Each year the Lehigh Valley Road Runners hold several races for adults and children.

But the proudest day of the year for most of the club’s members, and certainly it’s board members, is the one day each year when they have the honor of awarding scholarships to high school runners that are heading to college.

Each year the awards they give students seem to get bigger and better.

In 2025 the club added the Trailblazer Scholarships, which are targeted to Allentown School District students who are the first in their family to attend college. LVRR intends to award one to a runner from Allen and one to a Dieruff runner each year.

The club now offers a total of five different scholarships and this year awarded eight different runners checks to help with their education.

The club was founded in Emmaus and two of the LVRR scholarships are for Emmaus High School runners.

Earning this year’s Ed Thompson Memorial Scholarship, the club’s longest standing scholarship, was Conor Fisher, who led the Hornet cross country team a second-place finish at districts in 2024 while the team qualified for states for the first time in over 20 years.

Fisher is a school record holder in several events, an All-American triathlete and four-time cross country individual state qualifier. He plans to attend Kutztown University and major in business and finance.

Established in 2001, the Nicole Reinhart Scholarship is also for an Emmaus runner. This year it was awarded to Payton Campbell.

Campbell was among the Hornet cross country team’s top two runners for the past three years and was part of league and district championship teams. She was a team captain in both cross country and track and field.

In cross country, Campbell was a four-time state qualifier and earned a place on the East Penn Conference All-Star team all four years of high school. She plans to attend Monmouth University to major in health sciences.

The club also awarded four LVRR Scholarships at its annual ceremony, which was held July 16 at the LVRR clubhouse in the Lehigh Valley Parkway.

Wilson’s Avery Errico earned one LVRR Scholarship. Her high school career included four trips to the cross country state championships and three state medals, along with two district titles and four Colonial League medals.

Errico holds school records in two track and field events, the 1600- and 3200-meter runs. She also plans to attend Monmouth University, where she will major in health studies.

Southern Lehigh’s Peter Jones also earned an LVRR Scholarship. He was a cross country team captain for two years and captain of the track and field team for one season.

Jones helped his cross country team to a league title in 2024, while his track team won the CL title in three of his four seasons.

He earned 12 varsity letters during four years of high school. Jones plans to attend Penn State University to major in computer science.

Emmaus’ Jared Petre earned the third LVRR Scholarship. Along with Fisher, he was part of the Hornets’ first state qualifying boys cross country team in over two decades. In track, he won an individual gold medal in the 800 last spring and competed on the winning 4x800 team, while also advancing to the state meet as part of the 4x400 relay team.

Petre will attend Moravian University to major in computer science and math.

The fourth and final LVRR Scholarship for 2025 went to Parkland’s Cierra Valley, who was part of a state champion relay team in spring.

Valley was part of two relay teams that had great success over the past few season, culminating a state title and bronze medal last spring.

Valley was part of three district title-winning 4x400 relay teams. This year the Trojans took third place in the event at the state meet. She was also part of two district titles and earned three state medals in the 4x100, an event in which Parkland earned a state championship in 2025.

Valley is headed to Rowan University to major in nursing.

This year’s Tom Illick Memorial Scholarship was awarded Talia Fogel of Notre Dame (Green Pond). Her check was presented at a ceremony on Aug. 6.

Fogel was a team captain and President of the Crusaders’ high school band. She was also part of the school’s jazz ensemble and was once named Supergirl for the LVRR Kids Series.

Fogel is headed to Eastern University to major in Early Childhood Education.

The first recipient of the Trailblazer Scholarship was Alicia Rodriguez of Allen High School. She was her school’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2024-25 and was a three-time MVP for both her swim team and soccer team. In track she participated in the 800, 1600, 3200, 4x400, 4x800 and pole vault.

Rodriguez will attend East Stroudsburg University to major in health and physical education.

There were no applicants from Dieruff for the other Trailblazer Scholarship.