ERIE – After placing second in three of the last four years, the
Bradford High girls cross country team finally broke through and
won the Class AAA varsity championship at the McDowell Invitational
on Saturday.

Bradford scored 26 points. There were 62 runners in the
race.

Five of the top eight runners were Lady Owls – Sarah Lonzi,
Renee Cavallaro, Erica Pascarella, Paige Ambrose and Marissa
Buchheit.

Lonzi earned first place for the Lady Owls, the first time a
Bradford runner has ever been first at the invitational. She
crossed the finish line in a time of 19:19. Lonzi finished 1:25
ahead of the second place runner.

“Sarah has set the tone for her season with a strong desire to
excel and place high in all of the big invitationals,” said Bob
Macfarlane, Bradford coach. “This was a good race for her and it
was a solid step toward accomplishing the goals she has set.”

Cavallaro placed fourth with a personal best time of 20:48.

“This is a significant improvement over her time last year on
this course,” Macfarlane said. “Renee continues to impress me with
her attitude and her desire to improve herself. Her work ethic is
second to none.”

Pascarella placed sixth, also setting a personal best
(21:08).

“Erica is beginning to gain more confidence in her running
ability and will be a real force within our district this season,”
the coach said.

Ambrose was seventh in 21:11.

“She has a great deal of strength and running ability and did
well in this race,” he said. “When she is able to put these two
strengths together, she will be very tough to catch.”

Buchheit finished in eighth place for the Lady Owls in
21:12.

“This was an incredible race for Marissa,” he noted. “She has
been working very hard and she is a strong runner, but to place
this high and have this kind of time in her first ever cross
country race was extremely impressive. This is a very good
indicator of the type of competitor she is.”

Liz Keller placed 13th for Bradford in a personal best of
21:36.

“Her continued improvement in her final year is going to be
vital to this team’s success this season,” he said.

Megan Prosser was 20th in a time of 22:15, freshman Brittni
Wiseman finished 36th in 23:30 and Megan Foster was 38th with a
time of 23:47.

“Overall, these girls were really looking forward to this race
and getting the season started,” the coach continued. “They wanted
to go out, prove what they were capable of and make a statement
that they were ready for this season. To have six girls running at
21:36 or better at this point in the season is fantastic and it
shows their pride in themselves and their dedication to the
program.

“All of the girls are working hard and gave their best effort
today,” he complimented. “They showed the mental toughness
necessary to compete against quality teams. This victory is just a
small part of the puzzle for this year. On Tuesday, we get back to
work because in the next seven days, we have three dual meets
against formidable District 9 teams.”

In the varsity race, Oakland Catholic finished second with 80
points, Erie McDowell was third with 89 points, Meadville was
fourth with 108 points and Butler took fifth with 117 points.

At the junior varsity level, a total of 57 girls competed.

“We had four runners so we didn’t place, but we did have
improvement from all four girls over their times in last years
race,” Macfarlane pointed out.”

Leading Bradford, Shannon Taylor placed 30th with a time of
26:42, Kevryn Boser was 32nd with 27:00, Chloe Nickel was 35th
(27:31) and Kara Piganelli was 37th (27:44).

“All of these girls are improving and are dedicated to making
progress with every race,” he said.

In the junior high meet, 102 runners raced on the 1.77-mile
course.

Leading Bradford, Lauren Bauschard was second with a time of
11:59, Lisa Lau was fourth (12:15) and Alexandria Szczupak was
eighth (12:28).

“This trio of young runners pushes themselves and each other and
it really paid off in their first race of the season,” the coach
said.

Also for Bradford, Kaitlin Barton placed 58th (14:30), Mahita
Gajanan was 61st (14:45) and Bridget Colligan was 74th (15:28).

“It was a good start to the season for everybody,” the coach
concluded.