PITTSVILLE -- For the fourth time in five years, the Pittsville girls cross country team will end its season at its "home" course, The Ridges Golf Course.

A year ago, the girls had their best finish at the WIAA state meet, placing fifth in Division 3. This year, they're looking to have a top-10 finish as well. The Panthers were the Marawood Conference runners-up for a second straight year and have been building steam toward the state meet.

"We've been on the road for the past two weeks at Park Falls for the conference meet and Arcadia for sectionals, so it's nice to be at home for state," Panthers co-coach Casey John said. "They're very competitive and have a lot of experience in big meets. Almost all the girls have either run at The Ridges at state or been at state track."

The girls are led by four-time state qualifier Carli Kronstedt, who was the sixth-place overall finisher at last year's state run.

"We want to go there and make the best of our time there," Kronstedt said. "Hopefully everyone has their best race of the season on Saturday."

The Division 3 field returns state champion and conference rival Edgar, a team the Panthers have been chasing for several years now.

"We've had some really good meets this year, and some we wished we did better at and we hope Saturday is a good race for us," senior Heather Adrian said. "We know who we want to run with and try and beat."

When the girls race, Kronstedt takes the lead, while the rest of the girls form a tight pack.

"Carli does her thing up front, but Tory and Heather aren't far behind," John said. "Those three have been very consistent all year. The next three, Olivia (Wesely), Rachel (Ewer) and Dallas (Oates), have been getting better each time we race."

Marawood tested: Marawood Conference champion Danica Harrison of Auburndale enters her second state meet as the Athens sectional champion after posting a time of 15 minutes, 42 seconds.

Harrison, a sophomore, placed 12th as a freshman in the Divison 3 field.

"She's going into state with a lot of confidence," Auburndale coach Jim Johnson said. "She's looking forward to seeing how she'll do against the best runners in the state."

Fellow Auburndale runner David Haas was the only sophomore boy to qualify from the Athens sectional meet.

"He ran a great race last week at sectionals and will just have to go out there and run his race," Johnson said.

Stratford runners Matt Zuelke and Steve Wenzel are making their second straight trip to The Ridges after the Tigers qualified as a team last year.

Granton's Brandon Wucherpfenning and John Richmond II in Division 3 and Evan Lewandowski in Division 2 round out the area qualifiers.