By: Ray Fisher 
Sunday, November 17, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Cecilia Montagnese’s high school legacy in cross country is firmly in place.

The Quaker Valley senior was the gold medalist at the WPIAL Class 2A girls individual championship race Oct. 24 at White Oak Park in McKeesport.

Montagnese’s time was a career-best 17.56.2 as she ran at a 5:46 mile pace. And, by the way, she was a four-time WPIAL qualifier and advanced to the PIAA finals three times in her cross country career.

“I really just enjoy running and spending time with my team,” the 5-foot-5 Montagnese said. “The team this year was an amazing group of girls, and it’s just been really fun to spend time with them.”

Now, her younger brother Jonah and sister Lucy have a goal to emulate — to win a WPIAL individual championship.

“I’m hoping that both of them can defend my WPIAL title, especially my sister,” said Cecilia Montagnese, who is 17 and plans to continue her track and field career in college. “I’m really excited to see what their future in running looks like, and hopefully we have some future WPIAL champs.”

Jonah Montagnese, a 5-10 sophomore, placed third in 15:46.5 in the Class 2A boys race at the WPIAL cross country finals, running at a 5:05 clip. His time was a career best for him at QV.

The first- and second-place finishers in the race, Freeport’s Michael Braun and Hampton’s Christopher Belch, were seniors. It appears Montagnese has a clear path to matching his older sister’s WPIAL achievement in 2025 or 2026.

“Cecilia’s performance was pretty awesome to watch,” Montagnese said, “and I think her performance will definitely motivate me to win in the coming years.”

Lucy Montagnese couldn’t study her older sister’s remarkable effort at the WPIAL finals, as she was bustling her way on the White Oak course several steps behind her. But she believes it was an awe-inspiring running exhibition, to say the least.

“I am so proud of Cecilia,” said Montagnese, 14. “She had been working hard all season and I’m so glad that it came through for her at WPIALs. Her race was an amazing show of grit and perseverance and (setting a personal record) by over a minute is a crazy impressive achievement.”

Jonah Montagnese, 15, and senior Clark LaLomia, a top-flight competitor throughout his prep career, led the QV boys to the WPIAL Class 2A cross country team championship with third- and fourth-place finishes.

Monagnese and LaLomia set the pace for QV juniors Tyler Bell and River Capek and senior Jackson Pethel at the WPIAL event, along with junior Ryan Kempton and sophomore Giovanni Ramella.

Lucy Montagnese, a leading freshman prospect at QV, placed sixth in Class 2A at the WPIAL girls cross country championships with a 19:40 effort. That works out to a 6:20 pace.

The first four competitors in the race were seniors and the fifth-place finisher was Anna Morris, a North Catholic freshman, so it’s possible that Montagnese and Morris will engineer a competitive rivalry over the next three seasons, and one or both may be favored to capture at least one WPIAL gold medal in cross country.

“I don’t know Anna super well,” the 5-6 Montagnese said, “but I have raced against her a few times, especially this season. She outsprinted me right at the (WPIAL) finish line, so I think that we’ll be racing next to each other for a long time.”

The younger Montagnese sibling, much like her brother, hopes to follow in her sister’s championship footsteps.

“Winning the WPIAL would be an amazing accomplishment, and Cecilia winning this year has definitely inspired me to set that as a goal for myself throughout high school,” Lucy said. “Coming back next year, I will be the second returner, so I don’t think winning will be out of reach by my senior year.

“I will definitely be pushing to defend Cecilia’s title.”

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Athletes of the week: Quaker Valley's Cecilia Montagnese and Mohawk's Jaxon Schoedel

Both won WPIAL cross country championships last week

COLIN BEAZLEY AND KEITH BARNES

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

OCT 28, 2024

12:58 PM

CECILIA MONTAGNESE

Quaker Valley

Recently: Montagnese, a senior, won the WPIAL Class 2A girls cross country championship at White Oak Park in McKeesport last Thursday. Her time of 17 minutes, 56.2 seconds was her personal record by more than a minute, and it was the best girls time out of more than 500 runners who competed in the three classifications.

Check this out: At the moment, Montagnese has the bragging rights in a cross country family. Her younger sister, Lucy, a freshman, finished sixth in the race with a time of 19:40.50. Younger brother Jonah, a sophomore, was third in the boys race with a time of 15:46.50. Off the course, Cecilia is part of Quaker Valley’s Global Scholars program and competed with a team in the History Bowl last February.

