BETHLEHEM - No amount of pain or suffering could keep Tina Capparell from winning her third straight District 11 cross country title.

The junior took the Class 1A crown for the third consecutive year Wednesday at Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course, a triumph that was never a certainty after Capparell missed time earlier this season with an illness."I wanted it so badly," she said. "It feels so great right now."Capparell ran through any discomfort she might have been feeling and powered to the line with a time of 19:13, well-ahead of Pine Grove's Christina DiFalco (19:32), who topped the Marian standout by 41 seconds at last week's Schuylkill League meet."I really wanted it," said Capparell. "I knew what she (DiFalco) was going to be running and I just knew I had to stick with her."I knew she was gaining so I knew I just had to hang on. I just gave it all I got - everything I worked for this season, coming off the season I had, it just feels great. I was out half the season and just coming back and being able to do this is great."Capparell will have company at next week's PIAA Cross Country Championships, as the Fillies won the team title with 43 points to top Minersville (56)."We wanted this all season," said Capparell. "We were working so hard for it and all of our hard work paid off. We just wanted it and I'm happy we were able to get it."Marian had five girls in the top-20, with Nicole Capparell placing third (21:12), Julia Kreisl eighth (22:24), Naatalia Konitzer 12th (23:02) and Carolyn Mehallo 20th (24:22)."We're happy," said Marian head coach Thomas Kostic. "Our girls pulled through. They all stepped up and did great today."While Marian celebrated individual and team success, several other Times News area runners in both Class 2A and Class 3A will also be making the trip to Hershey.Northwestern's Madeline Consuelos and Molly Tarvin, Tamaqua's Monika Shimko, Nicole Wasserleben and Sarah Maue and Lehighton's Cera Gaston all advanced to states in the 2A race, while Pleasant Valley's Lizz Eberhardt made it through in Class 3A.Consuelos and Tarvin placed third (19:48) and fourth (19:58), respectively, for the Tigers.After competing in unseasonably warm conditions at last week's Colonial League meet, Consuelos welcomed the much cooler weather Wednesday."I thought I did a lot better than last week," Consuelos said of her performance at the Colonial League meet, where she was second. "But I felt really good."Last week, I had severe heat exhaustion, so the next couple of days were pretty rough. But I feel a lot better now. I recuperated and I'm a lot stronger now."Tarvin echoed Consuelos' sentiments."It went a lot better than I thought it would," said Tarvin. "It's the first time I broke 20 (minutes) so I was really excited about that - I've never done that on this course. I don't think I've done that in the postseason at all, so that's exciting."And after such a terrible league (meet) race that I had, it's really exciting to just get a fourth place."Shimko's ninth place (20:09) led the Raiders to a third place finish in the team standings. Wasserleben placed 14th (20:40.12) and Maue 15th (20:40.93). Gaston was 16th (20:56) for the Indians."I'm happy with it," said Shimko. "It feels great to finally accomplish my goal - I'm going to Hershey. It was a good race."After flourishing as a stellar runner on the track, Shimko has hit her stride this fall and admitted she was anxious ahead of Wednesday's race, knowing it was her last opportunity to make it to states in cross country."I had a lot of nerves, because for me, if I didn't perform well, it would have been my last race as a senior running cross country," said Shimko. "So I'm happy I get at least one more race."As Shimko prepares for her first trip to states, Eberhardt, who was sixth (19:31) in the Class 3A race, will be making her fourth appearance in Hershey, one that offers plenty to look forward to."I'm excited to be going to Hershey for the fourth year in a row and start the chocolate diet again," joked Eberhardt who placed with a time of 20:00 at last week's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference meet, which is also held at Bethlehem Municipal."But the race went about as I expected. I gave it everything I had out there. I don't think there was a point during the race where I could have pushed anymore."REPEAT... Stroudsburg's Allana Powlette (18:27) won her second straight Class 3A title, edging Liberty's Raisa Kochmaruk (18:30) for the second consecutive year.FLIP FLOP... Stroudsburg won the Class 3A team title with 53 points to top Easton (71). The order was a reverse of last year's standings, when Easton took the team title ahead of Stroudsburg, 54-70.MOVING UP... After taking second to Saucon Valley's Kiele Riefenstahl last year, Allentown Central Catholic's Emily Deschler broke through in the Class 2A race, winning with a time of 19:34.