September 16, 2019
RECAP >> Saturday was a banner day for both the Emmaus girls and boys cross country teams at the 41st Annual Centaur Invitational held at DeSales University in Center Valley.
Head coach Kelly Bracetty’s girls took home the team title finishing first amongst the 38 teams competing, while the boys squad also had an outstanding showing placing fourth out the 40 boys teams.
“Our top four girls had an amazingly close spread of just 15 seconds,” said the Hornets second year coach. “We had never run this course before and the girls didn’t get a chance to preview the last mile of the course until they were racing it. For some, that can be a real mental challenge when you don’t know what to expect but they didn’t let it phase them.”
“Hailey (Reinhard) Belle (Lees), Keerstin (Augustin) and Kera (Reinhard) have been working together all season. It doesn’t matter how someone is feeling in the race, they all stick together and help push each other along. “
Reinhard, a freshman, set the pace for the Hornets finishing ninth overall in a time of 20:18. Lees, a sophomore, was one spot back with a top 10 finish, followed closely by a pair of juniors, Augustin and Kera Reinhard, who finished 12th and 13th, respectively. Classmate Clara Kennedy was 37th, while fellow juniors Ashley Ryan finished 45th and Ashleigh McNellis 76th.
While the girls placed first overall, their male counterparts also had a strong showing with their best effort of the season.
” The boys definitely redeemed themselves after a tough meet on Tuesday,” said Bracetty referring back to the team’s 1-2 showing vs Easton/Northampton/Nazareth. “Before the race, I reminded them of how the team was one spot away from a team trophy at our last invitational. I told them to remember that feeling. They went out and turned that previous disappointment into their best race all season.”
Junior Keshav Shankar was Emmaus’ top finisher in 17th place crossing the finish line in a time of 17:13. Fellow junior Cam Carter was next in 28th place, followed by four seniors – Mark Magee (34th), Colin Schaffer (37th), Ian Cox (39th) and Brendon Ward (49th) – and freshman Dominic Nunez (78th). The Hornets top five runners had a spread of only 38 seconds.
In the junior varsity girls race, Emmaus had seven runners in the Top 15 – Madison Torretta (2nd), Kaia Berrio (3rd), Olympia Curley-Katrishen (4th), Beth Brown (6th), Claire Engel (9th), Cali Guastella (13th) and Bri Young (15th).
The boys also had seven place-winners in the Top 25 – Tristan Schmidt (4th), Ben Shimer (9th), Kyle Ryan (18th), Matt Norton (19th), Landon Kershner (22nd), Gabe Krem (23rd) and James Manley (24th).
Emmaus will return to action at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Lehigh Parkway taking on Pocono Mountain East and West along with Pleasant Valley.
Follow @Emmaussports.com on Twitter and ‘like’ Emmaus Cross Country/Track on facebook to keep up to date on the team throughout the season.
