High school notebook: PT’s Froelich goes 2-for-2 in cross country
Peters Township sophomore Katie Froelich is taking well to cross country.
A state track champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters as a freshman, Froelich has entered two cross country events in her life and has won both.
Froelich bested a field of 210 runners to win the Class 3A girls portion of the 20th PIAA Foundation XC Invitational Saturday at Big Spring High School in Newville.
She crossed the finish line at 17:22.90.
South Fayette junior Angela Zeng, the defending WPIAL Class 3A champion, finished second with a time of 17:50.40.
Froelich, who is a starting forward on the Peters Township girls soccer team, won the Red, White and Blue Classic earlier this month at White Oak Park in McKeesport.
Saturday’s PIAA Foundation race was held at the same venue where the state championships will be this year.
Canon-McMillan senior Karina Stoner finished 23rd.
In the Class 3A boys race, South Fayette senior Griffin Martin placed ninth.
WPIAL sites
For a brief moment, the WPIAL announced all of its fall championship sites last week.
The Class 4A and 6A football championships were listed to be played at Pine-Richland High School on Nov. 21, but that was taken down.
Now TBD is beside the 4A and 6A championships.
The Class A, 2A, 3A and 5A games are at Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 28, the day after the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Denver Broncos for a game on Black Friday.
Could the WPIAL play the Class 4A and 6A finals at Acrisure Stadium too?
That would be an unprecedented move, because since the PIAA moved to six classes in 2016, all six have not been played at Acrisure Stadium.
Part of the reason is that the Class 4A and 6A teams will enter the state playoffs a week earlier than the other four, so their district championships need to be played a week earlier.
For years two of the football finals were played at Norwin, but that stadium is undergoing renovations.
Pitt is at Miami (Fla.) and the Steelers play at Philadelphia, the weekend of the 21st, so Acrisure Stadium will be vacant.
Time will tell where the 4A and 6A finals will be played.
The WPIAL soccer finals will be held again at FNB Stadium (formerly Highmark Stadium) in Station Square. Games will be played Nov. 5-7.
For years the WPIAL volleyball finals were a one-day affair, but this year with the move from four to six classes, the games will be spread across three days, also Nov. 5-7.
The WPIAL cross country finals are at White Oak Park on Oct. 29.
Halfway home
After Tuesday’s volleyball and soccer games, almost everyone will have reached the halfway point of section play.
There are local teams in both sports that are showing they’ll be contenders.
Boys soccer
Defending state champion Bentworth looks strong again as it hasn’t lost a section game and has yielded only one goal and has scored 65 in section games.
Belle Vernon is 8-0-1 and 6-0 in Class 2A Section 5 and has outscored opponents, 31-5.
Charleroi is unbeaten in Class 2A Section 4, but has three draws. The Cougars’ overall record is 4-0-3.
Trinity and Ringgold sit atop the Class 2A Section 3 standings. The Hillers are 5-0-3 overall and 4-0-1 in the section, while Ringgold is 5-2-2 and 3-0-2.
The Rams and Hillers tied 0-0 in their first meeting and play again on Thursday at Ringgold.
Canon-McMillan and Peters Township are in a three-way tie with Mt. Lebanon for first in Class 4A Section 2. All three are 3-1-1.
Mt. Lebanon tied Canon-McMillan 1-1 and lost 3-2 to Peters Township.
The Big Macs beat the Indians, 2-1, at home on Thursday.
Girls soccer
It’s been an interesting start for defending Class 3A state champ South Fayette. The Lions have played 11 matches and have drawn five, which is the most of anyone in the WPIAL. They are at 5-1-5 overall and tied with Montour at 3-0-2 in Section 3.
The Lions and Spartans tied 1-1 in their first meeting and play again on Oct. 5.
Defending WPIAL Class A champion Bentworth is strong again at 3-0 in a small Class A Section 2. The Bearcats are 8-1 overall.
The only team to beat Bentworth is Belle Vernon, which leads the Class 3A Section 3 standings at 4-0-1 and is 6-1-3 overall.
Peters Township (4-0-1, 9-0-1) looks strong again in Class 4A Section 2. The Indians beat Canon-McMillan, 3-0, on Wednesday. The Big Macs are 3-1 in section play and finished up the first half Tuesday against Baldwin.
Volleyball
Three local volleyball teams are sitting atop their section.
Peters Township was tied with Upper St. Clair for first in Class 5A Section 4. The two teams played Tuesday night.
Waynesburg has rolled to an 8-0 start and has dropped only on set all season in Class 3A Section 4.
McGuffey is second in the section.
Fort Cherry is 7-0 and leads Class 2A Section 3.
California and Beth-Center were tied for second behind Frazier in Class 2A Section 4 entering a matchup at California on Tuesday.