Palmerton and Northwestern have emerged as two of the Colonial League's strongest teams early on in this track and field season and they showed why with a back-and-forth battle on Tuesday afternoon.

The Northwestern boys narrowly edged Palmerton by a score of 80-70, while the girls picked up an 82-68 win over the Lady Bombers.All was not lost for Palmerton on this day, however, as the boys earned an 89-61 win over Catasauqua while the girls picked up a decisive 125-24 victory.The Northwestern boys only picked up wins in only four events, but it was the team's depth that proved to be the difference against Palmerton.The Tigers (4-1) consistently scored points in all events, placing multiple athletes in the top five on 12 occasions, which offset the seven event victories by the Bombers."Our biggest thing is it's all balance," Northwestern boys coach Mike MacLaughlin said. "We consistently get points in each event...third's and fourth's."One of the kids said to me, 'coach, I think we're losing really bad.' I said, 'no, because we keep getting second's and third's,' and that's huge. Then we sneak in that first and we get the five (points) and that's kinda how we've been picking at it."Cameron Richardson (200), Collin Furchner (3200) and Alex Partington (discus) all had strong performances and helped the Tigers get maximum points in their events. The Northwestern boys also took the 1600 relay.Austin Shupp (110 H, 300 H) and Jarred Sacks (long jump, triple jump) had multiple event wins for the Bombers (3-2) in the loss.In the girls meet, Northwestern (5-0) used key wins from Haley Yost (800, 1600) and Rachel Cerrone (3200) in the distance events and Katie Cappuccino (100 H, 300 H) in hurdles to overcome Palmerton's (4-1) dominance in the sprinting and jumping events."We knew they had (Jessica) Pereira and (Lauryn) Solt and they're phenomenal in their respective events; they're the two best in the league," Northwestern girls coach Dave Kerschner said. "But we also knew what we had, people like Katie Cappuccino, Haley Yost, Rachel Cerrone and some of our other distance girls."We knew they (Palmerton) were weaker in some of those events and if those girls stepped up, we would offset their points from Pereira and Solt and that's the way it played out. We got enough second's and third's that we were able to win the meet."Pereira easily won the 100, 200 and 400 for the Lady Bombers while Solt took the high jump, long jump and triple jump.While the outcome wasn't what he was hoping for against Northwestern, Palmerton coach Mike Gombert knows he has a strong team that is still rounding into form."We knew that we were going to be in a very tough meet for boys and girls," Gombert said. "We knew that this wasn't going to be easy at all."But I'm proud of the way the kids performed; they put in a lot of effort today and they competed hard. We had a lot of good individual performances. I can't say that our kids didn't step up and do what they needed to do, but you have to commend Northwestern. Today, Northwestern was the better team and they earned their victories."BOYSNorthwestern 80, Palmerton 70Palmerton 89, Catasauqua 61100 - 1. Ra'Von Burton (C) 11.5, 2. Cameron Richardson (NW), 3. Harry Hall (NW), 4. Harley Appelbaum (P), 5. Devin Flores (C); 200 - 1. Cameron Richardson (NW) 23.5, 2. Austin Shupp (P), 3. Ra'Von Burton (C), 4. Harley Appelbaum (P), 5. Harry Hall (NW); 400 - 1. Gerald Pereira (P) 54.7, 2. Nate Eckhart (P), 3. Travis Stout (NW), 4. Alex Bobbyn (NW), 5. Austin Fitzgerald (NW); 800 - 1. Anthony Brinkley (C) 2:10.3, 2. Tyler Stelmack (NW), 3. Brayden Heller (NW), 4. Shaun Seiler (P), 5. Kurt Wells (C); 1600 - 1. Anthony Brinkley (C) 4:51.7, 2. Tyler Stelmack (NW), 3. Brayden Heller (NW), 4. Shaun Seiler (P), 5. Collin Furchner (NW); 3200 - 1. Collin Furchner (NW) 11:17.1, 2. Jacob Rusnock (C), 3. Tyler Stelmack (NW), 4. David Fitzpatrick (P), 5. Zach Svetik (P); 110H - 1. Austin Shupp (P) 16.2, 2. Austin Weiss (NW), 