 Quaker Valley's Cecilia Montagnese

How did you feel about your performance?I'm proud of myself. I did not expect to go in and win, and I PR’ed by over a minute. My previous PR is 18:56, and I came in here today and I ran 17:56, so I have to be really proud of myself for that one.

What made you so fast? I honestly don't know. I think I'm just gonna have to do the exact same thing before states and hope it works out. But when I got on the course, I was nervous, but I felt good. I've been doing well in workouts and everything, so I knew I had a fast race in me. Maybe not this fast.

Your siblings raced and finished in the top six, but you’re the only champion. How does it feel to have bragging rights at the dinner table? It’s really fun. My sister's a freshman. This is the only year we're both running together, so it's been really exciting to be able to run with her. With my brother, I ran with him last year, too. It's definitely gonna be a fun night at home.

Do you guys train together? My sister's been taking some time off [with a hurt ankle]. I train a lot with the guys on our team. We don't really run together unless we're on vacation.

What have been some fun vacation runs? We were in Colorado over the summer, and we did some runs out there.

After your race, you were running around excited because your entire family and your team qualified for states. Were you not tired? How exciting was that moment? I'm also really excited because our team made it to states, which we haven't done in so long. We're really excited. I was definitely tired. I just had a lot of adrenaline built up. I think my legs are still shaking.

What’s your ideal victory meal? I’m not sure. Maybe I'll get some Chipotle. I usually just get a burrito bowl. I get guacamole and usually chicken. It depends on who’s paying.

What are your future plans? Do you plan to run in college? Yes, I think this time will definitely help me with it. I really enjoy running. I'm excited to keep doing it. It makes me really happy.

— By Colin Beazley

Ethan Morrison

Beaver County Times

BEAVER FALLS — Over 20 Beaver Valley schools raced Wednesday afternoon at Brush Creek Park at the MAC Championships as schools begin to tune up for the WPIAL championships in two weeks. 

It was a successful afternoon for Quaker Valley as seniors Cecilia Montagnese and Clark LaLomia finished in first place in both the girls’ and boys’ 5K races Wednesday afternoon. 

While Montagnese finished in the top spot in the girls’ race, posting a time of 19:04.57, she was not too familiar with the course beforehand but was able to fight through the adversity and run at a 6:08 pace.

“I saw not being familiar with the course as a mental challenge,” Montagnese said. “It helped me out a lot running without being familiar with it and my coaches and dad were pointing things out at me.”

The Quaker Valley senior was grouped in a pack with Moon Area’s Alyson Stepp and West Allegheny’s Grace Fritzman through the first mile. 

But towards the back half of the race, she broke free and finished 23 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher Stepp. 

“Out of the second mile, I was with everybody, and as I went with the group I thought to myself that I needed to push through because this was my last time competing in this race and I felt good to push forward.”

In the boy’s 5K, for the second straight year, LaLomia was the top finisher and this year put together yet another strong time of 16:21. 

Winning MACs for the second consecutive year was big for the Quaker Valley senior due to the rich history that the Quakers cross-country program has. 

“A lot of our historically great Quaker Valley runners went back-to-back here so I wanted to follow in their steps and do what I could for my team.”

During the race, LaLomia and Beaver Area’s Tyler Biss went stride for stride and the pair ,along with Moon Area’s Tyler Giunipero, has competed against one another on several occasions. 

Coming into the race, the senior knew it was going to be a challenge but knew that if he could keep pace, he would be able to finish with a fast time. 

“They are excellent competitors, I have raced them many times in cross-country and track so coming into it I knew that they would be pushing the pace, which is great for competition.”

Biss was the second-place finisher, five seconds behind LaLomia with a time of 16:26 and running at a 5:17 pace. 

Coming into the race, the Bobcat senior wanted to make sure to save enough energy for its back half.

“I approached this race a little more strategically. I have been going out in races too fast in the beginning by sprinting so I held it back with Clark [LaLomia] and Jonah [Montagnese] and just raced with them and pushed whenever they did. I felt like I had a lot more energy not pushing out early.”

Now that Biss finished just seconds behind the Quaker Valley senior during the MAC Championships with WPIAL’s right around the corner, he knows he has a chance to finish at the top. 

“This race has given me a lot more confidence coming into the WPIAL Championships. If I put the work in, I can give him a run for his money,” Biss said.

