Somewhere, perhaps in a little-used desk drawer in the Saint Vincent athletic offices, there is a picture from the 2017 Westmoreland County Coaches Association cross country championships. The snapshot shows Hempfield’s Laura Aston and Latrobe’s Sydney Green running against each other as they so often did in high school.
Bearcats cross country coach Kevin Wanichko, likely on a scouting mission, also is in the picture. The photo proved to be a foreshadowing.
Seniors Aston and Green, under Wanichko’s guidance at Saint Vincent, have become two of the top runners in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. Both finished in the top eight at the PAC championships last season, and they have been flipping between being the Bearcats’ No. 1 and 2 runners this fall.
“They are really not outworked by anyone,” said Wanichko, in his sixth season at the helm. “They will do everything I ask, plus.”
As expected, Aston and Green were rivals in high school. But once they arrived at Saint Vincent — and reminisced over the photo — they formed a friendship.
“We became friends away from the course, which is helpful,” said Aston, who finished fifth at last season’s PAC final to earn first-team all-conference honors. “And it’s kind of funny to think back to our county meet when we were running against each other, so it’s a funny transition.
“At the end of the day, we just want the other person to do well.”
Green concurred.
“We both want what’s best for each other,” she said. “We want to push each other but also kind of compete against each other because that’s the only way you’re going to get better.”
Each has run a personal-best time this season and made a mark in the Saint Vincent record book. Fittingly, they did so in the same meet. At the recent Lock Haven Invitational, which featured only three Division III teams out of 22 in the field, Green placed 23rd in a time of 22 minutes, 36 seconds, the third-fastest 6K time in program history. In the same race, Aston placed 45th in 23:10, 12th in program history.
They finished 1-2 (Green first, Aston second) at Saint Vincent’s invitational Sept. 18. Two weeks prior, Aston was second and Green sixth at Westminster’s invitational.
Both also excel on the track. Green is SVC’s 800-meter record holder, and Wanichko expects Aston to set the 5K and 10K marks in the spring.
For now, they have their sights set on the PAC cross country championships.
“I think that PAC is always a really interesting meet because you never really know what’s going to happen,” Aston said. “I think it’s anyone’s game always. I do think I have just as great a shot as anybody.”
Added Green, who was eighth in the PAC meet last season: “There’s a good top five, six girls in the PAC. It’s just going to depend on the day, who has a good race and who doesn’t. But I think Laura and I both have a good shot at that top spot. And if not that top spot, top five for sure.”
Aston will return to campus next fall to finish her student teaching, so she is hopeful of having one more cross country season ahead. For Green, this is her swan song as she will set out to find an engineering job after graduating in the spring.
So in their last miles together as cross country runners, Green and Aston are hoping for a photo-worthy outcome.
”I think they are two of the best five runners we’ve ever had in our program,” Wanichko said. “And for me coaching personally, they are the two best I’ve ever had.”