Placing a girls and boys cross country team both in the top-three at a district championship meet is a pretty lofty accomplishment by most team's standards.

And even for a team with goals and expectations as high as Parkland's, it still wasn't a bad day last Thursday at the District 11 Meet held in Bethlehem.

The Trojan boys team earned second place with solid pack running, while the girls team was edged by Emmaus and took third place.

The Trojan boys move on to next week's state meet, while the girls team, which missed qualifying for states by one place, finished outside the top-two for the first time since 2009.

Parkland's boys team was led by Hailemichael Geiger, who finished 10th in 17 minutes and 10.2 seconds. He led a pack of teammates in which none finished less than three places away from one another. Geiger was followed by Dan Kyvelos (11th, 17:16) and Grand Newman (12th, 17:19).

"It was windy and it's a tough course," said Kyvelos. "We stuck together as a team and finished pretty strong. We were very close together.

"The goal was try to beat Easton's three and then Grant and I would work together in the flat section and try to pick off some people. It didn't really go as planned. We're staying tough. We'll be there at states. We'll try to recuperate and get up there."

Geiger, who was born in Ethiopia, doesn't like the cooler fall temperatures. However, he's done fine in the past two postseasons as he'll make his second-straight trip to the state championship meet, which will be run Saturday at Hershey's Parkview Course.

"Last year was my first time going there," said Geiger. "I know the course very well now. I know when to make my move."

Rounding out the top-five for Parkland's boys team were Steven Kaleycik (20th, 17:42) and Justin Bergen (23rd, 17:46). Teammates Jonathan Ceh (26th, 17:53) and Sam Morgan (28th, 17:56) were not far behind.

Parkland's girls team was in a close contest with Emmaus for second place. Because of difficulties with the electronic scoring system, neither team knew who placed second until hours after the race. Scores were eventually tallied up with pen and paper and they showed Emmaus with a 103-110 advantage, earning the Hornets a trip to Hershey.

The Lady Trojans, which won a team title a week earlier and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship meet, placed their top-five runners in the top-30 at districts and had all seven runners finish 36th or higher, but it wasn't quite enough to keep the state-qualifying streak alive.

"I wasn't too happy with my performance today," said Cara Moyer, who led the Lady Trojans with a 14th-place finish in 20:19. "We were hoping to finish first as a team and I was hoping to finish in the top-10."

Parkland's girls stayed close together, but didn't keep a tight pack like their boys counterparts. Behind Moyer was Madeline LeFrock (20th, 20:32), Mikayla Stoudt (21st, 20:47), Sydney DelVecchio (27th, 21:07), Alexis Dongvort (28th, 21:11), Kiera Segan (32nd, 21:30) and Ali Pany (36th, 21:43).

Moyer qualified for states individually as the top-10 finishers that aren't part of team qualifiers make it to the meet. But the other seniors on the Parkland girls team will miss states for the first time in their high school careers.

"We've all grown really close," said LeFrock. "I hate for it to end. We all want to go to states. It's always really fun. It's not just the meet, it's the environment. We all just look forward to that."

While the girls team won't be part of the competition, they will likely make the trip Saturday to cheer on their boys team, which has not finished outside the top-two places at districts since 2003, including four Class AAA titles since then.

Hershey's Parkview course is hilly and difficult. The field is as fast as any the runners are a part of during their high school careers. And the forecast is for cold and possible frosty weather.

"We're staying tough," said Kyvelos. "We'll be there at states. We'll try to recuperate and get up there.

"It's a fun time. I don't like starting out fast, but at states its different. You have to work hard in the beginning, stay up front and just keep on persevering on the hills. It's a tough course."