Liberty sophomore Elizabeth McClarin won a 13th place state medal at the PIAA Class 3A State Cross Country Championships on Nov. 1 in Hershey.

McClarin’s medal-winning time was 19:15.

“When I crossed the line in the chute, I just knew. It was very exciting. I was pumped,” McClarin said.

Liberty coach Joseph Spang described how the Liberty and Freedom girls were boxed in at the start of the race.

“We had a middle starting position, and it was like everyone converged on them,” he said by email. “It was amazing that Elizabeth was able to fight back through the traffic, on a tough course, against really tough competition. After a half mile, Elizabeth was in 112th place, so she fought back to the medal range, and (teammate) Katie (Drabouski) just was not able to get back to the medal places. It was a good learning experience about getting out really fast at the start of a very competitive race.”

The Class 3A girls race included 238 runners, and the top 25 received state medals.

“I was lucky enough to find some holes in the big pack of runners, so I was zig-zagging for the first mile,” said McClarin. “As the race went on, I felt good and in control because I didn’t go out too fast. That was my strategy from the beginning. The hills were very challenging, but I passed people on the straight shots and the downhills.”

Emmaus senior Madelyn McCartney was crowned state champion with a time of 18:17.

Freedom’s Hannah Brodhead placed 44th in 20:03, Drabouski came in 47th in 20:07, and Freedom’s Taylor Vidumsky was 101st in 20:46.

In Class 1A girls, Bethlehem Catholic’s Rio Stoudt placed 90th of 250 with a time of 22:31, and teammate Skylar Husser was 209th with a time of 25:24.

Freedom’s Brayden Boyle and Liberty’s Joshua Cazares competed in the Class 3A boys race and finished with times of 18:04 and 18:14, respectively.

Travis Furmanski of Cedar Crest was the boys state champ with a time of 15:34.