Girl’s 5K Top 10 Finishers

1. Cecilia Montagnese, Quaker Valley 19:04.57
2. Alyson Stepp, Moon Area 19:27.44
3. Grace Fritzman, West Allegheny 19:51.30
4. Joelle Ludwick, Montour 20:07.88
5. Bridget McNamara, Carlynton 20:21.99
6. Elise Ashcroft, Moon Area 20:40.88
7. Emma Palmieri, Hopewell 21:01.63
8. Tiffany Miller, Montour 21:01.82
9. Teagan Schaltenbrand, Montour 21:28.21
10. Danica Purtell, Beaver Area 21:32.61

Boy's 5K Top 10 Finishers

1. Clark LaLomia, Quaker Valley 16:21.6
2. Tyler Biss, Beaver Area 16:26.0
3. Jonah Montagnese, Quaker Valley 16:37.4
4. Tyler Giunipero, Moon Area 16:42.3
5. Brennan Patterson, West Allegheny 17:13.2
6. Brayden Freund, Moon Area 17:17.3
7. Kyle Kochanski, Mars Area 17:21.6
8. Brody Graham, Blackhawk 17:23.4
9. Jacob Chacon, Montour 17:27.3
10. Isaac Burtt, Beaver Area 17:28.9

Ethan Morrison

Beaver County Times

WHITE OAK — Coming into the Girl’s Class 2A race at the WPIAL Cross Country Championships at White Oak Park, Quaker Valley senior Cecilia Montagnese’s personal best time was just under 19 minutes. 

But on Thursday, the senior beat her personal best time by a full minute, finishing with a time of 17:56.20 and also taking home WPIAL gold. 

“I am ecstatic,” Montagnese said. “Coming into the day I did not think that I would be able to run this time. I have never broken 18 minutes in a race before, let alone 18:40, so I am just really excited.”

The senior finished 19 seconds ahead of Uniontown’s Grace Trimmer, who finished with a time of 18:15.20. 

For most of the race, both Trimmer and Montagnese were stride for stride with one another before the Quaker senior pulled ahead on a hill in the late stages of the race. 

“I passed her [Grace Trimmer] on the hill, and we run a lot of different hills where we live, so we have a lot of experience with those I knew that I had to push going up the hill and kept pushing through the rest of the race.”

Along with Montagnese being the top finisher, the Quakers also finished in third place with 127 points, 11 points under fourth-place team Uniontown, which qualifies Quaker Valley as a team for the state championships. 

For Montagnese, she has run at the PIAA championships twice before but never has had an opportunity to run with her team in Hershey. 

“Our team did not expect to make it to states today, and we had crazy performances all around," Montagnese said. "The girls team has not gone in years, so we are all so excited for the opportunity.”

In the other Class 2A race, Quaker Valley’s Jonah Montagnese finished in third place, posting a time of 15:46.50, which was just two seconds behind the second-place finisher Christopher Belch of Hampton. 

Heading into the race, the sophomore knew Hampton was one of the Quakers' main teams to compete against, and Jonah Montagnese had his eyes set on Belch from the beginning of the race. 

“Hampton was our main competitor today,” Montagnese said. “I just kept telling myself to stick with him for our team, so that helped keep me motivated throughout the race, and even though I couldn’t out-kick him in the end, it was still a great feeling."

The Quaker Valley boy’s team also qualified for states, taking home first place with a score of 83 points. 

In Class 3A, a pair of Moon Area runners were the top finishers in the Beaver Valley as Alyson Stepp finished in second place and Tyler Giunipero finished in third. 

Giunipero missed races at the start of the season, so coming into the WPIAL Championships, he did not even think finishing in third place with a time of 15:40 would have been in the cards. 

“It is rewarding,” Giunipero said. “I did not expect the results to play out the way that they did. This is the first big race this year where I was going against guys that I knew I could compete with and push me, so I knew that it would be a good opportunity, and that carried me to the finish.”

PIAA Class 2A Boys State Qualifiers 

3rd Jonah Montagnese, Quaker Valley; 4th Clark LaLomia, Quaker Valley; 6th Tyler Biss, Beaver Area; 9th Drew Steffler, Ellwood City; 10th Brody Graham, Blackhawk; 12th Ryan Groff, Beaver Area; 13th Bradley Custer, Ellwood City; 16th Isaac Burtt, Beaver Area; 19th Lucas Moore, Blackhawk

PIAA Class 2A Girls State Qualifiers

1st Cecilia Montagnese, Quaker Valley; 6th Lucy Montagnese, Quaker Valley; 10th Emma Palmieri, Hopewell; 13th Rylie Teapole, Beaver Area; 15th Maggie Doz, Quaker Valley