The Parkland cross country teams continued to show improvement this season, with strong performances during Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championships Oct. 15 at DeSales University.

The boys squad finished second overall with 88 points, with Nazareth claiming the title. The girls took third with 91 points, behind champion Emmaus and second place Liberty.

“I was pleased with the results,” said Parkland head coach Stephen Ott. “While I would have liked both teams to finish first, I have to be realistic. Nazareth boys and Emmaus girls are the top teams at this point. I know that we are not that far behind and hope we show that at the District 11 race.”

Ethan Warren had a fine race, pacing the Trojans and finishing fourth overall with a 16:55.4 mark.

“Ethan stepped up and showed he is the leader of our boys team,” said Ott. “He hung with the leaders of the race on the hills and finished only 10 seconds behind third place.

Benjamin Esquieres took 14th overall in 17:19, and Logan Iacobelli was next for the Trojans, taking 19th place in 17:32.1.

“Ben has improved throughout the season and had an awesome race to finish in 14th place,” Ott said.

Both Warren and Esquieres were named EPC All-Stars this season.

Brooke Labenberg paced the Trojans girls team at leagues, finishing 10th overall in 20:14.4. Ava Bendetti took 14th place overall in 20:30 and just behind her was teammate Elena Wenger at 20:34.16, good for 15th overall. Lauren Williams earned 22nd place with a 20:53.4 time.

“Both Brooke and Ava have taken turns leading our team,” Ott said. “Their efforts throughout the season and in the race earned them EPC All-Star honors. Elena has steadily improved throughout the season as she learned how to be successful in our sport. Her 15th-place finished definitely stood out in my mind.”

Strategically and tactically, the Trojans’ coach wants his runners to focus on succeeding, whatever challenge arises.

“I want our student-athletes to believe in themselves as much as my coaching staff and I believe in them,” he said. “We talk about working through the tough parts of the race where self-doubt can creep in.”

Running the course at DeSales previously helped the Trojans be in a good frame of mind on race day.

“I have them visualize parts of the course, especially the start and finish,” Ott said. “Thinking about that ahead of time helps ease the nerves of the actual race day. I always leave them with two thoughts before they race: our moto ‘be FAST’ and most important, to have fun.”

District competition is set for Oct. 23 at DeSales.

The top two teams boys and girls teams at districts advanced to the state championship meet Nov. 2 in Hershey. The top 10 individuals who are not part of state qualifying teams also qualify for states in Class 3A.

BOYS

Teams

1. Nazareth 62, 2. Parkland 88, 3. Emmaus 92, 4. Easton 115, 5. Freedom 170, 6. Stroudsburg 173, 7. Northampton 179, 8. Liberty 185, 9. Central Catholic 216, 10. East Stroudsburg South 319, 11. Pleasant Valley 353, 12. Pocono Mtn. East 358, 13. Whitehall 365, 14. Bethlehem Catholic 423, 15. Pocono Mtn. West 443, 16. East Stroudsburg North 452, 17. Allen 493, 18. Dieruff 531.

Individuals (Top 15 plus all Parkland finishers)

1. Cole Frank (Liberty) 16:08.0, 2. Marco Cardone (Easton) 16:19.6, 3. Daniel Brunner (Nazareth) 16:45.9, 4. Ethan Warren (Parkland) 16:55.4, 5. Jack Hollar (Pocono Mtn. West) 16:55.5, 6. Alex Heidemann (Freedom) 17:00.0, 7. Brayden Graham (Stroudsburg) 17:05.0, 8. Mark Magee (Emmaus) 17:06.6, 9. Alex Hume (Freedom) 17:07.8, 10. Anthony Kositz (Nazareth) 17:08.3, 11. Keshav Shankar (Emmaus) 17:08.9, 12. Travis Lahr (Nazareth) 17:10.2, 13. Timothy Bunce (Easton) 17:14.5, 14. Benjamin Esquieres (Parkland) 17:19.9, 15. Cameron Carter (Emmaus) 17:23.6, 19. Logan Iacobelli (Parkland) 17:32.1, 25. Christian Dzema (Parkland) 17:46.2, 26. Nathan Reimer (Parkland) 17:46.7, 38. Michael Schmitt (Parkland) 18:07.2, 41. Nate Kunz (Parkland) 18:09, 47. Brian Warren (Parkland) 18:15.8, 51. Erik Hochstetler (Parkland) 18:23.2, 58. Brady Hoffman (Parkland) 18:32.5.

GIRLS

Teams

1. Emmaus 57, 2. Liberty 79, 3. Parkland 91, 4. Northampton 130, 5. Easton 160, 6. Central Catholic 209, 7. Pocono Mtn. East 222, 8. Freedom 224, 9. Nazareth 239, 10. Stroudsburg 242, 11. East Stroudsburg South 256, 12. Whitehall 307, Bethlehem Catholic 316, 14. Pleasant Valley 381.

Individuals (Top 15 plus all Parkland finishers)

1. Emily Jobes (Liberty) 19:14.7, 2. Ciara Conboy (Stroudsburg) 19:39.2, 3. Georgia Wiswesser (Northampton) 19:45.1, 4. Keerstin Augustin (Emmaus) 19:49.5, 5. Isabella Lees (Emmaus) 20:00.1, 6. Belle Weikert (Liberty) 20:01.9, 7. Isabel Devos (Central Catholic) 20:06.7, 8. Lauren Charboneau (Freedom) 20:09.1, 9. Amber Poniktera (Northampton) 20:09.6, 10. Brooke Labenberg (Parkland) 20:14.7, 11. Hailey Reinhard (Emmaus) 20:23.9, 12. Caitlin Voloshen (Nazareth) 20:03.9, 13. Margaret Burke (Bethlehem Catholic) 20:29.9, 14. Eva Bendetti (Parkland) 20:30.7, 15. Elena Enger (Parkland) 20:34.4, 22. Lauren Williams (Parkland) 20:53.4, 33. Emily Beers (Parkland) 21:28.2, 34. Jessica Price (Parkland) 21:28.5, 42. Isabella Esteban (Parkland) 21:56.8, 44. Ava Pugeda (Parkland) 21:56.8, 50. Lily Goense (Parkland) 22:03.2, 61. Stephanie Snyder (Parkland) 22:37.7.