Coach To Celebrate Another 500th Win Within Calendar Year

For the second time in less than 12 months, Art Corrigan will be enjoying a 500th win celebration.

The veteran Notre Dame High School coach, who’s entering his 27th season, earned his 500th career boys cross country win last October. Later today, he’ll most likely be celebrating his 500th win with the girls team which is competing in a seven-way meet at Northwestern High School.

Corrigan’s girls team will be going head-to-head against defending Colonial League champion Northwestern in a meeting of two of the leading contenders for the league championship.

The Crusaders have a strong team led by defending District 11 Class AA champion Katie Downing, a senior. Her strong supporting cast features seniors Erika Edwards and Katie Garofalo, junior Ashleigh Lesko, and sophomores Christina Scartelli and Bella Macmillian. All six were in the team’s top seven last season, and Lesko was Wilson’s No. 1 runner at the end of the season before she transferred to Notre Dame in the middle of the school year.

“We should be pretty strong,” said Corrigan, who enters the season with a 498-105 record with the girls. “But Northwestern should be really good, especially at the top of its lineup with Haley Yost and a couple of other girls.”

Scartelli, who had an outstanding outdoor track season, has been running strongly and there could be meets in which she supplants Downing as the team’s No. 1 runner.

The Crusaders are aiming for their first league crown since 1999. They’ve also won Colonial championships in 1996 and ’98 on Corrigan’s watch.

Northwestern is led by its No. 1 runner Yost, a junior who is coming off an outstanding outdoor track season. Sophomores Rachele Cerrone and Carly Pierce and senior Erin Ondush also return from the Tigers’ top seven.

Bangor is a trendy pick because the Slaters went 22-4 last year and bring back six of their top seven. Junior Meredith Colton is Bangor’s No. 1 runner and she’ll be buoyed by seniors Samantha Hallet and Julia Figuccio, juniors Virginia Cobb and Samantha Hay and sophomore Jenny DeJonge.

Seniors Tiffany Frey and Dianna Crowley could also find their way into Bangor’s top seven.

Saucon Valley returns junior Elizabeth Chikotas, a two-time defending league champion and The Express-Times 2010 Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Chikotas will get support from returning seniors Alex Evangelista and Alexandra Pazzaglia and sophomore Emily Hoff. The Panthers drop down to Class AA this year.

Wilson could be a sleeper team should Bangor, Notre Dame or Northwestern encounter injury issues. Maddy Brannon, Lexi Washburn, Casey Carl and Brigid McAtee, all juniors, are the team leaders. Two freshmen, Sydney Brannon and Julia Sjodahl, who dominated their middle school races, should blend in with the juniors.

Pen Argyl went 13-13 last year, though the Green Knights have just five girls out for the team this fall. If they can avoid injuries, the quintet, which includes sophomores Angelina Biondo and Alyssa Weaver, junior Regan Murphy and freshman Meghan Male, could be formidable.

Palisades brings back seniors Amanda Fleck, Olivia Dermody and Alexia Skoriak from its top seven.

Moravian Academy junior Emily Smith should be a factor in the individual race in both the league and District 11 Class AA races.