Freedom’s boys cross country team put their best feet forward in last week’s dual meet despite a full schedule of competition in the last few days.

“Everybody looked a little tired, I thought,” said Freedom coach Bob Thear. “Three races in eight days will do that.”

The Patriot boys fell to Stroudsburg, 35-23, but won against East Stroudsburg South, 20-39, and East Stroudsburg North, 24-35.

Freedom’s Brayden Boyle won the boys meet (17:08), and East Stroudsburg North’s Joseph Sokolowski placed second (17:41).

Boyle clocked a time of 16:30 three days earlier at the Ben Bloser Invitational at Big Spring in Carlisle, Pa.

“There were so many kids there, and I prepared for it a lot,” said Boyle. “I was really happy with that, so this meet I wasn’t expecting much. I didn’t have as much competition as usual today, and this was our third race in eight days, so I was a little worn out from that. For dual meets, I’m hoping to get some good times against Parkland and Emmaus, and I’m excited to see some different courses for dual meets because there’s a lot I haven’t been to. My ultimate goal is to break 16:00, go to states and place pretty high at districts...I’m just gonna trust the process.”

Liberty’s Emerson Blasi placed seventh (18:54), and Freedom’s Webb Kurtz placed eighth (18:57).

“I felt like I was running a good pace but after having three races in a week, I was slower,” said Kurtz. “I’m shooting for sub 18:00. I just didn’t feel it in me as much to push it today. I feel like I started all right, but I stuck at a same pace.”

Freedom’s Mikey Messa came in 11th (19:16), Liberty’s Sean Haas placed 12th (19:29), Bethlehem Catholic’s David Gomez-Acuna placed 13th (19:40), Liberty’s Wyatt Hendrickson came in 14th (19:41), and Bethlehem Catholic’s Matthew Amrick was 15th (19:42).

The Patriot boys team includes seven freshmen, some of whom are already showing promise.

“Great. They’re doing really good,” Thear said. “One of them already broke 20:00 at the last meet, Jackson (Steiner). Ben (Davis) should be close to breaking it today. As the season goes on, they should get into the 19:00-20:00 range.”