Maybe it was the daunting terrain of DeSales University's course that had an effect. A course with a number of hilly sections, unlike most in the area, can throw curveballs at runners on a number of occasions.

A day postponement of last week's Colonial League Cross Country Championships didn't do anyone any favors either, after runners prepared for the conference race on Wednesday afternoon.

Perhaps it was a combination of both that had a hand in Catasauqua's Dionis Lora putting together a finish that wasn't up to his standards. He did achieve his goal of improving on last year's 53rd-place finish by four places and a time of 19:45.46.

"I did pretty good, but I think I could have done better," Lora said. "I've done better, but it was just the hills. I ran this last year and was ready for it, and then I felt slow going up the hills.

"I felt weird. There were times where I felt fast, but than other times I felt slow. Throughout the whole race I was in the middle, which was pretty decent."

Salisbury's Kyle Gonoude (16:51.44) crossed the finished line first in the boys' race, while Wilson's Joe Espinal and Bangor's Brandon Tocket rounded out the top three finishers.

Saucon Valley edged out Bangor for the team championship by two points. Jarrod Kyra and Ethan Bernstein finished in 13th and 14th, respectively, and the Panthers had five runners in the top 26.

When the front 50 or so runners headed into the woods before the two-mile mark, Lora fell back a few places. But when the final hill was in sight, he used that to his advantage in passing a number of competitors.

"It's pretty easy," said of that stretch in the woods. "We got to go up that one hill, and I think the hill helped me a little bit to push myself."

The DeSales course is one that runners generally love or hate. With the hills and demanding terrain, it's one that has given Lora problems in the past, too.

"Every other race I run in the regular season, I feel fine," Lora said. "It was the same thing as last year. I finished and I felt like I was going to throw up. I never throw up, but today when I finished I felt nauseous. I just needed some space."

Cam Ritter placed 76th and Andrew Rice came in 84th for the Rough Riders.

On the girls' side, Madison Zangl was the top Rough Rider finisher in a time of 27:12.27. Bree Sheldon (76) and Tylar Treiber (83) rounded out the top three Catasauqua finishers.

Southern Lehigh's Meseret Hart won the girls competition in a time of 19:50.56, the only time below 20 minutes on the day. Sophie Doman of Palisades came in second, while Pen Argyl's Brianna Biondo took third. The Northwestern girls won the team championship by placing eight runners in the top 17.

The District XI Cross Country Championships are scheduled for Thursday at Bethlehem Municipal Park after rain washed out the event for Wednesday.