The Emmaus girls and boys cross country teams opened their seasons on Saturday morning competing at the Northampton Cross Country Invitational held at Bicentennial Park.
Head coach Kami Reinhard’s girls squad finished third overall, while the boys had a strong showing placing sixth, tops amongst all District XI teams competing.
In the girls’ race, junior Madelyn McCartney was the Hornets highest place-winner finishing third overall in a time of 18:33. Teammate, senior Payton Campbell, was right behind with a fourth-place finish (18:46).
Sophomore Grace Nosal placed 25th overall (20:36) followed by seniors Isabella Scarlata in 30th (20:49) and Addison Johnson 31st (20:49.30).
Easton won the team title with a score of 62, while Downingtown West finished a close second (68).
In the JV race, the Hornets had a tremendous showing finishing first overall out of 14 teams competing.
Emmaus placed six of its runners in the top 15 with junior Olivia Fleck finishing first overall in a time of 20:51. Senior Ava Palamara had a strong race placing fifth (22:05) followed by classmate Taylor Huczko (8th/22:15), sophomore Leah Schweyer (10th/22:19) and juniors Amanda Gulliver (12th/22:20) and Emma Gerhart (14th/22:23).
In the varsity boys race, senior Richard Will was the Hornets highest place-winner finishing 26th overall in a time of 17:02. Teammates junior Ryan Fach (28th/17:07) and senior Conor Fisher (29th/17:08) were close behind followed by senior Jared Petre (31st/17:09).
Council Rock South ran away with team race followed by Pennridge who finished second and Perkiomen Valley third.
Chase Choudhry of Exeter finished first overall in a time of 15:31.
In the JV race, the Hornet boys had strong showing placing fourth overall amongst 23 teams.
Freshman David Hearn was the team’s top place-winner finishing 15th in a time of 18:12 followed by fellow freshman Michael Carwell (23rd/18:32) and sophomore Zach Zappile (24th/18:36).
Both the girls and boys teams will return to action on September 10 at 4 p.m. when they travel to Stroudsburg High School to take on the host school along with East Stroudsburg North and South.
For the most complete coverage of Emmaus XC, follow the team on ‘X’ @EmmausXCTF and @Emmaussports.com.