North Allegheny’s Zach Kinne leads 5 WPIAL runners on 3,200 medal podium at PIAAs

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, May 25, 2019 | 12:20 PM

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SHIPPENSBURG — North Allegheny’s Zachary Kinne was running at Seth Grove Stadium, otherwise the state championship sure felt a lot like the WPIAL meet.

Five WPIAL runners finished among the Top 6 in the boys 3,200-meter run Saturday at the PIAA Class AAA track and field championships led by Kinne, who ran a personal-best 9:01.94 to win. Mifflin County’s Chayce Macknair was second (9:07.88) followed by four WPIAL runners.

“It feels good to know I competed — and my team competed — in the toughest district in the state,” Kinne said. “It’s definitely a great confidence booster for the district as a whole to be able to see that.”

North Allegheny teammate Daniel McGoey was third, Mars’ Zachary Leachman was fourth, Greensburg Salem’s Cameron Binda was fifth and Fox Chapel’s Christian Fitch was sixth.

“It definitely eased my nerves a little bit knowing they were guys I raced against many times throughout the season,” Kinne said. “There were five WPIAL athletes on the podium. I knew their racing strategies so that helped me race against them.”

North Allegheny’s Zach Kinne wins the #PIAA Class AAA boys 3,200 meters in a personal-best 9:01.94 #TribHSSN pic.twitter.com/APLhuFNt3G

— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) May 25, 2019

This was Kinne’s first time competing in the PIAA track championships. His family moved to the Pennsylvania from a Chicago suburb before this school year. He was the runner-up in the 3,200 meters at the Illinois state meet last year. He also was the PIAA runner-up in cross country last fall.

“It’s definitely an awesome experience,” Kinne said. “I’ve never won an outdoor track state championship individually. To be able to do it with a great time against some great runners, it definitely feels awesome.”

His winning time was more than a second faster than his previous personal best of 9:03.55 run last year at the Illinois track championship.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny