Natalie Bower and Leslie Kovach spent the fall trying to beat each other to the finish line.

Latrobe High School's Bower got the better of Norwin's Kovach at the WPIAL cross country championships, winning the WPIAL Class AAA title as Kovach finished fourth. At the PIAA championships Nov. 1 in Hershey it was Kovach's turn. She placed second as Bower battled a side stitch and finished ninth.

So it was refreshing when the two distance runners warmed up together Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City at the Footlocker Northeast Regional.

"It was nice to run together for once instead of against each other," Kovach said.

She finished ahead of Bower again at the Footlocker regional. Kovach placed 22nd with a time of 18 minutes, 48.2 seconds on the 3.1-mile course. Bower was right behind at 27th with a time of 18:57.2.

"I ran OK for just training for the past four weeks with no races," Kovach said. "When you don't race in a while it's different. It's not so much not being ready physically as it is mental."

"I did all right but I wish I would have finished a little higher," said Bower, who raced at Van Cortlandt Park for the third time. "I ran there as a freshman and a sophomore, but not last year, so I knew the course and what to expect."

Bower, the WPIAL's first four-time individual champion, and Kovach are friendly rivals. They enjoy each other's company and have even talked about attending the same college. Both are seniors.

"We've discussed it and we're interested in some of the same schools," Bower said. "It would be something if that happened, then we could room together ... but I don't know."

Neither has narrowed their college choices. Penn State and Michigan are high on Bower's list. She planned to visit Virginia Tech, where former Hampton High School standout Stacy Vidt is an assistant coach, this week.

Kovach is interested in Penn but is keeping her options open. She said she will probably stay in the northeast, which is why she wanted to run in the Footlocker regional.

"That was the first time I ran there and I figured I should run the course because I'll probably run there a lot if I stay in the northeast, which it looks as if I will," she said. "Colleges seem to run a lot of races there."

Bower and Kovach plan to run some indoor meets this winter. Kovach will take some time off to give her legs a rest before resuming training. Bower said she was going to start practicing with Latrobe's swimming team. She has been on the swimming squad the past three seasons.

She also talked about her ninth-place finish at the PIAA championships after being tapped as one of the race favorites.

"I'd never had a stitch in my side before," Bower said. "I could feel it coming at about the mile-and-a-half mark and it got worse. I've never had to run with something like that before, so it was a new experience for me."

Race observers said they were surprised Bower finished the race. So was Bower.

"It hurt so bad and there was no way I could get rid of it. I even ran for a while with my one arm over my head," she said. "Even after the race, my [right] side hurt for a while. I'd never had anything like that and to have it happen at the [PIAA] championships."

Kovach and Bower were the top two finishers from Pennsylvania in the girls' race at the Footlocker regionals. The top 10 qualified for the Footlocker national race in San Diego.

Other WPIAL runners in the regional included Norwin's Jenna Gigliotti, who was 43rd in 19:22.2, and Latrobe's Abby Hewitt, who was 51st in 19:33.5. In the boys' race, Seneca Valley's Cam Stauffer was 26th in 16:22.1.

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NOTES -- The Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association has released its all-state cross country team for this season. Named to the girls' first team are Bower, Kovach, Gigliotti and Hampton's Elaina Balouris. Selected to the second team are Latrobe's Mary Jo Jakubek, Oakland Catholic's Marissa Polk, Trinity's Chelsea Sumney and Peters Township's Kayla Keddal. ... On the boys' side, Gateway's D.J. Krystek and Canon-McMillan's Matt Gregory were named to the first team. Stauffer was on the second team.