When You Come at the King, You Best Not Miss

In sports, we most often remember the champions. Many of us who are spending time reading this site, can probably remember who the most recent few state champions were. They may also remember who won their district. But how many can remember who was second? Third? Fourth?

By 2010, fans of the WPIAL had it pretty easy. If you wanted to remember the district champion, all you had to do was remember one name: North Allegheny. The Tigers won the WPIAL title in 2005 and never looked back, grabbing gold through the end of the decade. Each year, hit by graduation, there were doubts about NA’s ability to defend, but by the time they stepped foot on Cooper’s Lake, their dominance was evident.

After producing one of the best teams in program history in 2008, North Allegheny graduated three key contributors to their national qualifying time (Chase Broussard, Patrick Morgan and Will Appman). The 2009 team would need to pull from their crowded pool of JV runners and retool behind rising junior Ryan Gil. At the Red, White and Blue Invitational, they started to piece together a capable squad, but they were defeated by a new foe: Baldwin.

For the past three seasons, the Baldwin boys had been piecing together their own streak. With clutch running at Coopers, Baldwin had snuck into the state championships with the fourth and final spot from the WPIAL each season. They graduated TJ Hobart, an icon in the school’s distinguished history, but returned a core of athletes that had learned a lot under his tutelage. Hobart may have been an individual star, but 2009 was the first year Baldwin displayed a true team and they rode their depth to the RWB victory with 78 points to NA’s 94.

But by the time the two schools lined up for a rematch a month later, North Allegheny was ready. They compiled their own pack and used it to outlast Baldwin 81 to 95 at the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Invitational. By the time they reached Coopers Lake, North Allegheny was a team on the rise. They won the Tri State championship over Baldwin by 12 and the District title by 17. In Hershey, the gap between the two teams had ballooned to 26, which, although it doesn’t sound like much, separated the teams by 3 spots in the final standings. Baldwin finished 5^th in the state while North Allegheny climbed onto the podium in second after a pair of agonizing third place finishes the previous two seasons.

So North Allegheny graduated their two to four runners from one of their best ever squads and somehow did better at states the next year? It only added to the magic around this program. Despite the fact that they were now graduating their two through five, the North Allegheny lore was strong enough to co-brand them state title favorites for 2010. Also contributing to their projected status was the arrival of transfer Logan Steiner. As a sophomore at Meadville, he was 25^th at states and, alongside Gil, looked like the most dynamic 1-2 punch in Pennsylvania.

As for Baldwin, they had their own graduation issues. Dennis Logan and Matt Cecala had been the front runners for this team for the majority of the season and were senior leaders within the locker room. These two talents would be tricky to replace and Baldwin didn’t have quite the same reputation as their rivals from NA. Therefore, Baldwin was buried again, in the shadows with the rest of the near champions that history forgets.

At the 2010 Red, White and Blue Invitational, North Allegheny validated the hype surrounding their line-up with an emphatic victory. They scored 62 points to win comfortably over Baldwin and Mount Lebanon. Their average time of 16:02 was far ahead of the pace they put down in either of their prior two seasons. Varsity newcomers Joe Pane and Vincent Tonzo provided top 20 performances, effectively eliminating the team’s one projected weakness: depth.

Baldwin did not have the same firepower they showed a year earlier with Cecala and Logan on to other things. However, Baldwin still held their own. Paul Degregorio ran a fantastic race to finish as the team’s #1 runner in ninth place. But the real wildcard was freshman George Kelly. The ninth grader claimed the 22^nd spot in his first major invitational, putting the rest of the state on notice. He had received some hype on the message boards in his own rate, churning out strong middle school results, but nothing could substitute for proof on the high school stage.

While North Allegheny went to Carlisle and continued their assault on the state rankings, Baldwin trekked down to Virginia for the Maymont Invitational. The team’s returning state medalist, Bobby Bishop, got back on the right foot down South, running to a fifth place finish in the meet with a time of 16:27. Michael Cain saw improvement as well, moving from the team’s #5 to the #2 spot. The pieces were coming together for another strong season.

At Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Baldwin hoped to get a rematch with North Allegheny. However, although some Tigers were in attendance, the full varsity line-up was not racing. But they would still have their hands full with another WPIAL superpower. Led by a trio of juniors (Moran, Tramaglini and Tellin), Mount Lebanon stormed across the course and edged out Baldwin on a sixth man tie breaker to steal the trophy. Despite top 10 finishes from Bishop, DeGregorio and Kuchta, Baldwin was a man short of taking the title. Super frosh George Kelly didn’t finish the race, meaning David Wainwright had to step up and fill his very big shoes. Although he ran a strong race, it was not enough to hold off Mount Lebanon’s pack.

This could have been a turning point for Baldwin’s season. North Allegheny was running away with the WPIAL title and perhaps the state title. Mount Lebanon looked like the young, up and coming team to watch. Baldwin looked like they would struggle to top their prior year results: a narrow WPIAL silver and a well-earned fifth in Hershey. It would have been easy to let this get in their heads as they settle in to a mid-pack result in the talented district.

At the Mingo Classic, Baldwin confirmed this would indeed be a turning point. But not in the way you might have expected. The boys swept the top 5 spots in the invitational, all dipping under 17 minutes. Bobby Bishop was the meet champion. George Kelly was back and looked as strong as ever. It was clear, this team would not curl up into a ball. They were ready for the challenge waiting for them at Cooper’s Lake.

