How Mars cross country star Hailey Long returned to states
Hailey Long’s dampened mood did not last.
The Mars senior had just crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 43.7 seconds to place third at Thursday’s WPIAL Class 3A Girls Championship at White Oak Park.
“At first I was a bit upset because I didn’t really follow the game plan, which was to sit on Zeng (South Fayette’s Angela, runner-up and 2025 champion) and out-kick her at the end,” Long said. “I went out too fast. I was ahead of her, but she passed me and I gave her too much room.
“But then I thought about it. This is what I set out to do before the season (top three at WPIALs). I locked in, put a lot of work in this past summer. I’m proud of my effort here.”
Peters Township’s Kathryn Froelich won the district championship at 16:38.
Long did not compete at last week’s Tri-State Championship.
“She wanted to compete in a showcase down in Virginia (Oct. 17), and I said if she did that, then we were going to hold her out of TSTCAs to get some rest,” Mars coach Dan Carlino said. “She ran really well today.”
Long placed fourth at WPIALs as a junior in a time 43 seconds slower than what she managed on Thursday.
“Not running at Tri-States, it allowed me to get more training in without all the recovery time,” said Long, who ran cross country as a freshman and reached the state meet despite, as she put it: “...not training much at all. Our coaches have really helped us out the last couple of years.”
Joining Long on the podium and in heading to states was teammate Norah Sondej (12th, 19:01.2).
Butler senior Brendan Eicher qualified for states for the third time after finishing 11th with a time of16:13.7.
He placed third last year.
“I had high expectations before the season, but it has not gone exactly how I planned,” he said. “But I was able to kick past a few runners near the end today, was 17th after 2 miles and finished 11th, and I’m happy with that.
“Getting to states for a third time, I’m really grateful for that. I’m ready to chase another state medal.”
Also reaching states from Butler County was Seneca Valley’s Ian Wahl (21st, 16:31.8) and Mars’ Evan Lewis (23rd, 16:33.1).
Fox Chapel’s Asher Eckel won the WPIAL crown in 15:27.2.
