Coach Simpson boldly stated before the Westmoreland County Coaches Association meet that he not only thought the kids were going to run fast, but the girls were going to win the entire race. His bold statement seemed to hold true as the girls were able to reach his expectations of them by capturing the title. The team was ultimately able to reach this feat thanks to junior Maria Cawoski who placed first out of over 130 girls.
“Maria could run a “bad” race and she will still beat every other runner on her own team,” said coach Simpson.
With Maria’s knowledge of the course and her lightning fast speed, it was no surprise she ended up on top, for she has been the Wildcats number one runner in every race this season.
Cawoski said, “I knew what the course was like because we’ve run it during practices before and I knew where and when I needed to pace myself.”
“Training with the boys team and just doing a lot of running has helped me be the runner I am,” said Cawoski.
Maria wasn’t the only factor in the girls capturing the WCCA title; Rachel Harter, Sydney Green, Emma Kozuch and were key factors in not only this race, but every other race this season. Freshman Rachel Harter came in 7th place, sophomore Sydney Green placed 8th and junior Emma Kozuch placed 9th, all of them respectively earning a medal, only the top 15 runners received a medal. Ultimately what led to the girls team winning the title.
Simpson said, “These four girls have been consistent the whole season, behind Maria the three girls have interchanged placement in each race along with a different fifth person is what has been the factor of us winning each meet.”
Not to forget to mention the girls cross country team was able to secure the section title for the first time in five years after beating Norwin on senior night in their last regular season race. The girls are looking to continue to run their way through the season as they still have counties and hopefully find the finish line to their season at states on November fifth in Hershey.