Colin McGuigan knew a fast start might be the key to winning last week’s East Penn Conference boys cross country title.

The junior figured if he could get ahead and force people to catch him, he’d be able to hold them off in the end.

No one caught him.

McGuigan crossed the finish line in 16:27.3 for first place, 17 seconds ahead of Emmaus sophomore Roen Woolf (16:44.4).

“I definitely took it out that way, trying to win,” said McGuigan after the race. “I was going to see if anyone came with me and they sort of sat off.

“That was a strategy coming in, being confident in my ability to be able to hold on throughout the whole race because this is a tough course.”

While he knows it’s not good form to look back during a race, a few glances at key parts of the course revealed he had a comfortable lead from the first mile through the finish.

“I try not to look behind,” he said. “I like to have the mindset that they’re always behind me so I have to keep pushing. Sometimes around some corners I do take a peek back.

“Straight from the first mile I put up a little bit of a gap and then through the hills I extended that a bit.”

After taking fifth place at leagues as a freshman, McGuigan missed last season with what he described as “a long injury.” Exercise-induced asthma was causing him pain when he ran.

It kept him off the cross country course last fall, but he was back on the track in spring and is now 100 percent healthy.

A recent 11th-place finish at Lehigh University’s Paul Short Invitational reassured McGuigan that he could win a league title this year. He was the Lehigh Valley’s top finisher in the boys Gold race at the Paul Short by 18 places as he beat Easton’s Evan Guydish by 27 seconds at Lehigh.

“Paul Short gave me a whole lot of confidence to know what I’m capable of,” said McGuigan.

The Trojans won the team title at last week’s league meet, which was held Tuesday, Oct. 14 at DeSales University. They finished with 36 points with Emmaus (46) second and Central Catholic (97) third.

Luke McEvoy (8th) and Logan McEvoy (9th) also finished in the top 10 for Parkland at leagues. Isaiah Wilson (12th) and Brycen Smith (15th) rounded out the team score. Cole Orloski (16th), Alexander Abosamra (21st), Derek Taveras (23rd) and Nathan Rosenberg (32nd) also competed in the league meet for the Trojans.

The girls race at leagues saw Parkland junior Harshita Keerthi finish sixth overall to lead her team to a second-place finish.

Keerthi ran the race in 19:30.3, followed by teammates Emma Carlson (11th), Violet Forte (14th), Lilah Ellis (24th) and Kenzie Schultz (25th).

The Trojans finished with 80 points to edge Emmaus (83) for the runner-up spot. Easton won the title with 59.

Parkland’s Dani Schultz (27th), Anastasia Pino (28th), Parker Tatum (29th) and Madelyn Kruk (36th) also competed in the league meet last week.

The Trojans were be back at DeSales this week for Wednesday’s District 11 Championships. See next week’s Press for more about that meet.