Today is the halfway point in the season -- there are four weeks until the WPIAL conducts its cross country championships at Coopers' Lake Campground near Slippery Rock.

Four weeks for coaches to figure out what's wrong with their lineups and make the needed corrections.

Four weeks for runners to get into a groove, if they haven't already, so they can be at their best for the championships.

Four weeks.

The run to the finals begins Saturday morning at Schenley Park for most WPIAL teams. That's when the Central Catholic Invitational will take place.

It is the second jewel of the cross country triple crown that leads to the WPIAL championships. The third is the Tri-State Track Coaches Association Championships scheduled for Oct. 22 at Coopers' Lake.

Where the Red, White & Blue Classic at Schenley Park Sept. 12 gave coaches an idea of where their teams and individuals stood in the early going, the Central Catholic Invitational gives them an idea of how far they have progressed.

Most of the area's top teams will be on hand. The meet gets underway at 9 a.m. with the freshman race and races will take place approximately every 30 minutes after that. The girls' A Division race is at 9:30 a.m. and is followed by the boys' A race. After that there are B Division races for girls and boys and then the junior varsity races.

The course starts and ends on the field beside the track at the Schenley Park Oval. It does not follow any of the trails in the park and is excellent for spectators.

"I'm at 30 [schools] right now and I anticipate a big run [this week]," said Central Catholic coach and race director Tim McVeagh before taking his squad to the Carlisle Invitational this past Saturday. "We'll probably be about the same as we were last year, I'd say 50 teams maybe a little over that."

Baldwin is one of the boys' teams that will compete Saturday and is coming off an outstanding week.

The Highlanders defeated Mt. Lebanon and Canon-McMillan in a key Section 6-AAA match last Tuesday. Baldwin then ran in the Invitational Division at the U.S. Army Cross County Festival at Maymont Park in Richmond, Va., Saturday and placed second with 109 points. Blacksburg, Va., won the team title with 98.

"People down there were coming up and congratulating us on doing so well because Blacksburg is supposed to be the best team in Virginia regardless of classification," Baldwin coach Rich Wright said. "We ran well ... everybody's time was good and we couldn't have been more pleased with the way the week went."

Baldwin had four runners place in the top 26 at the festival. Matt Cecala was 14th, Bobby Bishop and Dennis Logan were 18th and 19th, respectively, and Michael Cain was 26th.

What pleased Wright was that his sixth runner, sophomore Andrew Kuchta, was only nine seconds behind his fifth runner, Paul DeGregorio.

The Baldwin team also got a bit of a surprise before the 3.1-mile race. T.J. Hobart, a Baldwin High graduate who ran track and cross country for the Highlanders last year, showed up to watch along with some of his teammates from the University of Virginia.

"He had called me and said he might come over," Wright said. "He showed up with some teammates who are all nationally ranked.

"I was giving everybody my pre-race speech when there was a knock at the door and it was T.J. and his friends. I didn't have to finish my talk. It was like he was Brad Pitt when he came in."

Canon-McMillan participated in the Silver Division race at the festival and won the boys' and girls' team titles. Travis Arrigoni, Nick Gibson and Austin Dunn finished second, third and fourth in the boys' race. In the girls' race, Erica Regoli, Brianna and Dulce Miller were the top three finishers.

And at the Carlisle Invitational, Mt. Lebanon's Rad Gunzenhauser finished second in the boys' Challenge Division.

While the Red, White & Blue Classic and the Slippery Rock Invitational ended up butting heads and running on the same day, McVeagh said he has no conflict with another meet.

"The race in Grove City is the same as ours and Plum and a couple other schools go up there," he said. "But for us, it's pretty much the status quo. The teams that have been here before are coming back."

Mt. Lebanon and Latrobe are the defending Central Catholic Invitational boys' and girls' champions, respectively, in the A Division. Neither individual champion is returning. Seneca Valley's Cam Stauffer won the boys' race last year; Latrobe's Natalie Bower the girls. Both are running in college.

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