Kroboth, Whalen county cross country champions
Mara Whalen crosses the finish line to win the girls individual title of Washington County Coaches Meet at Mingo Park on Monday.
Peters Township sophomore Brett Kroboth is all alone at the finish line of the Washington County Coaches Meet at Mingo Park Monday.
MONONGAHELA – They couldn’t be with her so Mara Whalen will have a lot of talking to do.
That’s OK because she loves these fans.
Whalen, a senior from Fort Cherry High School, had all the special needs people at Adaptive Sports in Canonsburg cheering her on. Adaptive sports is a non-profit corporation created to provide organized sports for those individuals. Whalen volunteers her time there.
“Every time I run, I do it for them,” she said. “I know they would be so excited to do it themselves. I do it for them. They range in age from 11 to late 20s, anyone really. It’s a great organization.”
Whalen, a senior whose grandfather is former Fort Cherry coaching legend Jim Garry, breezed to first place at the Washington County Coaches Cross Country Meet on a rainy Monday afternoon at Mingo Park.
Fans were kept away because of the coronavirus.
“I have three older brothers and they all volunteered there,” said Whalen. “And it was something I wanted to do. I was like I want to do that. It grew into something I really loved. I’ve been involved since I was 9-years-old. I love those kids with all my heart.”
Whalen crossed the finish line of the 3.1-mile course in 20:28.11. She was 18 seconds better than Audrey Karwowsky of Canon-McMillan and 29 seconds faster than Charlee Leach of Ringgold.
Peters Township sophomore Brett Kroboth was the boys winner crossing in 16:46.70, 34 seconds better than Doron Wudkwych of Canon-McMillan and 40 seconds faster than Alex Siege of Chartiers-Houston.
Chartiers-Houston won the Boys Class A/AA team title with 38 points. Ringgold was second with 55 points and Avella took third with 73 points.
Canon-McMillan won the Boys Class AAA team title with 22 points. Peters Township was second with 35 points and Trinity was third with 73 points.
Ringgold won the Girls A-AA team title with 21 points. Avella was second with 61 points and Fort Cherry was third with 67 points.
Canon-McMillan won the Girls Class AAA team title with 23 points. Trinity was second with 51 points and Canon-McMillan was third with 54 points.
Whalen is coming off a 16th-place finish in last week’s Mingo Classic, run on the same course as the county coaches event. She turned in a time of 20:40.62, which would have still won yesterday’s event.
“This is only my second year of cross country,” she said. “I came out as a junior because I’m more of a 400, 800 runner and I wanted to build up strength. I do it for fun. I don’t really do it to be good at it. I was intimidated by the longer distances because I’m a sprinter.”
Kroboth was hoping the Ringgold first team would be competing in the boys event and was disappointed when coach Jen McMichael decided to rest the tournament favorites because of a hectic part of the Rams’ schedule.
“At first, I didn’t know they wouldn’t be in it.” said Kroboth.”It messed up my plan. I went out, took the lead and kept it the whole way.”
Kroboth was 21st overall in last year’s race.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do because the Pajaks weren’t running,” said Kroboth, who was third in the Bald Eagle Classic.
McMichael said rest was necessary for her male runners and this was a good time for it.
“We would have had three invitationals in six days,” said McMichael. “We raced hard, and right now it’s getting closer to White Oak Park (for the Tri-State Invitational). They really like running at White Oak Park.”