HERSHEY - Northwestern's Haley Yost and Carly Pierce have come together to give the Lady Tigers a dynamic duo this season. The two propelled the team to another 26-0 regular season to go along with Colonial League and District 11 Class AA titles, with both claiming top-five finishes in each race.

That teamwork was on display once again during Saturday's PIAA Championships, as Yost finished in fourth place with a time of 19:25 while Pierce took 20th in 19:54, more than good enough to earn the two talented runners medals in the Class AA race.

After securing a medal with a 25th-place finish in 19:59 a year ago, Yost was pleased to not only improve her position and time, but to also enjoy the honor with a teammate during her senior year.

"We were kind of a 'team of two'," Yost said of running with Pierce. "We have been running together (at a number of meets) this year and for us to both medal is a big accomplishment."

For Pierce, the triumph capped a season that saw the junior step up as one of the team's top contenders, something that will be needed with Yost gone next year.

"It means a lot," Pierce said. "Twentieth was my goal and that's what I got. I'm really happy that I was able to achieve my goal on a really difficult course."

As a team, the Northwestern girls finished fourth out of the 21 squads in Class AA. With another year of experience, the expectations will be high once again next season.

"We have a pretty young team and I know that Dallas and Archbishop Wood (first and second, respectively) are losing a number girls," Pierce said. "Hopefully we can stay strong and do well next year, too."

And even tough Yost will be gone next season the senior stressed how important the trip to Hershey was for the rest of the team, especially the underclassmen.

"For a lot of our girls, it was the first time they were running this course," she said. "In a setting like this, it can be really overwhelming. It's a hard course and it can be really intimidating.

"But I think it will be good for those girls to put this in the back of their mind and use it to come back again next year to make another run at the title."

The strong performances in this meet and throughout the season are something coach Chris Stitzel takes great pride in.

"I'm very happy with how the season has gone," the coach said. "We're very proud of every one of them. They laid it on the line for us (today) and that's all we asked of them.

"They were running against the best in the state and it's an accomplishment just to get here. And fourth in the state is nothing to sneeze at. I can't complain too much."

After Yost and Pierce were Rachele Cerrone (64th, 20:48), Paige Stitzel (65th, 20:48), Rachel Mikols (175th, 22:10), Angela Alden (192nd, 22:43) and Abigail Smith (205th, 23:00).