Quaker Valley High School cross country coach Dave Noyes said the atmosphere on the bus ride home from the PIAA championships last year was like a morgue.

That's because the Quakers lost the Class AA team title by two points to Elk Lake, a team they were supposed to beat. Win or lose, he didn't want the same thing to happen again this year.

"I told them we were going to have fun on the ride home no matter what happened," he said. "They were disappointed but they were OK on the way back. It wasn't like last year."

Most cross country teams would be thrilled with a second-place finish at the PIAA championships, but Quaker Valley isn't like most cross country teams ... at least not this year.

The Quakers wanted to make up for last year's narrow defeat in Hershey, but it didn't happen.

Saturday at the 3.1-mile Parkview course, York Suburban defeated Quaker Valley, 76-99, for the boys' Class AA title.

It wasn't as if the Quakers didn't run well, they did with three runners placing in the top 20. It was a case where they didn't run well enough.

"I don't know what it is," Noyes said when asked why his team didn't perform as expected. "Last year, the guys were saying how they had tired legs after the [PIAA] race, but there wasn't any of that this year.

"It's a course where you have to get out fast and we worked on running miles hard so we would get out early. We just always seem to fade at the finish."

Noyes wasn't about to blame his runners for not winning the PIAA title. After all, the Quakers have placed second two years in a row and have won three consecutive WPIAL crowns. Instead, he took the blame.

"I'm going to have to take a look at what I'm doing," he said. "After last year, we changed some things we did in training, things that worked for us in track last year.

"I told the guys not to be too disappointed and think about how much they've been on the victory stand both as a team and individually. They've had a pretty good season."

Omar Hyjek, who had a side stitch and faded at the WPIAL championships, rebounded and finished 18th at the PIAA meet with a time of 17 minutes, 12 seconds. Teammates John Yankello and Nat Fox were right behind and placed 19th and 20th. But they needed to finish better than that for the Quakers to have a shot at the team title.

Mike Ryan, who ran with a sore calf, was 80th overall and Andrew Hotchkiss was 98th.

"Mike gutted it up and did his best. Maybe he shouldn't have even been running, but he wanted to go," Noyes said. "I had a feeling going in that York Suburban was the team to beat because of their close spread."

York Suburban, which won its first PIAA cross country title, had something to do with the Quakers' second-place finish. The spread between York Suburban's first and fifth finishers was just 39 seconds, while Quaker Valley's was 57 seconds.

"I don't know, we just seem to do better on the track," Noyes said. "I guess I just haven't figured out this cross country yet."

He pointed out that the Parkview course in Hershey did not play well for the Quakers' Sarah Miller, who won the WPIAL girls' Class AA title. A sophomore, Miller is a runner who gets stronger as a race progresses, not a fast starter.

"She was probably 100th at the 2-mile mark," Noyes said. "She did a good job just to get back and finish 37th."

On paper it appears the Quaker Valley boys will be in a rebuilding mode next year. Hyjek, Yankello and Ryan are seniors. But Fox is a sophomore, Hotchkiss a junior and freshman Jack McGarry and sophomore L.J. Westwood rounded out the team's seven runners at the PIAA meet.

"And we've got some pretty good freshmen and sophomores who have been waiting their turn," Noyes said. "If we'd have run with them at the WPIAL championships, I think we still win.

"I heard them talking afterward and they were saying they were going to make a pact to stay together. You never know how that's going to turn out, but it's good to hear. So, I think we'll be OK again next year."

The Quaker Valley girls' team, which also won a WPIAL title, might be the group to watch the next couple of years.

The top seven included freshmen Rachel Skolnekovich and Lauren Ferris, and sophomores Miller, Casey Lally and Chelese Kosanovich. The seniors who ran in Hershey were Marielle Roppo and Allie Rakowski.

"I think the girls will be strong again, but I'm not giving up on the guys," Noyes said.

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