Before getting started, it needs to be pointed out that the North Hills High School girls' cross country team finished ninth out of the 42 complete teams that participated in the WPIAL Class AAA championships last year.

That's important so that folks won't think that the North Hills girls suddenly burst onto the scene this season.

"We've been competitive for a number of years," North Hills coach Tom Baier said. "We've had some good runners."

It's just that North Hills is in the same section with powerhouse North Allegheny, Seneca Valley, Butler and Hampton. It's hard for a team to get noticed competing against that group unless ...

Unless it happens to finish ahead of them at a big invitational, which is what North Hills did.

The Indians placed third behind Norwin and Osbourn Park from Virginia at the Red, White & Blue Classic Sept. 12 at Schenley Park. North Hills finished with 152 points, while Norwin had 106 and Osbourn Park 115. North Allegheny was fourth with 169 and Seneca Valley was 24th.

"We had all but one of our runners back from the team that was ninth at the WPIALs last year, so we thought we'd be good," Baier said. "The girls missed out on getting a sweatshirt last year [sweatshirts are awarded to the top three teams in each division] and that's what they were after. I think they might have been a little surprised they finished ahead of North Allegheny."

That could be a sign of things to come.

North Hills was led by sisters Margo and Shannon Malone, who finished third and fourth, respectively. Margo covered the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 23 seconds with her sister a second back. Both were in the lead group when it hit the top of the final hill on the course.

Now, here's the kicker. Margo is a sophomore and Shannon is a freshman and they have a younger sibling, Mary, who is in eighth grade at St. Teresa of Avila Grade School in Ross and will probably be joining the North Hills team next season.

Mary, who was second to Shannon at the Catholic Grade School championships last year, is said to be the better runner of the three.

"Their mother coaches the team at St. Teresa and ran in high school," Baier said. "Their dad played basketball at North Hills, so they come from an athletic family ... and they like to run.

"Margo was on our 3,200-meter relay team in track and also ran a 5:14 [in placing fourth] in the 1,600 at the WPIAL track championships. Plus, she has that type of personality that just attracts people."

Two runners don't make a winning cross country team, however, and North Hills has a solid group. The No. 3 runner is senior Emily Enzerra, who was 18th at the Red, White & Blue in 19:36. Juniors Regina Sencak and Jacie Shields were the team's fourth and fifth runners to cross the line and both were under 21 minutes. Senior Felicia Bane and junior Lauren Wonderly round out the top seven.

Baier said Shields would have finished better than 67th but was knocked to the ground in the first mile and banged up both knees.

"When she finished, she had blood from her knees running down her legs," he said. "But she hung in there and did a good job, and Regina did a good job of keeping Jacie going.

"Our fifth, sixth and seventh runners are battling each other. Our No. 6 girl, Felicia, says she's going to take over No. 5 but Jacie says 'You're going to have to fight me for it.' Having that kind of competition is good."

Imagine what it's going to be like next year when Mary Malone joins the Indians. But Baier is concerned with this season.

North Hills had a triangular meet with Shaler and Hampton last week, beating both. Today, the Indians were scheduled to run against Knoch and Butler at Butler.

North Hills doesn't face North Allegheny until after the Central Catholic Invitational Oct. 3.

"We've been running well," Baier said. "How far that will take us, we'll have to see. But placing third [at the Red, White & Blue] should give us some confidence and the fact we had five in the 20s [minutes] and under is a good sign."

Norwin, off its finish at the Red, White & Blue, seems to be ahead of the pack when it comes to the top Class AAA teams in the WPIAL. After that, there appear to be a half-dozen teams capable of finishing second at the WPIAL championships next month. One of them is North Hills.

"That would be nice, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves," Baier said. "We're going to continue to work hard and, hopefully, get better and see where that takes us."