Whitehall’s girls and boys cross country teams competed in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Cross Country Championships on Oct. 20 at DeSales University.

The first Zephyr to place for the girls was Marli Jacobus who came in 38th with a time of 22:39.4.

“The first two miles were good. I felt fast, and I got through the hills,” Jacobus said. “I felt like this was my best time in the second mile, but then once I got to the third mile, my stomach started hurting, so I slowed down a bit, but I got around the times I’ve been getting. I’m just hoping for Wednesday to do better and try to make states.”

Isabelle Daigle, Emma Druckenmiller, Emily Slockett, Holly Kotch, Gabriella Slockett, and Aurora Easterling also competed for the Zephyr girls.

“We were hoping that outside of Marli, we were hoping the other girls would have been a little bit quicker, how they’ve been training,” said Whitehall coach Eugene Konno. “Marli, we’re hoping to get under 22 minutes next week.”

The first Zephyr to place for the boys was AJ Marakovits who came in 56th with a time of 19:39.2.

“AJ ran pretty well,” said Konno. “He might have gone out a little too fast at the beginning, but we like it when he’s up closer to the front because he tends to run a lot faster when he’s closer to the front. I don’t want him to be the absolute leader. We like him to be in that top, like, one third of people, for sure.”

Gabe Unangst, Derek Berg, Moses Mensher, Sebastian Zaiter, Kihan Resto, and Scott Fogelman also competed for the Zephyr boys.

“The boys have really been running pretty well,” Konno said. “They’ve all been running, kind of together, in like a pack after AJ and maybe, Gabe, so that’s been really good this year.”

Emmaus’s David Hearn won the boys race in 15:49.9, and Liberty’s Elizabeth McClarin won the girls race in 18:43.1.