Coming off of a strong showing at the District XI Championships at DeSales University, the Emmaus girls cross country team along with three members of the boys squad will compete this weekend at the “Sweetest Place on Earth” better known as Hershey’s Parkview Cross Country Course.
The girls, which captured their fifth straight District XI Championship, will be making their sixth consecutive trip to states, while two members of the boys will also be making a return trip.
Action will get underway on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with the girls race followed by the boys at 1:15 p.m.
“What I’m hopeful for is a top 10 finish for our girls squad,” said head coach Kami Reinhard during a phone interview on Thursday afternoon. “Sophomore Madelyn (McCartney) is definitely looking to medal and Payton (Campbell) is ready to go and she can turn a few heads. Both have trained really hard this season and remained healthy.”
“As for our three boys, they’re are very excited to compete and are hungry. We were pretty confident that we could get to three (runners) to states but were hoping for four. Getting to Hershey is a top honor for all runners across the state.”
A year ago, the girls finished in ninth place with Hailey Reinhard (now at Bucknell University) placing 13th overall.
At last week’s district meet, McCartney once again shined in leading the girls as she captured the individual title, one week removed from winning her first-ever EPC title. McCartney crossed the finish line in a time of 19:13. Her teammate, Campbell, also had an outstanding meet with her best-ever fourth place finish (20:22).
“Our top two girls really stepped up with big performances to set up the rest of the team for success” said Reinhard. “Having results from 2000 onward, there are only two girls who have won the district championship at Emmaus in 23 years.”
Seniors Sophia Kovalski and Brooke Miller finished 14th and 15th, respectively, in times of 21:09 and 21:18, while junior Addison Johnson was 17th (21:21), classmate Isabella Scarlata 26th (22:19) and senior Addison Kleinle 28th (22:26).
The girls won the team title with a score of 43 with Easton finishing a close second (46) and rival Parkland third (89).
As a team, the boys finished fourth at the district meet.
Junior Conor Fisher was the Hornets top placewinner finishing 12th overall in a time of 17:24. His teammates, sophomore Ryan Fach (15th/17:42) and Jared Petre (16th/17:46) also had strong races placing in the top 20.
For Fisher, it his third straight appearance at the state meet; for Petre, his second and for Fach, his first.
“Conor, Ryan and Jared all had a plan to stick as close together as possible, knowing the race would start out more aggressivley,” said Reinhard. “They did a tremendous job executing the race strategy. They raced together finishing within 22 seconds of one another and they all advanced to the state meet.”
Parkland captured the team title with a score of 40 followed by Easton in second (55) and Nazareth third (69). Nazareth senior Giovanni Mastromonico earned the individual title in a time of 16:00.
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