Northampton’s cross country team, coached by Dan Benner, competed in the East Penn Conference Cross Country Championships on Tuesday at DeSales University where senior Zeke Colyer was a medalist, placing ninth among 142 harriers.

Evan Dempsey came in 13th, missing a medal by just one place, but that didn’t diminish the senior Konkrete Kid’s accomplishment.

“I always went out too fast and ended up burning myself out, especially districts my sophomore year here (at DeSales) and so I took it moderate and slowly worked my way up,” Dempsey said. “I knew I had to push up the hills in the forest, so that’s where I made up the bulk of it, but it’s been brought together all season long.”

Colyer’s time was 17:30.20, and Dempsey finished with a time of 17:47.70.

“It’s not usual when I can see Zeke by the end of a race, but I just keep reminding myself to get up there, and once I realize how fast I’m progressing, it just pushes me along,” Dempsey said.

Freshman Abel Veltri came in 35th in 18:30.90, and teammate Ryder Ault was 36th in 18:34.40.

John Breslin placed 39th in 18:39.40, Liam Galicki finished in 58th place in 19:29.40, Gregory Reese was 65th in 19:38.90, and Braeden Lower came in 69th in 19:49.00.

Said Dempsey, “Even in my head, I gotta do good for my team because I’ve never really been in a position to be a top runner for the team. It’s why I do cross country, the competitive feeling, the adrenaline, and I want to make it happen every time I cross the finish line.”

Freedom’s Alex Heidemann won the boys race with a time of 16:51.00.

In the girls race, Olivia Horn finished in 20th place in 22:05.60, Brianna Tyler was 22nd in 22:17.10, Wes Burkit came in 34th in 22:40.20, and Abigail Enstrom was 38th in 22:46.90.

Madison Berger took 49th place in 23:49.90, Ellie Spencer placed 50th in 23:51.80, and Lauren Schuch was 69th in 25:05.90.

There were 104 runners in the girls race won by Emmaus’s Hailey Reinhard whose time was 19:53.30.

In team results, Northampton’s boys placed fourth out of 16 teams with 128 points, and Northampton’s girls placed fifth out of 12 teams with 163 points.

Nazareth’s boys were team champions with 69 points, followed by Parkland with 78 points, Liberty with 85 points, and Emmaus was fifth with 153 points.

Emmaus’s girls were team champions with 51 points, followed by Parkland with 60 points, Easton with 85 points, and Allentown Central Catholic with 142 points.