3. Adam Moyer (P), 4. Alec Fixl (NW), 5. Austin Kobordo (NW); 300H - 1. Austin Shupp (P) 43.3, 2. Alec Fixl (NW), 3. Austin Weiss (NW), 4. Andrew Nosti (P), 5. Dylan Snyder (NW); 400 Relay - 1. Catasauqua (Raphel Berrian, Devin Flores, Tony Harris, Ra'Von Burton) 46.3, 2. Palmerton, 3. Northwestern Lehigh; 1600 Relay - 1. Northwestern Lehigh (Alex Bobbyn, Travis Stout, Brayden Heller, Tyler Stelmack) 3:49.2, 2. Palmerton; 3200 Relay - 1. Catasauqua (Anthony Brinkley, Zachary Miller, Jacob Rusnock, Kurt Wells) 10:16.5, 2. Northwestern Lehigh; Shot Put - 1. John Snyder (P) 44-4, 2. Alex Partington (NW), 3. John Dolinich (NW), 4. Jarrid Strong (C), 5. Jarred Sacks (P); Discus - 1. Alex Partington (NW) 143-11 1/2, 2. John Snyder (P), 3. Justin Biviano (C), 4. John Dolinich (NW), 5. Nate Silfies (P); Javelin - 1. Jared Stephen (C) 146-2, 2. JP Bittenbender (NW), 3. Gerald Pereira (P), 4. Jarrid Strong (C), 5. Charles Debski (P); Long Jump - 1. Jarred Sacks (P) 20-7 1/2, 2. Brett Hunsicker (NW), 3. Cole Miller (NW), 4. Cory Hicks (C), 5. Spencer Hay (P); Triple Jump - 1. Jarred Sacks (P) 43-3, 2. Gerald Pereira (P), 3. Spencer Hay (P), 4. Ricky Houser (C), 5. Cesar Curet; High Jump - 1. Spencer Hay (P) 5-10, 2. (tie) Justin Betz (NW), Brendan Lutton (P), Kurt Wells (C), 5. (tie) Ryan McCann (NW), Austin Weiss (NW), Alex Bobbyn (NW), Joey Duffy (NW); Pole Vault - 1. TY Kern (C) 12-0, 2. Darris Rodrigues (P), 3. (tie) Cole Miller (NW), Devin Flores (C), 5. (tie) Jacob Steidinger (NW), Zach Capps (NW).GIRLSNorthwestern 82, Palmerton 68Palmerton 125, Catasauqua 24100 - 1. Jessica Pereira (P) 13.0, 2. Lauren Anderson (NW), 3. Colleen Hickey (C), 4. Brianna Doherty (P), 5. Sabrina Mertz (NW); 200 - 1. Jessica Pereira (P) 26.6, 2. Lauren Anderson (NW), 3. Sabrina Mertz (NW), 4. Brianna Doherty (P), 5. Kaelyn Englert (P); 400 - 1. Jessica Pereira (P) 1:01.8, 2. Jaclyn Wood (P), 3. Morgan Mummey (P), 4. Alexis Gawelko (NW), 5. Jackie Tracy (P); 800 - 1. Haley Yost (NW) 2:24.3, Rachel Cerrone (NW), 3. Kyla Rodrigues (P), 4. Jaclyn Wood (P), 5. Carly Pierce (NW); 1600 - 1. Haley Yost (NW) 6:12.2, 2. Rachel Cerrone (NW), 3. Carly Pierce (NW), 4. Rachel Mikols (NW), 5. Kelly Westermann (P); 3200 - 1. Rachel Cerrone (NW) 13:12.2, 2. Carly Pierce (NW), 3. Amanda Mann (P), 4. Angela Motolese (NW), Abigail Smith (NW); 100H - 1. Katie Cappuccino (NW) 17.1, 2. Elizabeth Iobst (NW), 3. Jess Debski (P), 4. Shelby Clymer (NW), 5. Arissa Snyder (P); 300H - 1. Katie Cappuccino (NW) 52.5, 2. Elizabeth Iobst (NW), 3. Arissa Snyder (P), 4. Shelby Clymer (NW), 5. Jenna Creed (P); 400 Relay -1. Palmerton (Kaelyn Englert, Jessica Pereira, Brianna Doherty, Lauryn Solt) 51.9, 2. Northwestern Lehigh, 3. Catasauqua; 1600 Relay - 1. Northwestern Lehigh (Amy Everett, Jennifer Hallingstad, Sabrina Mertz, McKenzi Divers) 4:25.3, 2. Palmerton; 3200 Relay - 1. Northwestern Lehigh (Angela Motolese, Carly Pierce, Rachel Cerrone, Haley Yost) 10:31.9, 2. Palmerton; Shot Put - 1. Trista Cunningham (NW) 30-10 1/2, 2. Trinity Henderson (C), 3. Shannon Bundra (C), 4. Jamie Kraky (NW), 5. Hannah Masenheimer (NW); Discus - 1. Emelie Meinhart (P) 86-4, 2. Trista Cunningham (C), 3. Dakoha Zelinsky (C), 4. Jamie Kraky (NW), 5. Trinity Henderson (C); Javelin - 1. Sabreena Strauch (P) 105-11, 2. Trista Cunningham (NW), 3. Hannah Masenheimer (NW), 4. Trinity Henderson (C), 5. Selena Contreras (C); Long Jump - 1. Lauryn Solt (P) 15-11, 2. Trista Cunningham (NW), 3. Brianna Doherty (P), 4. (tie) Abigail Schneck (NW), Jackie Tracy (P); Triple Jump - 1. Lauryn Solt (P) 34-11 1/2, 2. Madison Mummey (P), 3. Kassandra Kilanowski (NW), 4. Mallory Brinkley (NW), 5. Abigail Schneck (NW); High Jump - 1. Lauryn Solt (P) 5-0, 2. Madison Mummey (P), 3. Taylor Slack (NW), 4. Macie Hourt (P), 5. Megan Landrigan (NW); Pole Vault - 1. Michayla Doherty (P) 8-0, 2. (tie) Kaelyn Englert (P), Grace Baker (NW), Jackie Tracy (P), 5. (tie) Kari Schulteis (NW), Mallory Brinley (NW), Katie Reingruber (C).