With Altoona making the trip to the Tri-State Championship, the top two ranked teams in the state were set to duel in a Carlisle rematch. Mount Lebanon, fresh off their Pittsburgh Central Catholic upset, was also ready for a fight. Yet when the gun sounded, none of those teams proved to be the fastest. Baldwin got the perfect day they had been waiting for all season. Their top five runners each broke 16:50, aided by 16:25 marks from both Michael Cain and Paul Degregorio. Their score of 64 was over 30 points better than North Allegheny (96) and Altoona (97). Was the state championship suddenly theirs to lose?

Not so fast. A look at the top of results made it obvious that one very significant name was missing: Ryan Gil. The Tiger had not looked quite right at Red, White and Blue or Carlisle and word had gotten out way. Gil was battling a serious foot injury that had greatly hampered his training and made the coach staff concerned enough to leave him out of the line-up at TSTCA. If Gil had finished the race (and taken 1^st place overall), North Allegheny and Baldwin would have finished tied atop the standings.

Although fans and coaches speculated plenty, ultimately the talk about who “would have won” was pointless. Baldwin showed up and earned the championship trophy. North Allegheny would have to show up and grab the momentum back at WPIALs. A look down the starting line, showed Gil was indeed back. But how much did he have in the tank?

The first mile, Gil hung back, but Baldwin’s top 4 went on the attack. Bobby Bishop was out fastest in 7^th, but Cain, Kuchta and Degregorio were all in the top 20. For comparison, NA only had two runners in the to 20. But Baldwin’s freshman, George Kelly, was running a different kind of race. The #5 runner had taken a conservative start at Tri-States and doubled down on that strategy in the district final. His time of 5:27 through the mile put him in 77^th place and so Baldwin sat in 3^rd place in the team standings, 27 points behind North Allegheny and 18 behind Mount Lebanon.

A mile later, Baldwin’s top 4 was showing no signs of letting up. Bobby Bishop had caught and passed both of NA’s front runners and now sat in fourth place behind only the North Hills monster. Michael Cain and Paul Degregorio had moved into the top 10 overall and Andrew Kuchta was just 4 seconds behind them in 16^th. Kelly had made up some ground as well, taking 20 spots off his team score and now Baldwin was within 11 points of knocking out the five-time defending champions.

The finish looming, all of the runners had to get their bodies in gear. The grueling course layout at Slippery Rock had punished the varsity contingents for both Baldwin and North Allegheny. Now, running on fumes, each team just wanted to get to the line. The first across was Ryan Gil who, after his conservative start, turned it up a notch on the final mile with his 15:39. Steiner came through next, one spot behind. Two in for the Tigers. None for Baldwin.

But a surge was coming. Bishop crossed in 6^th, one spot behind Steiner. Michael Cain was next in 9^th. Kuchta came through in 11^th. Now there were 3 for Baldwin vs. just 2 for the Tigers.

After Kuchta crossed the line, there was a lot of anxious breath holding. At two miles, Degregorio had been in a strong position, just behind Cain and ahead of Kuchta. Now the North Allegheny boys had their eyes fixed on the back of his jersey. Key swing points up for grabs. Would they get there? The answer, for Tim Appman and Mike Meehan, was yes. Appman, who had been outside the top 30 at the mile, put down a tremendous surge to finish in 18^th place. He pulled the talented sophomore Meehan with him as Mike crossed a second behind in 20^th. Degregorio, leaving everything he had on the course, came through the shoot in 23^rd. Now it was 4 to 4.

Adding up the scores for both teams with a runner to go, the standings read NA 47 – Baldwin 49. While North Allegheny had a pack of guys, of which any could cross the line next, Baldwin’s last hope was freshman George Kelly. While Kelly had started out well behind the leaders, he was making up ground quickly. He moved from 77^th to 58^th and now could spot the top 40. In the final stages of the race, Kelly overtook NA’s Nick Minich. Then, he ran down the Tiger’s early season x-factor in Joe Pane. But, ultimately, Tyler Nicotra was able to hold off the freshman’s final surge and cross the line for the Tigers in 33^rd while Kelly was 3 seconds back in 37^th.

In the end, just six points separated Baldwin from history. If a few things flip differently, North Allegheny’s title streak is disrupted at the beginning of the decade rather than near the end. Two straight seasons, Baldwin gave the Tigers everything they could handle, but the team was not able to grab a championship. The record books will not include their names, but they will live on in the memory of those who were there to follow their fantastic efforts.

At the state championship in Hershey, North Allegheny again hoisted the trophy. This time, Baldwin did not have a dramatic final mile chase. Instead, they finished in 4^th place, nearly 80 points back of the Tigers. None of their runners made it onto the medal stand. Only one was inside the top 50.

In Cross Country, a journey across the course is defined not by the beginning or the middle, but by the end. There are no bonus points for leading at halfway. No deductions for saving your energy for a final, last second kick. But for the 2010 Baldwin team, their journey was defined by the beginning and the middle as well as the end. How you improve, how you cope with disappointment, how you rise to challenge and, yes, how you finish.

Baldwin was not the District or State Champion, but their journey is one I will always remember.