Freedom High School's boys cross country team went into the PIAA State Championships this past Saturday with confidence, experience, and high hopes of a top ten finish, and despite the crowded field, the Patriots even got a good start.

Freedom coach Bob Thear said, "I told them, you're running well, so run your race, and the results will take care of themselves."

The results, however, did not meet the Patriots' expectations.

"Over the course of a season, some people have some bad races. We haven't really had one. [Saturday] was not a good day to have a bad one. I'm a little disappointed. If they ran very well, we'd be top ten," said Thear.

One person who did have a good day was Ben Ziegler, who placed 48th of over 200 runners in 17:00.

"Ben ran very well. He wanted to break 17:00," Thear said.

Jason Lopez was 112th in 17:32, Will Alpaugh placed 119th in 17:35, and Dan Quigley also had a time of 17:35, placing 120th.

Chris Kelly finished in 17:49, Shane Smith finished in 18:22, and Isaac Gross finished in 19:14.

Kelly, the Patriots' senior captain, said, "It was definitely a disappointing day, but you can't always get what you want. We had high expectations and thought we could do it, but we didn't run to our potential. I got out too slow and got boxed in and never got to where I should have been. A mental lapse for a second can ruin a race."

As the Patriots continue to search for answers, Freedom's boys team continues to reign as conference and district champs.

"I'm really proud, even though it ended on a bit of a sour note. We improved as a team over the past year. The most helpful thing was the way [Coach Thear] scheduled the workouts. If you do his plan, you'll see the results. The whole team improved tremendously. I'm definitely going to miss it," said Kelly.

2013 was the second time Freedom qualified for states, and their 12th place finish was the Patriots' highest team finish in the state meet.

Liberty junior, Alex Fitch, placed 102nd in 17:26.

In Class AA boys, Bethlehem Catholic senior, John Donchez placed 164th in 18:43.