Colin McGuigan’s competition tried to stay with him this time.

But it didn’t work.

The Parkland junior won his second postseason title in two weeks when he finished first in last week’s District 11 Cross Country Championships, held Wednesday, Oct. 22 at DeSales University.

McGuigan had won a league title a week earlier by going out fast and building an early lead. He won that race by 17 seconds.

At districts last week, McGuigan’s closest competitors stayed with him early in the race, but eventually he pulled away and they fell nearly as far behind as they had a week earlier. He ran a 16:20.7 at districts, which was seven seconds faster than his time from leagues.

Emmaus’ Roen Woolf (16:34.5) took second place again, this time 14 seconds behind McGuigan.

“The plan was to take it out fast again,” said McGuigan. “This time I had some competition, especially in that first mile. And even in the second mile. The game plan had to be switched midrace to push those second-mile hills and make a gap for myself.

“[Woolf] was right there. He ran a great race. I had three or four guys on me. I was being pushed for sure and that was great. I definitely prefer to be pushed. You get a much faster time that way. It’s tougher, but it will result in better times.”

With his league and district titles in hand, McGuigan heads to this weekend’s state championship meet for the first time since his freshman year. An injury kept him off the cross country course last season.

“I’m definitely excited to get back there,” he said. “It’s going to be super-exciting. I’m going against some incredible runners. The plan will be just go and run my heart out.”

McGuigan led the Parkland boys team to a second-place finish in the team standings, which qualifies the Trojans to compete as a team this weekend at states. The state championship meet is held on the Hersheypark Course in Hershey.

Three Parkland runners finished in the top 10 in the boys race, with sophomore Alexander Abosamra (17:02.5) ninth overall and senior Luke McEvoy (17:11.7) in 10th. Sophomores Isaiah Wilson (11th, 17:13.3) and Jaiden Zabler (14th, 17:31.0) rounded out Parkland’s top five at districts. Senior Logan McEvoy (16th, 17:32.2) and sophomore Cole Orloski (29th, 17:59.0) also competed for Parkland at districts.

Emmaus won the boys team title with 33 points, marking the program’s first district team title since 2000. Parkland was second with 45 points, followed by Southern Lehigh (88), Nazareth (122) and Easton (148).

In the girls district meet, Parkland junior Harshita Keerthi finished fifth overall to lead Parkland to third place in the team standings. Keerthi ran the race in 19:10.5 to earn a medal and qualify for states for the second consecutive season.

Senior Emma Carlson (20:08.9) finished 13th overall to earn a place at the state meet. Senior Violet Forte (20th, 20:36.8), sophomore Kenzi Schultz (22nd, 21:00) and sophomore Dani Schultz (27th, 21:08) made up the rest of the Parkland girls team score.

Sophomores Lilah Ellis (29th, 212:18.6) and Anastasia Pino (39th, 21:51.9) also competed for Parkland at districts.

Emmaus’ Mady McCartney took first place in the girls race, capping three straight district titles for the University of Kentucky-bound senior. She finished in 18:02.5 with Liberty’s Elizabeth McLarin second in 18:49.6.

Easton took the girls team title with 57 points. Emmaus was second at 84 to edge Parkland (87) by three points. Liberty (106) and Southern Lehigh (113) rounded out the top five.