Girls AAA Feature: 5th title in 6 years for Pennsbury and 3rd for Class of 2016

Last week's District 1 battle between Pennsbury and Unionville hinted at possibly yet another close finish at Hershey between two of the best girls' programs in Pennsylvania.

The rivals proved too much for the rest of Saturday's Class AAA field as they were the only squads under 135 points on the day. Likewise, Greg Sargent's Falcons had a little too much firepower for Unionville in 2015, putting together one of the larger margins of victory in recent years between the schools.

"We had our goal set to win a state title," Pennsbury assistant coach Ken Cislak said. "We knew there were going to be teams behind us that were coming for us."

With six of last year's final seven returning, Pennsbury was ready for the pressure and fast opening segment of the state meet. The Falcons, who have won five of the last six AAA titles, were credited with only 40 team points after 1,600 meters as all five scorers were in the top 16, propelling the eventual champions to a 90-point gap over Unionville.

"Obviously, they have been in the spotlight since they were freshmen," Cislak said. "They have handled it through the years very well. We couldn't have asked for a better group of seven girls to come together to handle what they have handled."

However, the Indians were not going away as they looked to add another state trophy to ones from the previous four meets in Hershey. Pennsbury still was at 40 points at the second checkpoint, but their rivals were now shown with 91.

"We just narrowly beat Unionville at districts," Cislak noted. "We knew they would be back, and they would be coming on strong. They always do. Hats off to them, too. They ran a phenomenal race."

With senior Olivia Sargent locked in a tight battle for the individual gold, the entire team was the beneficiary of the best place for a team to start its scoring, the coach noted.

"You don't get any better than one," Cislak said. "We knew there were a lot of individuals up there too, so again it's more placement of where our girls and where other teams girls were placing. Obviously it makes it a little extra special when you take the individual crown as well as the team crown. All seven of them ran a great race. We couldn't have asked for any more from them."

Sargent's 18:01 was worth an eight-second victory over Aislinn Devlin of Downingtown West, while senior Hannah Molloy (sixth) and junior Mary Webb (ninth) also were in the overall top 10 for Pennsbury on the way to a victorious 47 points.

Unionville continued to close the gap, matching their runner-up placing from a year ago with 72 points as Anna Juul and Kacie Breeding were in the top 10 overall.