NTL XC: WELLSBORO'S LAUREN KOSEK WINS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP (November 7, 2026)

By Chris Manning
Northern Tier West Sports Report
NEWVILLE — Wellsboro's Lauren Kosek has made plenty of history in her running career, but on Saturday she made the biggest of all when she claimed gold at the PIAA, Class AA Girls Cross-country Championships.
Kosek became the first girls runner from the NTL to win a cross-country state title as she cruised to a win in 17:49, besting the next closest runner by 35 seconds.

"It's amazing," she said. "Honestly, I don't want to say I've been expecting it, but I've been really hoping for it. For the past year it's not shocking, I guess, in the most modest way I could say. I'm just super excited I was able to come out here and execute."

Kosek took the lead early and never looked back. She had a seven second lead on the chase pack at the mile, and gapped them by 17 seconds at the halfway point of the race.

By the 2-mile it was a 23 second lead, that morphed into a 35 second advantage with 1000 meters to go.

"I thought there was going to be a few girls that went out a little harder than that," remarked Kosek. "I was hoping that by the time we got into the woods I would have moved into the front of the lead pack, but I was just running my pace. I moved up into first, and I was like, 'alright, here we go.'"

Despite pulling away Kosek didn't take anything for granted.

"I couldn't tell but I felt myself getting tired," she remarked. "I was like keep thinking 'I don't know.' I don't know what their race plans were going to be, and then I had heard from the Class A race that a girl went out really fast and then wasn't able to hold it, so that's kind of in the back of my head. I was like I've just got to run my own race, and keep pushing."

With about halfway mile to there's a big downhill into the final stretch, and Kosek used that reassert herself.

"Once you get to the top of that hill you're just gassed, and then you have to go up two little, tiny hills, but those are max effort because your legs are already lactic," she said. "Once you get to that downhill section you're just trying to cruise, and it's hard, but it's definitely nice that it's not more uphill."

Kosek pushed to the end, not even taking time to soak in the final 100 meters.

"I was still dying, it was really hard," she said. "I was just trying to push as hard as I could while also taking it in. Hearing the cheers it was such a good feeling. It was exactly what I wanted."

It's been quite the journey for Kosek, who finished 40th at states her freshman year, then moving up to sixth as a sophomore for her first medal.

Her junior year she took another step, breaking the tape for the first time at the Cliff Robbins Invitational, then claiming her first of two District IV titles before finishing third at states.

This year Kosek has finished first in every race she's run in but one, and improved on her PIAA Foundation time at Spring Valley back in late September by 19 seconds.

"If you were to tell freshman me that this is where I would be I would just be ecstatic," said Kosek. "I've been working towards this for five or six years. I thin you hear the stories of girls that look like they have all that potential their freshman year and then they face a lot of adversity, and don't quite get to where they want to be. So that's always kind of in the back of your mind, but you've just got to keep doing your best every day - so to be able to get her today is just amazing."


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