PIAA cross country roundup: Marlee Starliper, Taryn Parks go toe-to-toe once more – Public Opinion
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It’s the time of year again where Hershey, Pennsylvania, becomes packed to the brim, as PIAA Cross Country State Championships kicked off on a chilly Saturday morning.
Here’s a roundup of some of the key GametimePA-area performers from the final state runs of the XC season.
A rivalry concluding
For four years, Greencastle-Antrim’s Taryn Parks and Northern York’s Marlee Starliper have gone at it, in both cross country and track and field, as two of the best long distance runners the state has seen in some time.
While track season is still on the horizon, a chapter of their individual rivalry concluded on Saturday morning, with Starliper winning her third straight title, compiling a time of 17:10.9.
Parks took second with a mark of 18:06.6
Starliper, who committed to NC State on Oct. 20, is wistful about her last run in PIAA cross country, and how Parks has pushed her, particularly after their first state race as freshmen where the Greencastle-Antrim runner topped the Polar Bear star.
“Just thinking back to freshman year, where I lost to [Parks] by four seconds at this meet,” Starliper said. “She set the bar freshman year, and that really started it, just me, having someone so close, wanting to see what I could do. I think we’ve helped each other to rise to higher levels of running.”
Starliper acknowledges the bigger rivalry at this point comes in the spring in track and field, but doesn’t take for granted winning a state race like this by nearly a minute over elite competition like Parks.
The Northern senior said, particularly today, her run felt as good as it ever has.
“I think today, I was able to stay so within myself,” Starliper said. “My last two races, I was really disappointed, because I was at my core running really tired. But when I was running down that straightaway today, I cannot remember any race where I have felt that strong, and not focused on what was in back of me, but what was in front of me.”
More: ‘I know I’m insane:’ York County’s All-American runner racking up records
As for Parks, there’s no shame in finishing her decorated cross country career with three seconds and a first-place finish over four state championships.
She appreciates her time competing against Starliper, and looks forward to some final runs against her competitor in the spring.
“I think I’m just very fortunate to have come in as a freshman and have someone like her push me. We can work off of each other,” Parks said. “Other girls across the country don’t all have access to racing against the top runner in the nation. So it’s nice to have her for motivation.”
Parks wasn’t the only Blue Devil runner to place highly on Saturday either, as Weber Long took third place in 2A with a time of 16:15.9
The sophomore said he has become a smarter runner this year, which has led to the bronze on Saturday and a silver medal in districts a week ago.
“I just started strategizing,” Long said. “I’ve got a stronger mentality.”
As a team, Starliper led her Northern team to a second-place finish. And despite not qualifying for team results, Parks thinks Greencastle showed, between her and Long, the type of program the Blue Devils have.
“We’re a pretty small school,” Parks said. “So it’s nice to put Greencastle on the map.”
Young York Suburban barely misses title
There are close calls in sports, and then there are close calls. And York Suburban’s boys cross country team came on the short end of the latter on Saturday morning.
The Trojans’ team finished with the exact same amount of points as Lewisburg: 82. But due to tiebreakers, York Suburban did not bring home the state championship, settling for second place.
Coach Ron Herman understands his team will be frustrated coming so close to a title.
“These young men are athletes, they’ve done all the work all year. They wanted a state championship,” Herman said. “We went for it, gave it everything we had. We just came up a little bit short.”
Herman said his runners will eventually acknowledge the achievement a second-place finish in states is, especially when you consider the team’s top two finishers, Cole Adams and Grant Kern (14th and 15th place) are sophomores. Shea Walsh, another sophomore, also just missed out on a trip to the podium with a 29th place finish at 16:56.9.
In fact, with nine of the Trojans’ top 10 runners being underclassmen, Herman notes that this group exceeded expectations, and can use this razor thin defeat (its first of the season) as fuel.
“Honestly, this is a surprise this year that we rose so quickly,” Herman said. “They rose to the occasion. So we’ll take this win, look forward to next year and bring a lot of guys back who I think will be hungry.”
Solid day for Cedar Crest
The day started off solid for Cedar Crest, and got better from there.
In the girls’ 3A race, District 3 runner up Gwynneth Young took seventh place with a time of 18:51.
“I’ll definitely take seventh,” Young said. “If I’m thinking I could do better than seventh in the state, I’ll take it. I’m excited with the outcome and I’m gonna use it to go forward and train for regionals.”
While Young said she is always her toughest critic, she was happy with her finish, and hoped that it would fire up the boys team going later in the day.
“I’m always like ‘you could have done this, you could have done that,'” Young said after the placing. “But I’m hoping [I helped] hype up the guys.
While no boy Cedar Crest runners secured an individual finish on par with Young’s, the team as a whole had a solid afternoon, finishing 10th in a stacked 3A race and improving on a 17th place mark a year ago.
“The boys last year, they didn’t run their best race,” Young said. “They’re so different this year.”
Tommy Bildheiser was the team’s top finisher, taking 63rd with a 16:55.4
Other notable GametimePA finishers
Margaret Carroll, Northeastern: After taking third in District 3 championships a week ago, Carroll had a nice run on Saturday, finishing fifth in 3A with a time of 18:29.
Gage Krall, Northern Lebanon: After a fourth place finish at the District 3 meet, the Viking senior closed out his career in style with an 8th place finish at states in 16:33.2.
Braeten Peters, Annville-Cleona: Peters followed up a runner-up performance in 1A District championships with a 12th-place finish, running a time of 20:16.
Camryn Kiser, Chambersburg: Kiser has been impressive as a freshman this year, and continued to shine in Hershey, finishing 14th in 3A girls with a time of 19:07.
Katie Anthony, Northern: Starliper wasn’t the only Polar Bear to reach the podium on Friday, as Anthony took 17th in her final state race with a time of 19:40.2.
Lydia Tolerico/Emily Schuler, Dallastown: The pair of Dallastown runners went out together, literally, finishing 22nd and 23rd, each with a time of 19:16.
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