Del Vierling has been working for three years to get to the state cross country meet.

His hard work paid off last week when he took fifth place overall to earn a trip to this weekend’s Class 3A state championship Saturday in Hershey.

“It feels great,” said Vierling. “Last year I was just out. It feels great to make it this year and do well.”

Vierling is one of three Emmaus runners that will compete at states as junior Abby Dalton finished fourth in the girls race to earn her third straight trip to Hershey and sophomore Abby Heilenman placed 17th to earn the final qualifying spot in girls 3A.

Vierling, who finished 26th last year and was just a few places and seconds away from a qualifying spot, will finish his three-year high school career on the biggest stage this state has to offer.

“I wasn’t really worried about not making states,” he said. “My goal was top five [at districts] and I really wanted to get that.”

His goal for states is just to do run his best.

“Just going to run [the state championship race], however I run it, I’m going to run hard and do the best I can,” he said.

At districts, Vierling ran with a pack near the front and was never in jeopardy of not qualifying for states. But he had to make a move to get into medal position, which he did in the final half mile of the 3.1-mile race.

“I wasn’t feeling too good during the race,” said Vierling. “There was this giant pack of seven kids in front of me. I knew I had to take them because I was like 14th. I ended up sprinting past them. It felt good.”

Dalton also achieved her goals at districts.

She placed seventh in last week’s league championship race and improved on that at districts, finishing in 19:22.

“I’m really glad because I dropped a minute from last time I ran here and I got close to my goal of getting at least third place,” said Dalton.

She plans to finish the season with her best race of the year on what is one of the most difficult courses in the state.

“I’m hoping to drop my time a lot,” Dalton said. “Maybe I’ll medal at states. I still haven’t started tapering yet. I should peak for states.”

Dalton, Heilenman and Vierling led their teams to sixth-place finishes at districts.

The Emmaus girls team placed three runners in the top 25 as Katrina Durrwachter was 22nd, followed by sophomore Brynn Myers (39th) and junior Amber Ziegler (50th) to round out the top five. Senior Emma Keightley (65th) and sophomore Amanda LaVana (70th) were also part of the Emmaus girls team at districts.

In the boys race, freshman Mason Brown (33rd), sophomore Jacob Brown (38th), freshman Mark Magee (42nd) and junior Charlie Norelli (55th) made up the top five, while senior Kyle Kleinberg (57th) and Jon Csensits (76th) were also part of the Hornet boys team.

Pleasant Valley’s Seth Slavin won this year’s boys Class 3A individual title, while Parkland won the boys team title.

Stroudsburg’s Allana Powlette won the 3A girls race and the Mountaineers placed three runners in the top five to take the team title.