Liberty junior Darlyn Fermin won a fifth place medal after competing in the East Penn Conference Cross Country Championships last Tuesday at Bethlehem Municipal Course at Illick’s Mill.

Fermin finished the race with a time of 17:06.

“The first mile was like 5:05. That was my pace, but it was too fast,” Fermin said. “Somebody passed me, a Stroudsburg kid. He beat me last time, so then I had to beat him. I was happy.”

Fermin’s teammate, Cole Frank, placed 15th in 17:28.

“I might go out a little faster [at districts] so I can get better position and not get so boxed in,” said Frank. “I made a kick this time which is an adjustment from my last race because I don’t really kick, and I want to thank my coaches for pushing me to have a kick at the end.”

Freedom senior Kevin Pollock placed 29th overall and first for the Patriots in 17:56.

“We were in the 14th box which is on the end. I’ve always been on the closer side but it was actually a pretty good position,” Pollock said. “I went out a little bit slow because I didn’t want to kill myself on the hills that are in the second mile because those are tough, so I wanted to be able to power up those. So I got into a good position.

“I was hanging around pretty much the same two kids the whole time. In the end I was able to sneak past them. I was a little more winded than I thought I was going to be. The first mile, I tried to go slow but the pace of the race, it ended up going faster than I anticipated.”

Other Bethlehem runners who placed in the top 50 percent were Casey Frank (L) 36th in 18:03, Nick Bauer (F) 41st in 18:06, Adam Boyer (F) 48th in 18:16, Paul Jensen (L) 56th in 18:33, Josh Noel (F) 70th in 18:48, Billy Sweeney (F) 72nd in 18:53, and Angel Negron (BC) 75th in 18:59.

In team results, Easton’s boys were meet champions, Liberty placed seventh, Freedom placed ninth, and Becahi placed 13th.

Fermin was also named to the EPC boys’ cross country first team all-conference.