For Catasauqua's Jake Rusnock, one race can't define a season.

But for a senior that's had a stellar season on a Rough Rider cross country team low on numbers, the disappointment from a 35th place finish in the 2013 Colonial League cross country championships was undeniable.

Rusnock finished with a time of 18:50, which put him out of contention for a medal, something the senior had his sights set on coming into the day.

"All year he's been one of the better runners in the whole league, so we expected good things from him today," Catasauqua coach Kyle Rusnock said. "He ran hard and he was making a move (to the front) but he fell off and just wasn't feeling so well going into the third mile."

The De Sales University course, known for its rolling hills, makes moving to the front difficult for runners. But the talented senior had no excuses afterward.

"I can't blame it on the course; I knew what was coming," Rusnock said. "I ran it in practice, we've run it in years past, so I knew the last mile was tough. Something just didn't click with me in that last mile and it showed."

The Rough Riders also got a solid performance in the boys race from Dionis Lora, who just missed the top-50 with a 53rd place finish in a time of 19:27.

Spenser Phillips, Zachary Decamp, Christopher Sobrinski and Andrew Rice were 80th, 97th, 109th and 110th, respectively.

Salisbury's Kyle Gonoude won the boys race in 16:58 with the team title going to Bangor for the second consecutive year.

On the girls side, Elizabeth Chikotas claimed her fourth consecutive Colonial League meet title, finishing in 18:43. The Northwestern girls took their third straight team title.

With his sights now set on this week's district championships, Rusnock will look to bounce back in a big way and finish the season strong.

"I've just got to make what I've done all year show over these last two weeks," Rusnock said.

Coach Rusnock echoed those sentiments.

"I think his head's going to be on straight next week," the coach said. "Hopefully, he takes this and uses it as motivation for next week. I think he will."