Running has been a successful lifelong companion for Griffin Molino. As a high schooler from South Williamsport, he won two cross-country state titles. As a member of the Syracuse University cross-country team, he experienced the euphoria of the 2015 NCAA national championship.
But his latest run to glory came on the legs and lungs of the Hughesville Spartans boys’ cross-country team, which captured the PIAA AA State Championship with a narrow six-point victory over Quaker Valley on November 1 in Hershey.
For Molino, it was the second state championship the Spartans had won since he became coach in 2021.
“I got a bit lucky in my first year as coach. That championship was the result of former coach Josh Gavitt. When I showed up in 2021, we had a very talented bunch, and they carried things during the season. The championship we won that year was the first team championship in Hughesville High School history.”
But for Molino and his resolute runners, the 2025 title is something special.
“When I started coaching, Hughesville was competing in the smallest PIAA classification. That year, we were head and shoulders above everybody else. We had four seniors who led the way. After that season, we got bumped up to AA, and after losing our seniors, it pushed us back to square one. The bad thing was that we took our lumps for a couple of years, but it allowed us to regroup, start from scratch, and implement the things we needed to do to become successful.
“Going into this season, I was fairly certain that we would be pretty good. We were able to bring over two guys from the track team and had a promising freshman join the team. Plus, we had a good nucleus returning from last year’s team. I had hopes that we would be among the top five teams in the state, and thankfully it ended up being better than that.”
The Spartans’ victory was led by senior Tyce Shaner, who took second place in the 21-team field with a time of 16:10. While he was the team’s only runner to finish in the top-10, the Spartans saw six of their seven runners finish in the top-50, earning the team the points they needed to claim PIAA gold.
Junior Wyatt Laubacher placed 17th, senior Carter Sherwood 34th, senior Tristan Kurzawa 36th, freshman Everett Shaner 46th, and sophomore Joseph Laubacher 47th.
For readers not familiar with cross-country scoring:
Seven guys will run on a team, and the points are counted for the first five guys. It is similar to golf, where the lowest score wins. The first runner crossing the finish line gets one point, and so on. The sixth and seventh place runners don’t score points toward your team total, but they can take up places by finishing ahead of other teams’ first five runners, thus giving those opponents a higher score.
“A cross-country runner’s life isn’t glamorous, with a lot of time spent doing things that are considered punishment for other sports,” Molino emphasized.
“On an average day, team members run five to six miles. Some days the routine varies; other days, we focus on speed running, just as they would in a competitive race. We have two-hour practices, stretching, running, come back stretch again, do light lifting, and core work. In trying to get them to the next level, we want to make sure they develop a routine of getting to bed at the same time and waking up in the morning at the same time, maintaining the proper diet, and becoming almost machine-like so as to propel them to become a state champion.
“Heading into the state championship week, our training methods stayed the same. We wanted to stay with the same routine we had been adhering to all season. From the beginning of the season, the players began to see that what we were doing was working, and they had bought into the training. They believed in what we were doing and took that attitude into the state championship.”
The runners’ life may be a bit lonely, but the community showed up to welcome the team home.
“The school and community’s receptions have been really cool. When we returned after winning the championship, we had a parade through town with fire trucks. That Monday at school, we had an assembly where the team was recognized. We always had support from the school and administration, and it was nice to see them get the recognition after all the work they had put in.”
Molino will always remember championship number one, but number two puts icing on the cake.
“This championship means a little more to me after bumping up to a higher division. These guys had to really work to improve, and they dedicated themselves with an unbelievable amount of work. As a coach, I couldn’t be prouder of a group of guys who bought in and did everything I asked them to do. They really went above and beyond. I’ve been blessed to be a part of this team.”
