Three Liberty Hurricanes and two Freedom Patriots will compete at the PIAA State Boys Class AAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Hershey after qualifying at the District XI Cross Country Championships last week at the Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course.

Freedom senior, Dan Quigley, placed third at districts, behind Easton's Colin Abert and Kevin Lapsansky, with a time of 16:21.30.

"I feel good. My goal was second, but I still feel good about my race," Quigley said. "I really wanted a nice, good start. The wind was a real killer at the finish."

Freedom junior, Will Alpaugh, placed fifth in 16:39.30.

"This week was a much better race overall. I stayed with Michael Geiger from Parkland and started to pass him around the mile mark. Then I stayed with Alex Fitch, and then I passed him. I saw the Pleasant Valley kid [Seth Slavin] at the end, starting to slow down, and I passed him," Alpaugh said.

Overall, Freedom's boys team placed fifth out of 17 teams with 126 points.

Freedom cross country coach Bob Thear said, "Both ran very well. I wish Dan would have sat back a little more. Last week, his calf was bothering, but he felt better today. Will ran a great race. He's peaking right now."

Liberty senior, Alex Fitch, placed seventh with a time of 16:58.50.

"Last week [at the conference meet], whenever they'd pull away, I'd do a pick-up and catch them. This week, it just didn't pan out. I kept trying to pick it up. It's like, you see those kids you pass, but now they pass you. I had a [bad] race after doing so good last week," Fitch said.

Hurricane teammate, Will Masemore, placed 13th in 17:23.00.

"I'm really happy. My goal was to make it to states, and Jonah is really happy, and Raisa [Kochmaruk, who placed [JUMP]first in the girls Class AAA race]. It's been a successful year for us," Masemore said.

Throughout the first mile, Masemore hung back a little, hoping to save energy.

"After the hills, I used the time to catch up and pass if I could," he said.

Liberty cross country coach Mark Will-Weber told his team to try and hang with anybody in red, such as Easton and Parkland, and to use them to help pull the Hurricanes along.

"I was with a kid from Bangor [also in red] for as long as I could. I kicked as much as I could. Once the [last] hill crested, I was slowing down, but I didn't let everyone pass me," said Masemore.

Finishing right behind Masemore in 14th place was Jonah George with a time of 17:25.10.

"Last year, making states wasn't really an option for me, but this year I ran a great race. I made sure to stay with the top 25 and still worked my way up. I knew it would still be a struggle. I'm pretty happy. I was really, really hoping I'd make it, and now I'm here," George said.

As a team, the Hurricanes placed third out of 17 teams with 98 points.

In the Class AA race, Bethlehem Catholic senior, Andrew Shaffer, also won a trip to states after placing 10th in districts with a time of 17:45.20.

Overall, the Hawks placed 12th out of 17 teams with 254 points.

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