It was a banner day for both the Emmaus girls and boys cross country teams at the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference meet held earlier this week on the 3.1-mile course at DeSales University.
First, the girls edged league favorites Liberty and Parkland to capture their first team championship in three years.
And then later, junior standout David Hearn won his first-ever individual title in the boy’s race to cap off an amazing afternoon for head coach Kami Reinhard’s squads.
“The girls’ team was due for a great team performance and it came together today with the championship win,” said Reinhard, the Hornets sixth year coach.
In the tightly contested meet, Emmaus posted a team score of 59, edging second place Liberty (61) and third place Parkland (63).
Senior Grace Nosal had a top 10 performance crossing the finish line in a time of 20:14 good for sixth place. Junior Samantha Reidnauer (20:30) and classmate Aubrey Kazmierczak (20:36) finished 11th and 12th, respectively, while sophomore Myla Felegy (14th/21:32), freshman Grace Petrunak (16th/21:26) and sophomore Nitzana Jamaica (17th/21:40) finished in the top 20.
“We continue to focus on our own team and progress, and we do everything we can to avoid comparisons to other teams,” said Reinhard. “As we know, Parkland, Liberty, Southern Lehigh and Easton are all phenomenal teams, so we are extremely grateful for this win! We have a few athletes who performed 1-2 minutes faster this year at the meet compared to last year. Those are the stats we focus on as a team.”
In the boys race, Hearn became Emmaus’ first individual champ since Tom Luff in 2008 crossing the finish line in 15:49, six seconds ahead of defending champ, Parkland junior Colin McGuigan (15:55).
“David shined with his extremely impressive and tough win with a time I personally haven’t seen run yet at DeSales for high school boys at the league or district meet,” said Reinhard of Hearn who finished 10th a year ago. “Last week at the final dual meet, we encouraged him to use a different racing strategy and he trusted the guidance.”
As a team, the Hornets finished runner-up with 44 points, trailing only rival Parkland who won their fifth straight title (30 points).
Junior Roen Woolf also had a strong race placing fourth in a time of 16:35. Both junior Michael Carwell (11th/17:14) and sophomore Mason Hipp (12th/17:17) finished just outside the top 10. Sophomore Luke Harris (17:24) and senior Calvin Schucker (17:32) were 16th and 18th, respectively.
Up next for both teams will be the District XI meet on October 28 back at DeSales.
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Girls (Team/Individual)
- Emmaus 59, 2. Liberty 61, 3. Parkland 63, 4. Easton 106, 5. Nazareth 134
- Elizabeth McClarin (Lib) 18:43, 2. Katie Drabouski (Lib) 19:40, 3. Harshita Keerthi (Pk) 19:47, 4. Cali Sobrinski (Lib) 19:52, 5. Lyla Knoble (Ea) 19:57, 6. Grace Nosal (Em) 20:14, 7. Taylor Vidumsky (Free) 20:18, 8. Hannah Brodhead (Free) 20:26, 9. Vivian Clark (Ea) 20:28, 10. Anastasio Pino (Park) 20:30
Boys (Team/Individual)
- Parkland 30, 2. Emmaus 44, 3. Nazareth 108, 4. Stroudsburg 143, 5. Easton 161
- David Hearn (Em) 15:49, 2. Colin McGuigan (Pk) 15:55, 3. Cole Orloski (Pk) 16:23, 4. Roen Woolf (Em) 16:35, 5. Luke Lotierzo (Naz) 16:43, 6. Brayden Boyle (Free) 16:44, 7. Isiah Wilson (Pk) 16:56, 8. Keshav Patel (Pk) 17:00, 9. Jayden Minor (Ea) 17:04, 10. Derek Taveras (Pk) 17:07
David Hearn won his first-ever EPC Individual Championship. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Clarke-Sirignano