Led by sophomore Madelyn McCartney, the Emmaus girls cross country team won its fourth straight Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) championship on Tuesday afternoon at DeSales University’s 3.1-mile course.
McCartney won her first-ever individual title as she crossed the finish line in a time of 19:08, 26 seconds ahead of Pocono Mountain West senior Kayla Meler who was second (19:34). As a freshman, McCartney placed second.
The first place finish by McCartney also kept alive a streak of three straight individual champs for Emmaus as Hailey Reinhard (now at Bucknell) won titles back in 2022 and 2021.
Emmaus, which captured its sixth straight EPC regular-season title last week, had four of its runners finish in the top 10 with junior Payton Campbell placing fifth (20:28), senior Brooke Miller sixth (20:32) and junior Addison Johnson eighth (20:36).
“The girls team is really special this year and we saw things unfold in this race that made it one to remember,” said Emmaus head coach Kami Reinhard. “Mady led the girls team with the overall win as a sophomore which is no easy task. She and Payton continue to work together to help each other work hard on practice days, race days, and all the days in between. Brooke and Addison raced together from the start to the end, finishing together within four seconds.”
Senior Sophia Kovalski (17th/21:06) and classmate Addison Kleinle (20th/21:17) both finished in the top 20, while junior Isabella Scarlata and senior Addison Shank were 25th and 31st, respectively. Freshman Grace Nosal placed 36th (22:23).
“Sophia has been a solid performer for the team, rounding out our top five,” added Reinhard. “Addison helped Grace throughout the entire race, but there was something very powerful that we witnessed. At one of the hardest points of the course, hundreds of spectators watched and listened to these two young ladies count out every step out loud together to charge up that hill.”
In the boys’ race, sophomore Ryan Fach led the Hornets to their second straight third place finish. Rival Parkland ran away with the team title (32 points) followed by Easton (63).
Fach improved on his 43rd place finsh a year ago as crossed the finish line in a time 17:19 placing 11th overall, just 10 seconds away from finishing in the top 10. Teammate, junior Conor Fisher, also had a solid race in 13th place (17:30), followed by junior Jared Petre 18th (17:44) and senior Connor Miller 19th (17:47).
“The boys took another step forward, running together in a pack and our top five finished within 40 seconds, which was the first goal,” said Reinhard. “We are incredibly happy with their effort and hard work trusting the process. We earned the third place finish with that top five finish, but also because of (sophomore) Sean Daubert and (junior) Richard Will’s sixth and seventh place finishes ahead of Nazareth’s sixth runner.
“Ryan again had an incredible race, earning a medal. Starting out the race a bit more aggressive, but not too aggressive, thanks to his teammate Conor who has been a fantastic role model for Ryan. Miller progressed from not being part of the top 10 last season to finishing as our fourth runner.”
Up next for both squads will be the District XI Class 3A Championship which will be held back at DeSales University.
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GIRLS (Team)
- Emmaus (33), 2. Easton (60), 3. Parkland (74), 4. Freedom (137), 5. Stroudsburg (163) … 1. Madelyn McCartney EM (19:08), 2. Kaya Meler PMW (19:34), 3. Avaline Fihlman FREE (20:01), 4. Lana Hurwitz PARK (20:20), 5. Payton Campbell EM (20:28), 6. Brooke Miller EM (20:32), 7. Gracie Trexler PARK (20:34), 8. Addison Johnson EM (20:36), 9. Faith Belote EA (20:36)
Boys (Team)
- Parkland (32), 2. Easton (63), 3. Emmaus (89), 4. Nazareth (89), 5. CCHS (136) … 1. Giovanni Mastromonaco NAZ (16:10), 2. Paul Abeln PARK (16:22), 3. Ethan Willard PARK (16:32), 4. Dylan Byle FREE (16:32), 5. Colin McGuigan PARK (16:50), 6. Jacob Barnes PARK (16:51), 7. James Viglinati EA (16:58), 8. Duke EBERT CC (17:01), 9. Aaron MARCUS EA (17:07), 10. Evan Guydish EA (17:09)