The Whitehall cross country teams opened the season by taking part in the Lion Invitational at Moravian Academy on Friday, Aug. 30.

The Zephyr boys started with a bang as they captured first overall with a score of 99 points. They finished ahead of second-place Northwestern, which had 144 points. Jim Thorpe was third with 145 points.

Gabe Lamm was the first overall boy to cross, coming in first with a time of 16:59. He just edged out Liberty's Alex Fitch who ran a 17:00. Teammate Brian Plucinsky also finished in the top-five, taking home fourth with a time of 17:17.

"Gabe is a very smart runner and he proved it at Moravian," head coach Mike Lelko said. "He didn't go out too fast and was in control throughout the race. He stayed in contact with the top couple runners during the first two miles of the race, and when it came down to the end, Gabe won with a 16:59. The race and win can be summed up in two words ... gutsy performance."

Two other Zephs finished in the top-25: Calvin Schneck was 20th in 18:04 and Jean Carlos Falcon was 25th in 18:24.

Whitehall's other top-seven were Elliot Miller (49th, 19:04), William Loy (55th) 19:16 and Louis Howard (103rd, 20:31).

The girls placed ninth overall with 241 points. Northwestern girls won the event with 52 points as three runners placed in the top-five and five in the top-25.

Notre Dame Green Pond was second with 94 points and Liberty was third with 170 points.

Emily Brand had a top-10 finish for Whitehall, coming in 10th with a time of 21:22. Angela Stella was 38th with a time of 23:06.

Other finishers for the girls were Alexandra Dorner (56th, 24:11), Heather Busch (62nd 24:40), Rachel Spanitz (75th, 25:49), Kelsey Antonchak (94th, 27:10) and Rhiannon Harwi (102nd, 27:39).

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Both the boys and girls split a tri-meet against Becahi and Easton Tuesday at Monocacy Park.

The boys beat Becahi 18-45 while the girls won 24-37. The girls lost to Easton 15-46 and the guys fell 19-40.

Lamm took fifth in this event with a 17:16. Plucinsky was 10th in 17:44 and Schneck was 15th in 18:06. Falcon took 20th in 18:40. Other boy finishers where Loy in 26th in 19:34, Andy Sassaman in 30th in 19:46 and Miller in 31st in 19:48.

Brand led the girls taking 11th in 21:57. Stella was 18th with a 22:31. Other girl finishers were Ashlee Brosky in 26th in 23:44. Dorner was 31st in 24:31, Harwi was 33rd in 24:37, Busch was 36th in 24:46 and Hannah Gill was 37th in 24:47.

Correction

The Whitehall-Coplay Press would like to apologize for leaving out the following names in last week's 2013 fall insert pullout preview section: junior Louis Howard and freshmen Gavin Wood, Samantha Schrader and Hannah Gill.