She is hardly a cross country novice, but it wouldn't be accurate to call Freedom Area High School senior Julia Kubica a grizzled veteran.

"She got into running late," Freedom coach Ed Shephard said. "She ran track in ninth grade and was a hurdler and sprinter, but she was playing soccer [in the fall]."

Shephard happened to see Kubica in a hallway in September of 2007 and casually asked, "How is soccer going?" She told him that she wasn't playing that sport any more.

"I said, 'Do you want to come run with us?' and she came to practice the next day," Shephard said. "She ran with us a couple days and then we decided to see how she would do in a race. She ended up as one of our top five."

That's how she got started as a distance runner and Kubica plans to keep running in college, although she isn't close to deciding on a school.

She just missed qualifying for the PIAA championships her first year on the cross country squad. Last year, she finished 12th at the WPIAL championships and qualified for the PIAA meet in Hershey.

This year, she has much higher goals.

"My goal is the top five at the WPIALs. That's what I'm aiming for," she said.

Kubica will compete in the Class AA race at the WPIAL finals today at Cooper's Lake Campground near Slippery Rock. That race is at 1:45 p.m. and gets the action going. The Class AAA girls' race is 2:30 p.m. with the Class AA boys' race at 3:15 p.m. The Class AAA boys' final is 4 p.m.

The top four teams in each race and the top 20 finishers who are not members of one of those four teams in each race qualify for the PIAA championships in Hershey Nov. 4.

The way Kubica ran last week at the Freedom Invititional at Brush Creek Park, she appears to be a lock for a trip to Hershey. She covered the rugged 3.1-mile course in 21 minutes, 11 seconds. That's only a second slower than the time she had in placing sixth at the Midwestern Athletic Conference championships Oct. 13 at Brush Creek Park.

The difference is that Kubica had a big lead over Freeport's Kayla Zboran at the Freedom Invitational. Zboran, who roomed with Kubica at the California University of Pennsylvania cross country camp this past summer, was 30 seconds back.

"If nothing else, I'm consistent," Kubica said. "This [Freedom Invitational] was a good tuneup for me. I was excited about running. I didn't know who was going to be here, so I just went out and ran."

She said she usually starts a race slowly but knew that Zboran is an outstanding 800-meter runner and wanted to make sure Zboran wasn't close to her at the finish.

"I just figured 'What the heck.' It was my last race on this [Brush Creek] course so I just figured I'd go for it," Kubica said.

What was impressive about her finish and time was that she has been training through meets. That means she hasn't altered her mileage any in preparation for races.

Shephard's philosophy is that tapering her mileage this past week and resting more for the WPIAL championships will help her to run faster today.

"We'll find out if I did the right thing," he said of today's championships.

The frustrating thing about the process was that because Kubica did not back off her training for meets during the season, she didn't see her times drop much.

"It's been tough mentally," she said. "There have been times when I've been really, really frustrated but coach Shep has attempted to talk me through it.

"I can be stubborn but now I'm realizing that resting big after training through things is going to pay off."

Shephard understood his runner's frustration because she is a fierce competitor.

"She wanted to beat everybody and train through things," he said. "It doesn't quite work that way."

The big question is whether Kubica can pull the upset and beat Shady Side Academy's Katrina Jueng, the defending WPIAL Class AA champion. Kubica has raced against her before in cross country and track.

"She's really a strong runner but if I'm feeling it, I'll try to get her," Kubica said. "I have no idea how that will work out."

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AROUND THE COURSE -- Fort Cherry's Margo Darragh was third at the Freedom Invitational with Freedom's Dee Dee Adams sixth. ... Center won the girls' team title at Freedom with Beaver second. Bishop Canevin won the boys' team title, edging Beaver, 97-107. ... Fort Cherry's John Allison was sixth in the boys' race, while Beaver's Asa Equels was seventh and Center's Austin Obenauf eighth. Freedom's Jake Deweese was ninth and Canevin's Jeff Flora 10th. ... At the Tri-State Track Coaches Association championships last week at Cooper's Lake Campground, West Allegheny's Brad Hough was 11th in 16:44. In the girls' race, Blackhawk's Rebecca Penneau was sixth and teammate Angelica Peck was 11th.

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