Coaches often do not have to say much to their athletes after a game or an event; the athletes know whether they have performed well or not.

There are times, however, when a coach has to tell his or her team that it performed better than it might think. This past Saturday was one of those days for Bethel Park High School girls' cross country coach Erin St. John.

"They were hard on themselves today," she said after the A Division girls' race at the Central Catholic Invitational at Schenley Park. "They didn't think they performed as well as they wanted to, as well as they should have. I kept saying, 'Wait until the scores come out.'"

When the race results were finally posted, the Black Hawks were surprised.

Bethel Park finished second in the team standings behind North Allegheny, 121-143, and ahead of North Hills (149) and Butler (198).

OK, so some of the more powerful girls' teams in the WPIAL, such as Norwin and Hempfield, didn't compete. But North Hills was there and so was defending WPIAL Class AAA champion Latrobe. Still, a second-place finish for the young Bethel Park team was unexpected.

"Honestly, no," St. John said when asked if she thought her team had a shot of placing that high in the meet. "Not that we don't think we are building a great program, we are just awfully young.

"We're just trying to build confidence and race strategy. They have to believe they can do it."

Getting her runners to believe might be the toughest challenge St. John has to face. The Black Hawks haven't been a player in the chase for a WPIAL title for a few years, and this season's team is loaded with sophomores and freshmen. There is just one junior on the varsity.

"I think they are going to do well in the future ... they are all coming back next year," St. John said. "If we stay injury free and stay motivated, like we are, we'll keep moving up."

Saturday wasn't the only time the Bethel Park girls have performed well in a large invitational this season. The Black Hawks were sixth at the Red, White & Blue Classic in early September, which is good considering the field was loaded with the WPIAL's top teams.

In Section 6-AAA action this season Bethel Park is 6-1 after defeating Canon-McMillan and Trinity in a meet Tuesday. The lone loss was to section champion Mt. Lebanon and that was close, 26-30.

Bethel Park is led by sophomore Hillary Boxheimer who was sixth in the A Division race at the Central Catholic Invitational. She was also sixth at the Red, White & Blue Classic. Her time Saturday was a solid 19 minutes, 16 seconds on the 3.1-mile course. Margo Malone of North Hills was the winner in 18:45.

"[Boxheimer] was disappointed in her race today," St. John said. "But we've been trying some different race strategy to see what works best for her.

"She has the whole package. She's quick and she works hard. She was given a lot of talent and she works at it."

Bethel Park freshman Amanda Ruschel was 10th at the Central Catholic Invitational in 19:39.

"Amanda has been our second runner and Kelsey Metheny is a sophomore and she has been our third runner," St. John said. "After her we have a sophomore and then there's a sophomore and then another sophomore ...

"Maybe the best thing is that they are all great friends outside of athletics. This summer they all got together and trained together at different places."

Norwin is the favorite to capture the WPIAL Class AAA girls' team title and North Allegheny and North Hills appear to be getting stronger. The top four teams at the WPIAL championships Oct. 29 at Coopers' Lake Campground will advance to the PIAA meet in Hershey.

Does St. John think her team has a shot to be one of the four?

"I don't know," she said. "It's so competitive just in our section. Every girl has to be on for every race. And Norwin is the favorite, but there is North Hills and North Allegheny and Mt. Lebanon. I guess we'll see."

With the section season ending and no more large invitationals until the Tri-State Track Coaches Association championships Oct. 22 at Coopers' Lake, most teams will go into a training mode. Bethel Park is no different.

"We've been doing a lot of racing lately," St. John said. "We'll start to cut back and work more on speed."

Which makes sense because the Black Hawks appear to be on a fast track to success.

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