2023 Section Champions — WPIAL Runner Up — PIAA 4th Place
The Beaver Boys Cross Country team completed a historic season on November 4th in Hershey.
The most successful boys cross country season in school history was capped with a 4th place finish in Hershey, PA against a loaded PIAA field.
Senior Connor Young basked in the excitement of the accomplishments, but also found a moment to think about the bigger picture. “These accomplishments mean that our team has set a standard for the future of the boys cross country teams.”
The team began the season as an underdog. Despite not being picked to finish highly in their own section, let alone the WPIAL, the boys on the team knew they had something special brewing.
“You could really tell we had something special when people who don’t usually show up to summer training showed up.”, Junior Tyler Biss said.
The boys hard work paid off early in the season with big finishes at some of the toughest invites around. But the big payoff came in section play when the boys officially announced themselves as a problem for everyone with their defeat of section favorite Montour.
“Montour was expected to win the section, but we knew we were more complete team and all we had to do was trust our training and go out and run our race. It felt great to go out and do it as a team. Everyone showed up and did their job”, senior Domenic Bumblis said.
A week later the boys went to Blackhawk and dominated the rival Cougars to put a stranglehold on the section Championship. A championship that they officially clinched weeks later with a win at Chartiers Valley to complete an undefeated section season.
The boys traveled to the WPIAL Championship on October 26 and were able to edge out Quaker Valley and Montour to claim the WPIAL Runner Up Trophy.
The team graduates seniors Eli Bechdel, Domenic Bumblis, Connor Young, Cannon Hoback and Rylan Blackburn, but also return multiple contributors that should set the team up for continued success. Tyler Biss, Isaac Burtt and Sam Mateer give the team a strong foundation for 2024.
