The Franklin Regional girls had a seventh-place finisher last week at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association meet.

The Panther boys had a 13th-place medalist at the same meet held at the Kiski School in Saltsburg.

On the surface, the instances don't seem to be connected with the exception of the name on the front of the jersey. But Franklin Regional's top boys and girls runners sit at the same dinner table each night, run together in the offseason and share the same last name.

Leah and Luke Schott are the brother-sister combo that have made a name for themselves throughout Westmoreland County this fall, as they challenge the front of the pack at each race in which they compete.

Leah is in her second season as the Lady Panthers' top runner, and the junior has high expectations for the upcoming end-of-season races.

"My coach has really been pushing us hard this year and getting us ready. I've been working really hard at practice, and so have my teammates," she said.

"I'm hoping to go to states. I didn't really have a good race at WPIALs last year. I'm trying to get more confident and train hard."

Her training has paid off so far this season, evidenced by her 21:42 finish at the WCCA meet last Thursday. She was just 1:22 behind champion Jenna Gigliotti from Norwin. It was nearly a minute faster than her 2008 time on the challenging hilly course.

"It was more than I expected," she said of her finish. "That was tough. I stepped in the mud and was getting suctioned down. I just pushed really hard to finish. I'm proud.

"(Last year) helped a lot because I could strategize with the hills and really speeding up down the hills and using the downhills."

Leah also finished 41st at the Central Catholic Invitational on Saturday with a time of 20:47. Teammate Kaitlyn Figgurelli took 11th (19:41), as the Lady Panthers were ninth as a team.

"Leah is ready for some really big things at the end of the season. Those are some goals we've had for her since she's been on the team," coach Rick Bullock said.

"Sometimes, she can get a little stressed out about that. I've found that she's really matured, just in the last three weeks, as a runner. I expect nothing but better things from her for the rest of the season. I expect for her to drop a full minute between now and the WPIAL championships."

In addition to Leah, competing for the fourth-place FR girls at the WCCA championships were Figgurelli (11th, 22:09), Rachel Leftwich (27th, 23:17), Allison Holcombe (25th, 23:51), Nora Zidian (43rd, 24:30) and Megan Cala (44th, 24:41).

At the Central Catholic Invitational, Figgurelli and Leah led the way and were joined by Cala (53rd, 21:08), Leftwich (61st, 21:15), Holcombe (84th, 21:46), Zidian (100th, 22:20) and Julia Luczkow (110th, 22:32).

While Leah is an experienced varsity runner, her brother is anything but. Just a freshman, Luke is learning the ropes and getting used to being in a lead pack with the best distance runners in the area.

Luke finished 13th last week at the WCCA meet with a time of 19:10. He was 1:30 behind champion Charlie DeFrancesco of Greater Latrobe.

"I think the race went pretty good on my terms with the hills," Luke said. "The times weren't very fast, but I think personally I had a pretty good race. And, the team did pretty well."

As a team, the Panthers finished sixth.

"(On Thursday), I saw a totally different Luke. He ran well with the dual meets earlier this year and the invitationals. But (Thursday), I saw a whole new intelligence running in the race," Bullock said.

"He didn't go out too fast. He was able to run a solid, consistent race all the way through. I didn't see him tired at the finish like I had before, where he didn't have a kick or he was losing a little bit on the third mile. (Thursday) was like a graduation day for him."

The Schott siblings have "running in their blood" as they called it. Their father was an avid runner, and the sport caught on with his distance-loving teenagers.

"She's a good trainer. She works hard in practice. She just goes out and tries her best," Luke said of his older sister.

Leah added, "It's really cool. Me and my brother are really close. I'm proud of him. I think he's just a really good natural runner. He has it in his blood."

Luke was joined at the WCCA meet by Josh Keeports (16th, 19:27), Ben Myers (23rd, 19:38), Paul Fischione (43rd, 20:29), John Satira (45th, 20:35), Eric Hyland (49th, 20:44) and Ian Gray (58th, 21:24).

At the Central Catholic Invitational, the Panthers were paced by Keeports (93rd, 18:08), Satira (140th, 18:56), Fischione (146th, 19:00), Gray (151st, 19:10), Hyland (162nd, 19:37), Zach Jansma (179th, 20:36) and Matt Sobek (180th, 20:37).

n Both teams were scheduled to wrap up the dual meet season on Tuesday against Yough and Norwin.

Results were unavailable at press time. The boys team entered the week 3-3 in section meets, and the girls were 4-2.

The WPIAL meet is set for Oct. 29.