Race Recap: Class A Girls


Shenango's Carmen Medvit won a close on in the final heat of the day for the state title in Class A girls. Then in the team race, the team that raced first, pulled out the win as the Penns Valley Area girls were dominant in the team battle.

Carmen Medvit of Shenango used some motivation from a year ago to propel her to the state title in Class A girls. Last year, Medvit was among the favorites in the WPIAL and statewide in 1A, but she did not finish at her district meet.

This year, Medvit won the WPIAL title handily last week and then on Saturday, won a close one for the state title. Medvit went 20:16, outlasting her closest competitor Hannah Wagner of Reynolds. Both Medvit and Wagner, the District 10 champion, were together in heat 4. Wagner ran 20:22 for second overall.

Grace Mason of Wilmington won the second heat and placed third overall in 20:25 and Carissa Flynn of Mountain View, a freshman, was fourth in 20:30 after winning the third heat. Another freshman took fifth as Seneca's Ashley Post went 20:38, and sixth was Riverside's Lacey Danilovitz in 20:43.


It was a fight just to get to the state meet for the Penns Valley Area girls, and the Rams didn't miss on their opportunity to compete at Hershey. PV won the District 6 title last week, which they called the "best district in the state in A." They weren't wrong -- the last two state champions coming into Saturday hailed from D6.

The Rams made it three-in-a-row at the state meet for D6. Competing in the day's first race, they set the tone, taking the top three spots and five of the first six spots. Kelsey Hull led the way for PV in that heat, taking seventh overall in 20:46. Anna Stitzer (23rd in 21:39) and Alexis Durn (25th in 21:44) also earned state medals for the Rams with solid individual performances.

After the second heat of teams, Penns Valley was easily atop the team standings with 37 points, 26 clear of second place.

Mohawk, which had a top four comprised of all freshmen, took second place with 63 points. Wilmington earned a second straight top five state meet finish, taking third place with 90 points after placing fourth a year ago. North Clarion (fourth) and Montrose (fifth) rounded out the top five.