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Hughesville girls win team title at districts, Wolfe wins individual cross country crown

By CHRIS MANNING 5 min read

BLOOMSBURG --Plenty of area runners came away with hardware at the District 4 cross country championships with Hughesville, in particular, shining in the warm October sun.

In the Class A girls race the Spartans claimed gold all-around as they won the team title with 42 points, and sophomore Emelia Wolfe (19:33.5) claimed first.

"It's something wild," Wolfe said about them claiming the team title. "At NEPA last time we were only seven points ahead of (Sullivan County), that we needed to beat, so we knew everybody just had to go."

Hughesville led throughout the race, though second place NEB, cut the deficit to nine points halfway through the contest. Still, nobody was able to close the gap as they finished with four in the top 12.

Evey Meckbach (20:31.7) took fifth, Leah Lehman (21:44.4) was 11th, Sophia Poust (21:46.7) came in 12th, and Sydney Siperko (22:22.1) took 16th.

All five runners would have qualified individually this year based on their times with the field getting two teams and 10 individuals.

As for Wolfe, she led from the onset, as well, building 24 second lead at the mile.

"Since I'm a sophomore it means a lot," Wolfe said about the win. "There's a lot of people that came here and ran, but I know I deserve it because I put in the time for it."

There are few things harder than running 3.1 miles as hard as you can by yourself.

"It's something else because you've got to stay in it," Wolfe said. "You've got to stay up. That's what my coach says – you've got to stay locked in there."

South Williamsport's Kendall Smith (21:00.7) also earned a state berth, taking seventh overall in the race.

"It feels really good after having a hard season with sickness and some injury," said Smith. I just tried to keep my spot as best as I could. I tried to look ahead, and just really focus on staying mentally and physically strong."

Sullivan County had four state qualifiers – Paige Jordan (19:55.9) in third, Addisyn Templin (21:27.5) in ninth, Adilynn Thibodeault (21:51.5) taking 13th, and freshman Kara Jordan (22:35.9) in 18th.

CV had three state qualifiers in Natalie Yonker (20:00.4) taking fourth, Lainey Hackett (21:21.7) in eighth, and Maddison Fay (22:07.8) finishing 15th.

Warrior Run's Elizabeth Wentz (22:22.8) was 17th to get in, while Canton's Elizabeth Halbfoerster (22:45.1) was 19th as the last state qualifier.

In the Class AA girls race Wellsboro's Lauren Kosek (17:33.7) repeated as district champion, and set a new course record.

"Last year was kind of a shock to myself and everyone," said the senior. "This year it was kind of the plan to come out and execute."

Her time was close to a PR for her, and was a season best. She led from the gun and finished over a minute ahead of second place.

"I felt great," she said. "I've run into the 17:50's twice this year on hillier courses but honestly I was expecting to be in the 17:50's. The supposed course record here was 17:56 back in 2018 and last year I ran 17:59, so that was in my head to get under that course record, but I was not expecting 17:30's, I think that was one second off my fastest time from last year at Owego, and this has a lot more elevation in it, so I'm right where I want to be."

Also in Class AA NP-Mansfield's Leila Garverick (19:48.2) was seventh, Lewisburg's Ella Beal (20:17) came in 10th with her teammate, Kaelyn Bozella (20:40.1) in 14th.

In the Class A boys race all five individual qualifiers hailed from the area, led by Sullivan County's Calen Sweigart (17:05.7) in second.

"It feels great, I'm ready for it," Sweigart said about going back to states.

His teammate Carter Blasi (17:32.1) was sixth overall.

Canton's Manuel Halbfoerster (17:08.6) finished fourth after just missing a state spot last year.

"Last year I should have made it, but what are you going to do," he said. "No excuses, I made it this year. I put in the work over the summer, that's all that matters."

His teammate Landon Lake (17:40.7) snuck in the final state spot, making him a 2-time state qualifier.

South Williamsport's Spencer Beatty (17:21.5) was fifth for the Mounties to qualify for states.

"It was really competitive," Beatty said about having just five individual slots. "I wasn't sure I was going to make it but it's really exciting that I did."

He ran in the chase pack with several of the other state qualifiers.

"It definitely helps having people to help you push to get there," said Beatty.

In the Class AA race NPM's James Khefley (16:08.9) out kicked Hughesville's Wyatt Laubacher (16:10) for the individual title, though the Spartans qualified as a team thanks to their second place finish.

"It feels amazing," Knefley said after the race. "It was a lot of hard work for this."

Laubacher pushed the pace early, taking as much as a 10 second lead, but Knefley reeled him in, and was shoulder to shoulder after the final hill.

"I was surprised but I also knew I had a lot of work to go because I was hurting, and he was too, so it was hard," said Knefley. "I knew we were both struggling, and I knew there was a chase pack coming, so I figured I'd sit with him and rip it out half a mile to go."

They exchanged leads down the stretch, but it was Knefley taking the final lead in the last 200.

"It's always close at the line, so you've just got to go until you get there," he remarked.

Lewisburg had two individual qualifiers in Hugh Ikeda Shields (16:20.8) in fifth, and Tyler Confer (16:47.2) in ninth.

For the Spartans they scored 92 points to take silver, behind champions Danville (73).

Chase Evans (17:12.9) was 15th, Everett Shaner (17:23.8) took 16th, Ethan Wodrig (17:58.1) finished 27th, and freshman Aramis Laubahcer (18:13.2) took 32nd.

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