Everything seemed to come together this season for Brendan Eicher.

The Butler junior set and reset his personal best throughout the year, hit his goals, for the first time felt he didn’t leave a single race disappointed and found a pre-race routine that worked for him.

The only thing that nearly derailed his season was forgetting his bib on the bus.

Good thing he’s on a team of runners who sprinted back about 20 minutes before he was to run and grabbed it so he could compete in Saturday’s PIAA Boys Class 3A Cross Country Championships at Hershey’s Parkview Course. Otherwise, his time of 16:27 wouldn’t have counted for a 15th-place medal.

It’s his second time running at Hershey and first medal; he finished 153rd as a freshman two years ago.

“My goal going into the season was to place at states,” Eicher said on the phone after stepping off the podium. “Today, I probably overachieved.”

The 3A race started at a brisk pace, Eicher said, as he settled into about 60th 800 meters in. He began picking off packs once he reached the hills by going along the edge of the course, then more runners one by one on the back half of the race before making his kick up Hershey’s infamous final hill.

“I would say it was kind of gratitude, grateful,” Eicher said. “I was really happy with how the season went as a whole. ... I’m still taking it in.”

He said he was particularly pleased he was able to beat Hempfield Area’s Jonathan Stetchock and Norwin’s Benjamin McBride, who beat him at last week’s WPIAL championships, to claim the unofficial title of District 7’s best runner at states. Both finished outside the top 20.

Eicher said this year’s performance has upped his personal goals for the upcoming indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, and as the fourth-fastest underclassmen on Saturday’s podium, he’s now setting the goal of winning a PIAA title as a senior next year.

Senior Tornado teammate Ethan Thomas finished 69th with a time of 17:08, and senior Logan Rogers came in 108th (17:25). Zari Golojuh finished 74th in the girls 3A race in 20:31. She came in 67th (20:15) as a freshman last year.

Mars’ Hailey Long trusted her “natural talent” to return from injury, she just had to prove it to herself mentally.

The junior crossed the final hurdle in her comeback with a 14th-place finish in the girls Class 2A championship, crossing the finish line in 19:16 on Hershey’s difficult and hilly course.

Long, who also plays lacrosse in the spring, finished 38th in 19:51 as a freshman two years ago, but a series of foot injuries, including tendonitis and sesmoiditis — an injury to two small bones in the ball of her foot — required platelet-rich plasma injections and caused her to miss the 2024 state championships.

“I think the hardest part was the mental battle,” she said, adding she ran a 22-minute time in her first race this year.

Shaving off nearly three minutes over the course of the season, especially on a difficult state-championship level, is not easy.

“I’m super excited,” Long said. “Honestly, we kind of expected my progression to be somewhat like this (but not as good).”

She laughed at her coaches when they said at the beginning of the year she’d finish races in under 19 minutes. They have the last laugh now.

Long finished fourth in the WPIAL championships last week in 18:26.50.

The race of the day, at least concerning Butler County, came in the 2A boys field.

North Catholic’s Jack Steineman followed up his WPIAL bronze with a PIAA bronze, running an impressive 16:34 to conclude his sophomore season. And Knoch’s Carter French wasn’t far behind, finishing sixth in 16:47 to pair with his WPIAL silver a week ago.

WPIAL champion Jonah Montagnese, a junior, won the state title in 16 minutes flat as four runners from D7 claimed the top six spots in Hershey.

Steineman missed a few weeks of the season getting treatment in San Francisco for tendonitis affecting the area between the sole and ball of his foot. He said he was “eight out of 10 pleased” with his season overall, because he wanted some of those missed races back, but he broke 15:30 for the first time and finished Top 10 at states.

He hopes to eventually win states with two more chances ahead of him.

French finished 11th last year in the PIAA championships, and Steineman came in 102nd.

This story will be updated with reaction from Knoch.

North Catholic’s girls team has prided itself on its top-end depth all season. The Trojanettes’ top five routinely traded finishing places and didn’t always have a clear No. 1 runner.

That nearly paid off with a PIAA Class 2A medal; North finished just 25 points off the Hershey podium with 173, good for fifth.

Senior Madeline Meeuf made the individual podium in 22nd with a time of 20:07. She finished 10th (19:32) in Hershey as a sophomore but missed a large chunk of last year, including states, with a knee injury.

“It was awesome to see her come back this season and finish runner-up last week at WPIAL and get another state medal,” said coach Tim Souders, who added he was pleased with the team’s performance but also thought it could’ve finished as high as third.

Caroline Sell came in 41st (20:50), Sydney Dunn finished 53rd (21:04) and Anna Morris crossed in 63rd (21:12). Sell, Morris and fifth runner Annie Puhalla (135th, 22:21) are all sophomores.

The Trojanettes dominated the WPIAL championships a week ago; their top five all finished inside the Top 25 and scored just 45 points.

North Catholic’s Tyler Carroll won his second medal at states, finishing 20th in 17:02.

Slippery Rock freshman Lydia Springirth finished 74th in 21:23 in the 2A girls race, and Knoch’s Natalie Zolinas was 87th (21:39).

Freeport sophomore David Kristine came in 49th in the boys 2A race in 17:36.

Moniteau junior Peyton Beck finished 40th with a time of 18:03 in the boys 1A race.