Emmaus cross country coach Dan Wessner had high hopes for both the girls and boys teams heading into Saturday’s PIAA Foundation Invitational in Hershey.

Thanks in large part to the top runners on each side, both Emmaus teams were able to meet those expectations. Senior Katie Bacher placed third in a time of 19:08 to pace the Hornet girls to a 10th-place finish; senior Greg Jaindl came in 39th (17:23) to lead the boys team.

“We met the expectations that we had set going into that race,” Wessner said. “The girls team finished 10th, and that’s what we were shooting for. The guys team ended up being 13th, and we were shooting to be in the top 15.”

Bacher finished behind Perkiomen Valley’s Annie Glodek and North Allegheny’s Clara Savchik, who placed first and second, respectively. But what was most impressive was Bacher’s drop in time from last year’s event, which is held on the same course as the state championship meet.

“I think she was exactly 30 seconds faster than the time she ran at that invitational last year,” Wessner said. “Before the meet looking ahead at it, I figured she would have a good shot to be in the top five.”

Junior Katrina Durrwachter (54), sophomore Amber Ziegler (59) and freshman Abby Heilenman (61) all produced solid showings in the invitational after being steady point contributors in the Hornets’ first two meets of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference regular season.

“She [Durrwachter] had a great summer of training,” Wessner said. “She already has set a personal record for her 5K time. She’s had a really good season.

“The one that might be a bit of a surprise is Amber Ziegler. I think she finished in third for each of our meets. She definitely has progressed from where she had been last season.”

Along with Jaindl, seniors Ryan Paradise (51) and Jacob Feiertag (140) are just getting their feet wet in the sport after successful spring track and field seasons. The addition of those three has certainly paid dividends on the boys’ front, but Wessner admits there was a sense of the unknown prior to the season.

“They were all track runners that had never done cross country before,” Wessner said. “They’ve all been in the top five all season long, and they’ve certainly made this a much stronger team at the top of varsity than we’ve had the last season or two.

“It was certainly a bit of a question mark because they had never run at this distance. But just knowing the kind of track seasons they had, and Greg [Jaindl] had a great summer of training and having seen that with the summer workouts, I expected them to be up front.”

Junior Del Vierling (73) was the boys’ third finisher at the PIAA Foundational, running a time of 17:53.

After losing to Easton in early September, both the boys and girls won their most recent league meet to improve to 5-1. It’s right where Wessner had hoped both teams would be positioned.

“We’re absolutely at where I expected to be right now,” Wessner said. “Both teams lost to Easton in our first dual meet, [but] we’ve gotten better. I’m not sure we’re quite at Easton’s level yet, but this is right where I expected us to be at this point in the season.”

The next high-profile race for Emmaus is Friday’s Paul Short Run at Lehigh University.

“It’s a big race in terms of the quality of teams that are going to be there, plus the number of teams, and with the colleges being there,” Wessner said. “They love the course. It runs fast.”