Kosek Places 3rd At PIAA XC Championships

By: Ed Weaver  /  November 2, 2025  /  Photo: Chris Manning

Junior Lauren Kosek placed 3rd overall in the PIAA Class 2A Girls XC Championships in Hershey Saturday morning.

Kosek was the top runner from District IV, running an 18:45 to better her 6th place finish last year.

"I'm so excited," she said. "For the past year, we've been saying that top 3 is possible, and then as we got closer to November, I was a little less convinced and was thinking top 5. The girls 2A field was loaded this year, so I knew anything could happen. To be able to have a good race on the right day is so exciting! My focus since June has been to place well at States, and to be successful feels so good."

Kosek was in the top 4 runners from the start of the race and worked her way to third by the two mile mark.

"The Hershey course is so difficult and scary," she added. "The race went well, I got off the line way better than I expected and was in 4th place at 1k. I moved up to 3rd at halfway and then ran alone for the rest of the race. Overall, I am super excited to have earned bronze at the state level in cross country!"

Out of the 737 total girls that ran from Class 1A-3A, Kosek's time was 8th overall on the day with four of the top eight finishers being seniors.

Seniors Henry Whitney and Max Macias capped their season with successful performances. Whitney was 44th overall in the Class 2A boys race, running 17:32. Macias finished 73rd overall, running 17:53.

"It was a great day for Wellsboro XC," head coach Eric Kosek said. "As a senior, Henry peaked with a top 50 states finish. Max had a very impressive 3rd consecutive year performance at States and Lauren finished out her Junior year right where she wanted to be. It was a bittersweet day for myself as a coach as I got to watch my two top Senior boys run there last XC race. Coaching these young men has been a highlight of my life. I wish them nothing but success and they will be missed greatly next season."