Penn Hills cross country looking to finish season strong

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, October 15, 2023 | 11:01 AM

The Penn Hills cross country program has seen its numbers steadily climb since having a tough start to the season.

The boys program had five runners compete at the Section 4 championship meet. Veteran Penn Hills cross country coach Lee Zelkowitz hopes their accumulating experience will help once the WPIAL Class 3A championship meet rolls around Oct. 26 at White Oak Park.

“I’ve seen a lot of growth with the newer runners,” Zelkowitz said. “The runners who were on the team last season have improved a lot.”

Sawyer Kinney was Penn Hills’ top finisher at the section championships, placing 16th with a time of 18 minutes, 15.1 seconds. Kinney was the Indians’ top returning runner but saw his training get a late start.

“I’m waiting for Sawyer to take the next step,” Zelkowitz said. “We have conversations about that every day. It’s more of a mental thing. I’m hoping in the next two meets he can take the next step.”

Zelkowitz believed the most important aspect to Sawyer’s improvement was for him to set goals.

“You have to tell me what you want to do,” Zelkowitz said. “He was all about it. He’s training really hard again and is on the right path again. I think he wants to make the most out of his senior year.”

Adam Rosemeyer (41st, 21:33.5), Xavier Nicholas (45th, 21:40.60), Avin Keller (54th, 22:23.5) and Dylan Bishop (56th, 36:23.4) also competed for Penn Hills. On the girls side, Nevaeh Mosley was the lone competitor and she finished in 54th place.

Zelkowitz said he was happy that Penn Hills already had a chance to run the WPIAL championship course at white Oak at the Red, White & Blue Classic. Indians runner Alonah Darwin-Jackson was Penn Hills’ top female finisher at the race and is a first-year runner.

“She’s made big improvements,” Zelkowitz said. “It’s a mental challenge. You have to run three miles and have never done that before. I wasn’t sure if she was going to stay with it and she did. Made big improvements and it will help her with whatever we put her in on the track side.”

Zelkowitz, who wasn’t planning on coaching the team this season but stepped back into the role in early August, has been happy with the effort he’s seen. Zelkowitz, who also coaches the indoor and outdoor track programs at Penn Hills, said he wants to try and leave a foundation for whoever takes over next fall.

Zelkowitz said he expects to see improvements the second time the Indians run the WPIAL course. Having more experience will give his young team a good idea of how to run the race.

“I think they did what I expected,” Zelkowitz said of their performance in the first race. “I wasn’t upset with anything. It was a good marker to see where we were.”

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