle Hartzell and Amanda Kellogg.

Despite placing sixth at the WPIAL Class AA meet, Freeport qualified three runners: Melanie Lutz, Kristen Prazenica and Kirsten Knappenberger.

"I think all four of our runners (including Reilly) are ready to go," said Freeport coach Bob Livrone. "They're running their best right now. I thought they ran their best race at the WPIAL meet and have had a couple of good workouts this week.

"They've been there before. It's just another meet for them, but they're at their peak of fitness," Livrone added.

Mars' Brittany Zaborowski also will run in the Class AAA meet.

With a very strong team headed to Hershey, Brahler also noticed a rarity about the other county teams.

"I personally want to wish each Butler County coach good luck," said Brahler. "Everyone has at least one runner going to states. I think that's great for the county."

The girls Class AA meet will begin at 9 a.m. followed by the girls Class AAA (10 a.m.), boys Class AA (11 a.m.) and boys Class AAA (noon).