The Mid-Penn Conference left its mark Saturday on the PIAA men’s cross country championships.

Mifflin County junior Carter Smith capped a breakout freshman season with the individual championship in the 3A boys race (15:41) to headline the season-ending event on the Parkview XC course in Hershey.

Hershey senior and District 3 champion Vinay Raman (15:48) finished third while Isaac Oppermann and Theo Opperman finished 4-5 to lead State College to the 3A team title. The only non-District 3 runner in the top 5 was Lower Merion junior Nicholas Mazzeo (15:45), who finished second for a second straight year.

Girls racing coverage; Carlisle’s Ana Bondy wins silver, Olivia Cieslak and Haverford end North Allegheny’s reign at PIAA cross country championships

Lewisburg senior Jonathan Hess won the 2A title (15:57) while Mohawk senior Jaxon Schoedel won the 1A race (15:52).

Smith of Mifflin County did not compete last year at states. In fact, the Mifflin County junior wasn’t even on a 2023 cross country roster.

Instead, he was training in track and field — he finished third in the 800 meters at last spring’s PIAA track and field championships — dutifully biding his time to kick.

“Last year I was doing 400 and 800 workouts to build my speed,” Smith said. “My plan for my first two years was to do track so I could build my leg speed, then junior and senior years to do cross country so I could perfect my aerobics. I think it worked pretty well.

This strategic thinking paid off in the race as he edged out the rest of the leading trio, Mazzeo and Raman, on the final curving kilometer of the grueling Parkview course.

“My coach and I came up with a strategic game plan to get out quickly so we wouldn’t get locked in and continue the trip the first two miles,” Smith said. “Once we hit the two-mile mark, that’s when you go to work and that’s when the racing really starts.” My coach Ronald Sprecher told me, ‘hit when you know you can’ and I just kicked when I knew I could and got to the line.

Smith finished second to Isaac Oppermann by 0.06 at Mid-Penns, then won gold at the District 6 championships on October 26.

Redemption Race

Hershey’s Raman, a District 3 champion, capped his high school career with a bronze medal after placing 11th as a junior and 15th as a sophomore.

The 11th place finish in 2023 served as motivation this fall to develop a long-term training plan that will take him higher in the United States.

“I was a little disappointed to finish 11th, but I didn’t think I placed where I wanted to be,” Raman said. “This year I came back, revisited where I wanted to be, how I wanted to race and planned the whole year based on how we’re going to do it here. I think everything went pretty well.

For the three-time cross-country medalist, the rise to the top 10 was the most satisfying part.

“I said I wanted to be in the top 3. It’s a bit upsetting not to win the title, but I’m happy with how I’ve improved from last year,” said Raman.

The little Lions roar

State College was the dominant presence with a team score of 53, well ahead of La Salle College High’s 117.

In addition to the Oppermann brothers’ top-5 finishes, sophomore Luke Bradbury, seniors Owen Coughlin, Stephen Fowler, Griffin Selber and sophomore Kyle Fritzsche were in the top 40 among the team’s runners for complete the domination of the Little Lions.

District 1 had a strong presence in the rest of the top 10 with Council Rock North (3rd), North Penn (4th), Penncrest (5th), West Chester Henderson (7th) and Council Rock South (8th) in the top 10.

Chambersburg finished ninth and was led by senior Liam Kirkpatrick (16:20, 19th) and junior Julian Clark (17:01).

Hershey placed 11th with Raman and compatriot Jacob Abraham leading the way. Abraham ran 12th overall (16:04).

In 2A, Grove City of District 10 was champion (85), followed by Hess-led Lewisburg (126). The 1A title was won by Winchester Thurston (89).

Complete results

View full PIAA Cross Country results here

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