The goals for the Fox Chapel Area cross country teams this season are pretty much the same as they are every year – compete for a section championship and place as high as possible in the WPIAL championship.
“That’s always something that’s on our radar,” said coach Tom Moul, who said he’s entering his 13th season at the helm of the program.
The cross country teams have been quite successful at achieving such goals in recent years. The boys and girls teams each captured section titles in 2023, netting 7-0 records in the process. For the boys, it was their fifth consecutive undefeated section title.
The boys’ season also saw them place third in the WPIAL championship meet.
Coach Moul said team members have been doing what they can in the offseason to see those goals come to fruition.
“The kids that we’re hoping to count on this year have been working hard over the summer,” he said. “We’re happy about that. I know some kids have some individual goals, boys and girls. I’m really excited about it.”
Then again, coach Moul preaches the importance of hard work in the summer for the teams to succeed in the fall.
“When you get to the first official day of practice in August, your ceiling is determined by what you do in the summer,” coach Moul said. “They have mileage built up over the summer, and if you don’t do that properly, you’re not going to compete with the top kids.”
The boys only lost one member of last season’s section championship squad, but that was the talented 2024 graduate Rowan Gwin, who took first place in the section meet for the second consecutive year, finished third in the WPIAL meet, and 16th in the PIAA championship, among the top three WPIAL competitors.
But the wealth of talent and experience returning bring cause for excitement.
Some of the key members of the boys include senior David Black, who placed ninth at the WPIAL meet in 2023 and qualified for states, and fellow senior Ethan Vaughan, who took first place in the Gateway and Kiski invitationals.
Vaughan suffered an injury in the middle of last season and was not available at the end of the year.
“He was running really well in cross country last year and would have been our No. 2 guy before he got hurt,” coach Moul said of Ethan.
Big things also are expected of senior Nicky Clump and junior Michael Costello, who just missed qualifying for last season’s PIAA meet after a 19th-place finish at WPIALs.
There’s also a quartet of talented sophomores who excelled as ninth-graders: Nolan Gwin, Harrison Parker, Nolan Horne, and Victor White.
“Those four guys had real good outdoor track seasons as freshmen,” coach Moul said. “They’ve been working real hard this summer, so they’ll take a step forward.
The girls are looking to continue the success they had in 2023, and with the youth on the team they look to flourish years into the future.
Senior Sarah Michalak expected to be a contributor, fresh off a successful track season.
“She’s a really hard worker who has some goals she hopes to achieve this year,” coach Moul said. “I know she wants to make it to states as an individual.
Sophomores Cece Ressler, Maggie Carter, and Iris Minturn are other girls the coach said have been putting in the work and are expected to have fine seasons.
The toughest competition is expected to come from the usual suspects. For the boys, it will be teams such as North Allegheny, Norwin, South Fayette, Seneca Valley, Upper St. Clair, and Mt. Lebanon.
Many of the same teams will be posing the stiffest competition for the girls, as well as Pine-Richland and Oakland Catholic.
The season starts with the Gateway Invitational on August 31, a meet in which the boys and girls teams placed first in 2023.
