By: Friday, March 6, 2020, TRIB-LIVE
Fox Chapel’s indoor track season came to a close at the Tri-State Coaches Association indoor track championships held at Penn State on Feb. 29.
“We were not bad and not great,” FC coach Tom Moul said.
“Grace Sisson and Brooke Krally had been sick all week. They gutted it out, but the relay team fell short of a medal. Christian Fitch ran great and secured his fifth state medal overall and second indoors. In the 3,000 meters, he had a fifth place in a strong field. He finished in 8:38.90, a big personal record for him. He ran very smart and did what he needed to do to get a top five finish. I’m proud of all of them.”
Now, Moul will begin preparing his team for the outdoor season.
”I’m looking forward to the season,” he said. “We’ve had a very good indoor season, and most of those kids will be on the outdoor team. We have much experience, especially the seniors, many of whom have been high level performers for their entire high school careers. We have a few distance runners who have multiple state medals under their belts in cross country, indoor and outdoor track, and even more WPIAL medalists.”
Last year, Fitch finished sixth at PIAAs and fifth in the WPIALs in the 3,200. Sisson was fourth at WPIALs in the 3,200 and qualified for states. The girls 3,200 relay team (Sisson, Krally, Abby Kieffer, Sarena Seeger) was third in the WPIAL and qualified for states. The girls 1,600 relay team (Abby Kieffer, Maddy Kieffer, Seeger and Kate Carnevale) medaled at WPIALs.
The team suffered some key losses to graduation as Korey Simmons (hurdles), Annika Urban (distance), Seeger (distance) and Carnevale (sprints) graduated.
Key returnees on the boys side include seniors Fitch (distance), Evan Kieffer (sprints), Warner Macklin (jumps) and Mike Prato (jumps), along with sophomores Maurice Sampson-Schulter (sprints) and Caleb Kulikowski (throws). Nele Frank, a sophomore exchange student is expected to contribute in the jumps.
“He qualified for indoor states in the long jump,” Moul said. “He will be a pleasant addition to the team.”
For the girls, senior returnees are Sisson (distance), Krally (distance), Abby Kieffer (mid-distance), Maddy Kieffer (sprints) and Yezzi Chaudry (throws). Juniors Jing McCann (throws), Lauren Himmel (hurdles) and Zoe Zoschg (jumps) also return.