Cross country coach Dan Wessner has been by Katie Bacher’s side each time she has made the trip to Hershey, including the last three state meets. After placing 60th as a sophomore and moving up to 38th the following season, Wessner believed Saturday could be the day the Emmaus senior finally cracked the top 25 to earn a medal.

Instead, beyond reasons out of her control, Bacher slipped to 89th place in the Class AAA girls race, a mark she wasn’t pleased with one bit. And no one felt more heartbroken than her mentor and coach.

Still, Bacher capped an exceptional career that has seen her excel at leagues, districts and states over the years. Along with Bacher, Ryan Paradise’s cross country career came to and end after just one year with a 109th-place finish in 17:12. Emmaus sophomore Abby Dalton capped a shortened second season due to injury in 109th place.

For Bacher, her letdown during Saturday’s PIAA Cross Country Championships was a bit unexpected. She had been getting over a sickness and was ready to challenge the time she previously set at the PIAA Foundation Invitational in late September, on the very same course as states.

“I just couldn’t breathe the second half of the race today,” Bacher said after crossing the finish line in 20:12. “It was sort of like an asthma thing where my lungs tightened up. So I’m wondering if that’s what has been affecting my races in this postseason.

“I ran this course back in October for the invite here, and I ran about a minute faster then. That was one of my best races this season, and that probably would have put me in medal contention today if I had run a similar time.”

“It breaks my heart knowing that she is a state-medal caliber runner, and she’s never came together on this day for three years,” Wessner said. “To me it was pretty apparent fairly early in the race that she was struggling. I wasn’t quite sure watching her go up the hill, but when I saw she was struggling to breath, it was hard to watch.”

After placing fifth at districts, Wessner saw Bacher look like herself during a workout on the state course days earlier.

“She felt so good since districts essentially,” Wessner said. “She had gotten over the sickness and her legs were back. We did a tune-up workout Tuesday, and she just killed it. She was on point. It was so easy and relaxed.”

Knowing the leaps she had taken in her first two trips to states, with no signs of asthma evident during that workout, the two thought a trip to the medal stand was a real possibility.

“That was definitely a goal,” Bacher said. “I had been running with a lot of the girls that were up at the top of the state. My coach definitely thought that would be something I was capable of if I was feeling good today.”

For Paradise, it wasn’t too long ago that the Hornet senior decided to take on cross country in conjunction with soccer in the fall. He’s exceeded plenty of expectations despite the chaotic and hectic schedule over the past couple of months.

“He’s handled going back and forth with soccer and cross country as well as could be expected,” Wessner said. “I was certainly apprehensive to start the year on how he was going to be fitness-wise doing both of these sports at the high level that he was competing at, and being able to be effective when we get to this time of year. He handled it really well.”

Just a few weeks ago, Paradise ran one of his best times of the season at the PIAA Invitational. He improved on that mark at states by almost a half minute.

“I ran a 17:34 the last time I was here for the PIAA Invitational, so a 22-second personal record on this course is pretty good, especially for how difficult this course is,” Paradise said after posting a time of 17:12.

Paradise admits, however, that he got off to a start he wasn’t exactly expecting.

“I kind of got pulled out in front, which is not what I really wanted to do,” Paradise said. “I like to hang back and pick people off. It didn’t really go that way with because you kind of get sucked in with how many people there are, and you can’t back up or anything.”

Dalton battled through her own adversity throughout the regular season. And while she didn’t quite have a state performance like last year’s meet, where she placed 18th, it looks like she is back to her normal self.

“Abby got as much as she could out of the season for the limited amount of time she was able to train,” Wessner said. “The first goal really was to get her back in a dual meet to make sure she was qualified to get in the league meet initially.”

Dalton ran a time of 20:21.

Pennsbury’s Olivia Sargent (AAA), Dallas’ Ally Rome (AA) and Vincentian Academy’s Abdalah Marianne (A) captured individual state championships on the girls’ side. On the boys’ side, Central Bucks East’s Jake Brophy (AAA), Lake-Lehman’s Dominic Hockenbury (AA) and Sewickley Academy’s Mackey Griffin (A) won their respective races.