Catasauqua’s cross country teams continue to elevate their status.

In a recent home meet, both the boys’ and girls’ teams picked up a pair of wins, marking the first time in recent history the Roughies achieved that mark.

The boys defeated Salisbury and Palmerton, and the girls beat Northwestern and Palmerton on the team’s senior night.

“We have been doing phenomenal,” said head coach Kyle Rusnock. “Me and (assistant coach Dave Burker) couldn’t remember when one of our teams did something like that.

“We seem to have gotten everything we can out of them so far this season. We are really running well and we have a number of new runners who really have been able to contribute in a hurry.”

On the boys’ side, senior Sebastian Henry and junior Matt Smith have been pacing the unit that has been raising the bar.

“Both of them have been running one and two,” said Rusnock. “We have a few runners who are under 20 minutes. These guys are pushing each other and it really has been competitive this year.”

Sophomore Lexi Rushatz, who was a state qualifier last year, has been maintaining her level, as she has been improving rapidly, and juniors Sabrina Kemmerer and Katie Verenna have been steady contributors.

Junior Montana Muller and freshmen Lucy Brubaker, Ashley Ritter and Priscilla Schaller recently have improved their times and the trio has been on each other’s heels in races.

“They have been running in a pack lately,” said Rusnock of the trio. “All of our girls have really done well. We have a number of girls who have been running for the past couple of years and they have really developed their skills and times.”

With the regular season winding down quickly, Rusnock sees his team on a solid track to make an impact at the league and district meets ahead.

“We’ll be looking forward to it,” said Rusnock. “We believe we will have a number of runners who will have significantly lowered their times and will be ready to be in the thick of things.”