A fight to the finish for second place resulted in Liberty's Alex Fitch crossing the finish line one second before Freedom's Will Alpaugh in the neighboring rivals' cross country meet last week at Illicks Mill.

Fitch's time was 16:41, and Alpaugh's was 16:42. Pleasant Valley's Seth Slavin won the boys meet in 16:14.

As a team, Liberty defeated Pleasant Valley, 20-38, and Stroudsburg, 16-45, and Freedom defeated Pleasant Valley, 25-31, and Stroudsburg, 22-34. Bethlehem Catholic also competed, losing to Pleasant Valley, 21-39, and Stroudsburg, 21-36.

Will Masemore placed 4th in 17:23, Jonah George was 5th in 17:39, and Robert Appleby placed 6th in 17:40, all for the Hurricanes.

Freedom sophomore, Isaac Gross, placed 8th in 17:44.

"I normally try to stay with Jonah George from Liberty because I normally get out to a faster start than him, but he has a kick in the race. I tried to push it more on the hills here, and I tried to use the sidewalk to pick it up. At the sidewalk, [teammate] Tom Salerno picked it up, so I stayed with him. We had some injuries [on the team], so I had to step it up a little bit," Gross said.

Andrew Shaffer from Bethlehem Catholic placed 9th in 17:52, Salerno was 10th in 18:02, and Liberty senior, Josh Ledyard placed 11th in 18:03.

Ledyard said, "Obviously, you try not to go out too fast, but you've got to weave your way up there, and not get stuck behind people. I didn't run in spikes, and that helps, running on concrete. I passed two Stroudsburg kids on the uphill. They went too hard on the downhill. I would have liked to get under 18:00, but my Freedom time [at last week's meet at Freedom] was under 18:00, but I'm happy."

Also for the Hurricanes, Brendan Reilly placed 14th in 18:13, and Bryce Orloski was 15th in 18:18 for Becahi.