Will the drought end tomorrow?

No WPIAL Class AA boys' cross country team has won a PIAA title since Neshannock in 1976, but Quaker Valley appears ready to end the league's run of futility.

The Quakers came close a year ago in Hershey, finishing second to Elk Lake, 138-140. That two-point loss has stayed with the Quakers.

"The focus all year long has been about winning [the PIAA title]," Quaker Valley coach Dave Noyes said.

The PIAA championships are tomorrow at the 3.1-mile Parkview course close to the Giant Center in Hershey. The Quakers have been No. 2 this season in the small school listing by PennTrackXC.com, behind Germantown Friends, a private school that won the Independent School state championship.

Quaker Valley breezed to the WPIAL Class AA title last week, finishing with 41 points, an amazingly low total for a meet of that size.

The Quakers had all seven of their runners place in the top 26 and had five runners place in the top 16 ... and they didn't run their best.

Omar Hyjek, a senior who was the WPIAL Class AA individual champion last year, developed a side stitch in the final mile and finished 16th. If he runs his usual race, the Quakers' point total would have been even lower.

Quaker Valley's John Yankello placed second, teammate Nat Fox was third and Mike Ryan, who has been dealing with a calf injury, was sixth. Andrew Hotchkiss, the team's fourth finisher, was 14th.

The time difference between Yankello and Hyjek, who literally walked across the finish line at the WPIAL final, was just 58 seconds.

The fact Quaker Valley blew away the WPIAL field while not running its best says something about the team's depth and ability.

"They wanted to make a statement at the WPIALs," Noyes said. "Maybe they put too much thought into it."

The bottom line is the race the Quakers want to do well in is at 11 a.m. tomorrow. That's when the Class AA boys will run.

The girls' Class AA race is at 9 a.m., the girls' Class AAA race at 10 a.m. and the boys' Class AAA final at noon.

If anything, not running up to their high expectations at the WPIAL championships might bring out the best in the Quakers. It's unlikely they will have two poor showings in a row.

Noyes isn't taking anything for granted, however, not after last year when just about everybody thought the Quakers were going to win the Class AA title in Hershey.

He is quick to point out that North East, the District 10 champion, is very good and has Alex Beardsley, who finished fifth last year and is favored to win the AA individual title.

York Suburban is ranked No. 4 by PennTrackXC.com and Fairview, the District 10 champion, is solid.

"And there's always some team out there that's good but nobody knows about," Noyes said. "I think we're prepared. We'd like to get one [PIAA title] for the [WPIAL]."

Quaker Valley isn't the only WPIAL team talented enough to win a title tomorrow.

The Norwin girls are more than capable of finishing first. The Knights were a surprising third behind Emmaus and Latrobe last year and, like the Quaker Valley boys, easily won a WPIAL title last week.

Where Quaker Valley is favored to win the PIAA title in its division, defending champion Emmaus is the pick in the Class AAA girls' event. Four of its top seven runners from a year ago are back.

Nonetheless, with WPIAL champion Jenna Gigliotti leading the way Norwin should be in the title hunt.

Gigliotti was fifth at the PIAA championships in 2008.

"It's a pretty hilly course, especially the second part of it and we run hills well, so maybe that works in our favor," Norwin coach Geary Tray said. "But it's so hard to tell going in because we didn't run against most of the top teams out East, and they tend to run on courses that are flatter, so their times seem faster."

He said his runners seem focused.

"My kids are different. They are very calm," he said. "They got excited for about five seconds after they found out they won [the WPIAL title] and then they calmed down.

"The next day it was back to the same old thing at practice. I don't know whether that's good or bad. I guess we'll see."

Individually, North Allegheny's Ryan Gil, the WPIAL Class AAA champion, said he is shooting to place in the top five, and Mt. Lebanon's Rad Gunzenhauser figures to be right there with him.

• What: PIAA cross country championships.

• When: Girls' Class AA, 9 a.m., girls' Class AAA 10 a.m., boys' class AA, 11 a.m., boys' Class AAA, noon.

• Course: Parkview Course, Hershey, Pa.

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