Freedom and Liberty's girls cross country teams defeated Nazareth, 19-37 and 24-33, respectively, last week at Bicentennial Park. Bethlehem Catholic lost to Nazareth, 15-50. All three Bethlehem high schools lost to Northampton.

Hurricane sophomore, Raisa Kochmaruk, took third place with a time of 19:51.

"I was right behind the top two girls for a little under half [of the race]. I don't think I could have caught them, but I was using them to pull me ahead to get a better time," Kochmaruk said.

Freedom senior, Shaina Palmer, placed fourth in 20:18, and right behind was teammate, Olivia Salerno, who finished in 20:41.

Salerno said, "I kind of started off slow, so I'd have more energy during the race. I was trying to stay with Shaina. My coach said to stay with one of the Northampton girls [after Shaina went ahead]. I wanted to get under 21 minutes."

Elena Spengler placed seventh in 21:27, and Bridget Tarnowski placed eighth in 21:30, both for the Patriots.

Liberty senior, Naomi Valladares, came in tenth with a time of 21:57.

Bethlehem Catholic senior, Margaret Zemanek, placed 32nd in 24:10.

Zemanek, who got to the course just in time, said, "I pretty much kept a steady pace. It's an easy [course]. It's flat. There's great weather."

In team scores against Northampton, the Hawks lost, 15-50, the Patriots lost, 25-30, and the Hurricanes lost, 23-32.