For the first time in a decade, the Emmaus girls cross country team earned a District 11 Class 3A title with a superb performance Oct. 23 at DeSales University.

Their 50-point performance easily outdistanced a quality Liberty squad, which earned second place with 72 points. What made the victory more impressive was the team did it without its No. 5 and 6 runners, out due to injuries and illness.

Keerstin Augsustin led the way for the Green Hornets and finished second overall with a 19:56 time. Two seconds behind her was teammate Isabella Lees at 19:58 in third place. Hailey Reinhard finished seventh overall. Kera Reinhard took 13th, Ashley Ryan 28th, Ashleigh McNellis 32nd and Clara Kennedy finished 59th.

“I came in as an alternate because one of our runners got injured, so I think for last-minute I tried my hardest and I think I pulled through and I’m pretty proud of how I did,” said McNellis.

The DeSales course overall was comparable to Bethlehem Municipal, where Districts were held in 2018, according to McNellis. That said, the DeSales course did have its nuances.

“The last course did have a mile of hills, so this course definitely has more gradual hills,” she said. “But it’s definitely a lot more pressuring on the mind because it’s a lot of hills and then you have to break it up into where you want to go. It’s a better course because it kind of tests you more.

The girls squad has dominated the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference all year. McNellis contributes much of that to coach Kelly Bracetty.

“I honestly could not ask for a better coach,” McNellis said. “She literally made me fall in love with running. I think that having her as a coach really pushes everyone to run their hardest. She just relates to us on a runner level.”

DISTRICT 11 CROSS COUNTRY

At DeSales University

GIRLS

Class 3A

Team scores and legend

*1. Emmaus (Emm) 50, *2. Liberty (Lib) 72, 3. Southern Lehigh (SL) 80, 4. Parkland (Par) 103, 5. Northampton (Nor) 147, 6. Easton (Eas) 154, 7. Freedom (Fre) 216, 8. Stroudsburg (Str) 232, 9. Nazareth (Naz) 239, 10. PM East (PME) 245, 11. Whitehall (W) 283, 12. Pottsville (Pott) 341, 13. Pleasant Valley (PV) 385, 14. Bangor (Ban) 417.

Individual results

(Top-20)

*1. Emily Jobes (Lib) 19:17, *2. Keerstin Augustin (Emm) 19:56, *3. Isabella Lees (Emm) 19:58, *4. Ciara Conboy (Str) 20:03, *5. Georgia Wiswesser (Nor) 20:04,* 6. Belle Weikert (Lib) 20:05, *7. Hailey Reinhard (Emm) 20:07, *8. Jenna Groeber (SL) 20:08, *9. Marianne Tassinari (ESS) 20:11, *10. Lauren Charboneau (Fre) 20:16, *11. Amber Poniktera (Nor) 20:20, *12. Caitlin Voloshen (Naz) 20:24, *13. Kera Reinhard (Emm) 20:25, *14. Ava Bendetti (Par) 20:26, *15. Brooke Labenberg (Par) 20:29, *16. Pia Mazzella (Eas) 20:47, 17. Ashley Meinhold (SL) 20:48, 18. Lauren Meinhold (SL) 20:49, *19. Jessica Farrell (Lib) 20:50, 20. Natalie Morgan (SL) 20:51, 50. Lily Mingora (PV) 22:25.