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Led by all-state performances by Paige Alexander and Jillian Wise, the Central Cambria girls cross country team finished as the runner-up at the PIAA Class 2A championships Saturday at Big Spring High School in Newville.
Alexander finished 15th in 19 minutes, 6 seconds, five spots ahead of her all-state finish last year as a sophomore. Wise, a freshman, was 25th in 19:35.
"I told the group they needed to enjoy this," Central Cambria coach Randy Wilson said. "This is the greatest day of my year. Would I have loved it to be gold for the girls? Yes. It was still amazing. These kids have gone to school with each other their whole lives and are part of the community.
"It's a great group that tries to do the best they can. They play other sports together all year. They have accomplished great things in other sports, the classroom and in things like musicals. It's all part of how they contribute to the community, not just the cross country team."
The Lady Devils finished with 99 team points, just behind PIAA champion Cathedral Prep's 92.
"I think we're going to have a better result next year because of this year than if we would have won this year," Wilson said. "I think they are going to be hungry. This team is ready to run it back. The thing with cross country is, we could race them tomorrow and maybe win. Then, the next day, they might win. I think this group is mature enough to let it sting a little bit and show up next year and try to get some redemption."
Central Cambria's other finishers included Abby Snyder (41st, 20:08), Delaney Snyder (56th, 20:26), Ruth Remillard (67th, 20:32), Mackenzie Hite (69th, 20:37) and Emerson Rakar (74th, 20:42).
The Lady Devils have pushed each other throughout the season, and that continued through the state meet.
"We haven't had the same order of finish from our top seven girls in any of our races this year," Wilson said. "That's a good thing. Everybody is supportive of each other, but everybody is racing against each other. They know if everyone runs their fastest on that day, we're going to be better."
None of Central Cambria's top seven are seniors.
"We are a young team in that we didn't have a lot of people that had run at states running," Wilson said. "Even though we had a number of juniors and sophomores running, not many have run at the stage of the state meet. They ran very well. This was our only loss the entire season after winning all of our other meets. Of those seven, there's not a single senior in the mix. We'll bring the whole squad back. We do lose two seniors, but we'll bring that seven back for next year. We're excited about the future."
Bedford's Chloe May finished second individually in the 2A race with a time of 18:24 behind Wellsboro's Lauren Kosek.
Penn Cambria's Lily Hallinan was 178th in 22:08.
"They ran really hard and ran really strong," Wilson said. "They have to live up to a tradition that many athletes don't have to live up to."
Other all-staters
Central Cambria also had two male all-state runners in Miles Doyle, who finished eighth overall in the boys 2A race in 16:14 and Reed Takacs, who was 25th in 16:37.
The Red Devils finished fifth overall as a team in a field of 21 squads.
Three other runners from the Mirror's core coverage area earned medals and all-state status at the meet.
Altoona's Ashlyn Noce finished 21st in 18:40 in the 3A girls race, Bishop Carroll Catholic's Noah Knobloch was 17th in 16:31 in the 1A boys race and Williamsburg's Ava Dixon was 22nd in 20:17 in the 1A girls race.
Team finishes
The Bellwood-Antis girls, making their first appearance at the PIAA championships as a team, finished 10th out of 21 teams in the 1A girls race and were led by Blake Pennington's 42nd-place finish in 20:55.
Other Lady Devils finishers included Addison Wagner (105th, 21:53), Julie Kraft (107th, 21:54), Peyton Hammond (153rd, 22:49), Maya Powers (163rd, 22:57), Sara Kraft (170th, 23:01) and Ava Franks (230th, 26:09).
The Northern Bedford boys were 18th out of 22 teams in the 1A boys race and were led by Christopher Corle's 79th-place time of 17:49. Other finishers included Sole Rhoat (147th, 18:42), Jake Keller (216th, 19:55), Jaidyn Shaulis (217th, 19:56) and Jeremiah Dasher (251st, 22:08).
Other locals
Hollidaysburg's Reuben Manfred had the fastest time of any local runner, finishing in 16:13 in the 3A boys race for a 41st-place finish.
Teammate Mason Kephart was 137th in 17:05, and Altoona's Archie Glover was 142nd in 17:07.
The State College boys team won the 3A state championship.
In the 3A girls race, Altoona's Emma Etters was 45th in 19:20.
Other Central Cambria boys finishers in the 2A race included Giles Westrick (98th, 17:34), Joshua Bearer (109th, 17:37), Max Cafazza (170th, 18:09), Lukas Miller (191th, 18:23) and Derek McConnell (192nd, 18:24).
Tyrone's Brenson Davis was 154th in 18:02.
In the 1A boys race, Williamsburg's Tanner Ross was 29th in 16:58, and Logan Paronish of Cambria Heights was 72nd in 17:43.
Lady Highlander Sierra Hoover was 31st in the 1A girls race in 20:42, and Williamsburg's Emma Stone was 76th in 21:34. Leah Steele of Northern Bedford finished 206th in 24:37.
For complete results, please visit: https://www.runhigh.com/2026RESULTS/R110726AA.html.