The State High Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams took center stage at the PIAA State Championships on Nov. 1. After capturing the state title in 2024, the boys fell just one spot short in 2025, taking second behind North Penn. The girls improved on their 2024 finish, taking third place behind only Norwin and Downingtown West. State High was the only school to finish with both its boys and girls teams in the top five.
The boys were led by juniors Theo Oppermann and Luke Bradbury, who took third and fifth, respectively. Oppermann’s bronze medal was the best finish by a State High runner since Brady Bigger won it all in 2020.
Failing in the ultimate goal of winning a team championship made the little successes and lessons learned all the more impactful for Oppermann.
“I don’t think I would change anything, it’s like, you have a set path and you just have to keep on that path and fight as hard as you can every time you get the opportunity to and learn lessons. Today was a great day to learn lessons as a team,” Oppermann said.
Sandwiched between Oppermann and Bradbury was Mifflin County’s Carter Smith, the defending individual state champion heading to Oklahoma State next year. In the final opportunity of his high school career, Oppermann edged out Smith by a fraction of a second to defeat him for the first time.
Behind the tight top five, State High’s next runner didn’t come in until Dexter Walker in 39th. The sophomore was followed by junior Kyle Fritzsche, then senior Owen Viglione came in just two seconds later.
The girls team was similarly bunched. Sophomore Evie Younkin was the leader and earned a medal in 17th place. While Younkin went out slightly faster than she wanted to, she wound up pleased with the result.
“I was really happy with it,” she said. “I didn’t place last year, and that was definitely a goal of mine throughout the entire season this year to get a medal, and it definitely just felt like everything was a full circle moment.”
Behind Younkin, sophomore Carolyn Frank, junior Autumn Swisher, sophomore Sylvia Hutchinson and senior Julia Bigger all finished under 21 minutes and between 76th and 100th place.
Head Coach Rebecca Donaghue was pleased with both of her teams and gave a recap of the girls race.
“They fought really hard,” she said. “They were fifth at the mile, then they moved up to second/third. I think they surprised a lot of people, going into it as fifth place, improved on last year. Last year we got fourth, so lots of improvements.”
The girls team was picked fifth before the meet and beat expectations for the second straight year, which is a testament to its close-knit nature and chemistry.
“I’ve definitely grown a lot closer with my team and those relationships are gonna last a really long time. And overall, everyone on the team ran really well, and I think we’re all really happy with how we did this season. Even though we didn’t meet our goal of getting second, we’re still really happy with how we did and we’re excited for next year,” Younkin said.
The boys and girls teams each had just two seniors run at states this year, and both teams will return their top four finishers. The chances of a 2026 return to the top for the boys and a breakthrough for the girls look as promising as ever.
