Heading into the finish of the EPC Cross Country Championships last Tuesday at Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course, Lauren Charboneau heard someone say she started her kick too early, but the Freedom sophomore knew better.

“I was like, OK, I have one person behind me, so I just have to pick it up, and I stopped hearing her over by the trees, but I had to keep pushing. And then I heard a Parkland person say, ‘She started her kick too early,’ but I knew I didn’t because we did workouts right there,” Charboneau said.

With that kick, Charboneau clinched first place in the girls’ race.

“I was excited, and I was really proud of the other runners,” she said. “There were a lot of skilled girls so I knew I was going to have competition, but I know myself and I was going to do my normal strategy. From Paul Short, I knew I couldn’t go out too fast because that would end badly for me.”

Charboneau’s time was 19:36.3.

“I knew if Lauren ran really well, she was going to be hard to beat,” said Freedom coach Bob Thear. “We talked about going out with the beginning of the pack and at the mile she was behind two Easton girls, but she didn’t go out that hard, so I thought she was in a great spot.

“She made her move kind of coming up that second hill and took the lead and it was her and the girl from Parkland from there on out. Coming around at the end, she looked strong and I knew she had a good chance at that point. It was just a matter of what the girl from Parkland was going to do, what kind of kick she had.”

But Charboneau had the right kind of kick, and Parkland’s Maddie Zahn placed second in 19:44.9.

The top 12 finishers, including Liberty’s Emily Jobes who placed ninth in 20:33.3, received medals.

Bethlehem Catholic’s Marcela Banuelos placed 15th in 20:59.8, Liberty’s Belle Weikert was 20th in 21:11.5, Grace Haas, also from Liberty, was 22nd in 21:20.3, and Freedom’s Cailin Connelly was 24th in 21:24.3.

Liberty’s Greta Stuckey was 28th in 21:33.7, Freedom’s Mary Sweeney placed 41st in 22:02.7, Elizabeth Fihlman, placed 46th in 22:06.8, and Camrey Yeager was 51st in 22:18.0, both for the Patriots, and Liberty’s Everlyn Sharkan came in 52nd in 22:22.0.

Freedom’s Shannon Connelly was 57th in 22:25.2, followed by Liberty’s Kaitlyn Murphy, 58th in 22:26.2, Liberty’s Camryn Bortz who was 63rd in 22:44.6, Freedom’s Sophie Twiggar who was 64th in 22:46.6, and Liberty’s Madison Drager who came in 65th in 22:47.2.

In team results, Liberty placed fifth, Freedom placed seventh, and Becahi was 11th.

Easton’s girls placed first overall.

“I gave both [girls’ and boys’] teams the same goal,” Thear said. “I said let’s beat somebody today that we lost to.”

The week before, the Patriots lost to Northampton, Nazareth, and Easton, and Thear didn’t think they would lose by as much as they did.

“I thought we’d mix it up better with them, so I thought those were good goals. The girls beat Nazareth today and they weren’t that far behind Northampton. Cailin, she ran great. And three others ran 22, so I was collectively very pleased with our girls,” Thear said.