Northampton High School's Jo Perelli earned a spot at the PIAA State Cross Country Championships, scheduled for this Saturday, after placing sixth in the District XI Class AAA Girls Cross Country Championships last Thursday at the Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course.

"It felt good. It was a little chaotic at the end, but I felt good afterwards," Perelli said.

Perelli finished the race with a time of 19:41.70.

"I held back a little, but I didn't let up a lot. I knew they were going to have people take the brunt of the wind, so I moved ahead. At the beginning of the second mile, I thought I could sprint out a little more. I took at least two or three places at the end towards the last half mile," she said.

Teammates Lyndsey Gallagher and Jessica Hendricks placed 22nd and 26th, respectively, out of 107 competitors. Gallagher's time was 20:55.30, and Hendricks's time was 21:03.80.

As a team, Northampton's girls placed fifth out of 16 teams and scored 173 points. The Konkrete Kids defeated Freedom by one point, which put the Patriots in sixth place.

In the boys Class AAA race, Justin Nikles took 37th place.

"It felt good crossing that finish line," Nikles said. "I just wanted to go out and run my personal best. The first mile, I felt pretty good. I had a nice pace for the first mile."

In addition to the wind that the runners had to contend with, Nikles found the two-mile mark to be an additional challenge.

"Around the two mile mark, it winds back and forth and goes around the greens of the golf course," he said.

Nikles's time was 18:13.30.

"Coming up the last quarter mile, kids were passing me because my legs were just shot at that point. Then I passed a couple. At the finish, the adrenaline gets you," said Nikles.

Teammates, Noah Rindock and Lucas Yost placed 44th and 47th, respectively, out of 121 runners. Rindock's time was 18:31.10, and Yost's time was 18:33.00.

As a team, NHS boys placed 10th out of 17 teams and scored 274 points.

Follow us on Twitter: @LVP_sports