NORTH VERSAILLES — It wasn’t the easiest path to the PIAA state meet for Gabriel Bucar.

In his junior season, he fell short and felt like he should have qualified. In the summer, he fell out of shape because he caught pneumonia during the spring track season.

In fact, it wasn’t until about a month into the season he was at full strength.

Nevertheless, Bucar is off to Hershey this weekend to represent East Allegheny at the PIAA State Cross Country Championships to cap off his senior campaign.

“It feels really good, because last year I should have made it, but things happen,” Bucar said. “This year was finally the year.”

Not without some more obstacles, though. Bucar began the year “pretty out of shape.”

“I didn’t really run all that much because I was coming back from pneumonia from last track season,” he said. “But about a month in, my fitness really peaked, and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in now.”

Bucar said it was during the Mingo Classic a few weeks ago that he truly felt himself again. He ran a 17:11 there, and then at the recent Tri-State Meet turned in a time of 16:40 and finished fifth overall.

To qualify for the state meet, he finished 18th overall at the WPIAL Championships at White Oak with a time of 16:46.4.

“It was a fast course, but there are two uphill sections you really have to push,” he said. “I knew I had to get out hard for that, because I ran slower at the WPIAL and Tri-State on the same course. But I was going for placement at WPIAL instead of time. So really it was more about going out with the front group and holding on.”

Bucar said he started out around 27th and moved up as the meet went on, with around 33rd being the cutoff.

Now, he’s preparing for a different challenge.

“The PIAA course is rough. It’s long and hilly, so it’ll be slower, but I’m excited to go compete,” he said.

It will be a fitting end to his Wildcat cross country career.

After high school, Bucar says he plans to attend Pitt and study finance, and maybe even join the Panthers cross country team as a walk-on.

The PIAA Cross Country Championships are run Saturday, Nov. 2, beginning at 9:30. Bucar will run in the 2A Boys event, set for approximately 12:30 p.m.