A special season from Marple Newtown’s Sloane Smith got even more special Saturday.

The Marple sophomore finished fourth at the PIAA Class 3A Championships at Hershey Park. Smith was with the lead group most of the way. Her time of 18 minutes, 33 seconds was 16 second behind winner Madelyn McCartney of Emmaus, who crossed in 18:17. Second was Wissahickon’s Berkely Marcelis, who went 18:27. Ana Bondy of Carlisle was third in 18:33.

Smith, who finished third at the District 1 championships, finished six seconds up on District 1 champ Julia Kelly of Downingtown West.

Smith is in rarefied company. It’s the highest finish for a Delco runner in the Class 3A girls race since Elizabeth Mancini of Cardinal O’Hara won the title in 2017. Before that, the last top-four finish in Class 3A by a Delco

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