Liberty's Alex Fitch, Will Masemore, and Jonah George, as well as Freedom's Daniel Quigley, Ben Ziegler, Jason Lopez, Will Alpaugh, Isaac Gross, and Tom Salerno placed in the top 15 in Liberty, Freedom, and Bethlehem Catholic's first cross country meet of the regular season against Easton and Emmaus.

Fitch placed third in 17:13 behind two Easton runners, Colin Abert, who came in first in 16:03, and Kevin Lapansky, who was second in 16:46.

"It started out with me, Kevin Lapansky, and the top couple of Freedom kids in a pack. When we got to the red-covered bridge, less than a mile, Lapansky and I pulled away. We were together until two or two and a half miles, and he pulled away," said Fitch.

Abert was already ahead of Fitch and Lapansky.

Quigley came in fourth in 17:23 with Ziegler right behind in 17:27. Lopez placed seventh in 17:49, and Alpaugh was eighth in 17:50.

Fitch said, "We raced the Freedom kids at a scrimmage a few weeks prior, so I wanted to beat them again, and I wanted to beat Lapansky, but he's been training with Abert, so he's in good shape. I was really surprised [placing third] because I figured Freedom was going to come back like last year. Before, I beat some of them individually, but not all of them."

Fitch's teammates, Masemore and George, placed 11th in 18:27 and 15th in 19:09, respectively.

Fitch said, "This summer, I trained a lot more than in previous summers with running, and then I did some cycling and swimming too. [Defeating Freedom twice] is a nice baseline for how well you're running, and I've thought about when districots comes, where I want to be."

Gross placed 13th in 18:49, and Salerno placed 14th in 19:00 for the Patriots.

In team results, Freedom defeated Emmaus, 16-45, and lost to Easton, 25-30. Liberty defeated Emmaus, 19-38, and lost to Easton, 18-37. Bethlehem Catholic lost to Emmaus, 15-50, and Easton, 15-50.

Results

Freedom 16 Emmaus 45

Liberty 19 Emmaus 38

Emmaus 15 Becahi 50

Easton 25 Freedom 30

Easton 18 Liberty 37

Easton 15 Becahi 50

Top-15 Individuals

1. Colin Abert EA 16:03

2. Kevin Lapsansky EA 16:46

3. Alex Fitch L 17:13

4. Daniel Quigley F 17:23

5. Ben Ziegler F 17:27

6. Greg Sherman EA 17:29

7. Jason Lopez F 17:49

8. Will Alpaugh F 17:50

9. Greg Grunwald EA 18:00

10. Logan Koch EA 18:07

11. Will Masemore L 18:27

12. Del Vierling EM 18:34

13. Isaac Gross 18:49

14. Tom Salerno F 19:00

15. Jonah George L 19:09