Johnathan Condly and the Jim Thorpe boys' cross country team have been on quite a run lately.

Condly won his second straight individual championship at Schuylkill Haven's 8th Annual 'Canes Invitational this past Saturday, a performance that helped the Olympians claim their second straight title at the 10-team event.The trend continued during Wednesday's Schuylkill League tri-meet, as the Jim Thorpe boys dispatched Lehighton 26-29 and Minersville 15-45 while Condly cruised to the win in 17:30, 45 seconds ahead of Lehighton's Michael Blacketter (18:15), who led the Indians in their charge past the Battlin' Miners, 15-45.Despite his continued success, Condly was hoping for a little more on the day."Today was a little slower than I think I could have gone," the senior said. "I wasn't feeling my best today, so it wasn't my fastest run. But I still tried as hard as I could."The outstanding effort wasn't limited to Condly, as The Olympians also got strong showings from Jacob and Ben Saxon, who finished third and fifth, respectively.Those performances proved to be vital in the end, with Jim Thorpe defeating Lehighton by a mere three points."We have a great bunch of kids," said Jim Thorpe coach Drew Benyo. "They're working extremely hard and they want to go back to states as a team. Whether we can do that or not, I don't know."But they're running to what their capabilities are and they're running extremely well. They're a very coachable group of kids and they're a great group of kids to be around. Everybody contributes and everybody helps, and that's all you can ask for."While not a win, Blacketter showed improvement from his performance at 'Canes, closing the gap on Condly and beating Jacob Saxon after finishing 10 seconds behind the former this past Saturday."I feel pretty good," Blacketter said. "I still have work to do before the end of the season, but I'm pretty content with where I'm at right now."Also satisfied after yesterday's meet was Jim Thorpe's Kayley Kovac, who won the girls race in 22:12.The run helped the Lady Olympians edge Lehighton 26-29, but wasn't enough to top Minersville, which won on a tiebreaker after the teams finished tied 28-28."As a freshman coming into this having never run before in my life, I knew it wasn't going to be the easiest task," said Kovac, who finished fourth at 'Canes. "But I worked really hard this summer, and when I came into practice to start the season, I was running No. 1. And my goal is to try to make everyone else better, as well as myself. As long as I can do that, I'm happy."Benyo is one who certainly hopes she can continue her steady improvement."We have a very young team," the coach said. "The question is, 'Where are they going to be two, or three years from now when these girls are seniors?' If they stick with it and they're concerned as much as the boys are, we could have a girls' team going to states."That's our goal and that's what we want to do."Jim Thorpe's Robbyn Loyd took fourth in 23:38.Lehighton defeated Minersville 27-30. The Lady Indians' Jen Beers (22:16), Cera Gaston (22:49) and Cassie Rehnert (23:52) finished second, third and fifth, respectively.Beers' effort was especially impressive considering the fact that she had to drop out of the 'Canes Invitational with a hip injury."I'm just trying to not push myself too much, but I had to at the end," Beers said of her charge over the last 200 meters. "I had to try to make myself feel a little better, and I'm happy with how I ran today and where I finished."Despite coming up short against Jim Thorpe in both races, Lehighton coach Erica Pagotto is pleased with where her team is at this point in the season."Across the board, all of my runners have been dropping their times," she said. "They see the difference and they see that they have to put the miles in over the summer to see improvement and I'm very excited to see that."I think last year, with a lot of new runners, they were just trying to get comfortable. But now they know what they're capable of and they're pushing themselves harder."BOYSJim Thorpe 26, Lehighton 29Lehighton 15, Minersville 45Jim Thorpe 15, Minersville 451. Jonathan Condly (JT) 17:30, 2. Michael Blacketter (L) 18:15, 3. Jacob Saxon (JT) 18:30, 4. Luke Fisher (L) 18:47, 5. Ben Saxon (JT) 18:59, 6. Trent Frey (L) 19:03, 7. Jian Gentile (JT) 19:19, 8. Ethan Dubble (L) 19:25, 9. Joshua Johnson (L) 19:27, 10. Dylan Bucior (JT) 19:29, 11. Samuel DiBase (M) 19:31, 12. Chris Valdez (JT) 20:17, 13. Pengcheng Zhang (L) 20:22, 14. Clement Rushanan (M) 20:27, 15. Wesley Yutko (M) 20:30, 16. Simon Wagner (M) 20:33, 17. Anthony Tavella (L) 20:33, 18. Blade McCabe (L) 20:39, 19. Christopher Martino (L) 20:40, 20. Nathan Fields (JT) 20:42.GIRLSJim Thorpe 27, Lehighton 30Lehighton 27, Minersville 30Minersville 28, Jim Thorpe 281. Kayley Kovac (JT) 22:12, 2. Jenifer Beers (L) 22:16, 3. Cera Gaston (L) 22:49, 4. Robbyn Loyd (JT) 23:38, 5. Cassie Rehnert (L) 23:52, 6. Autumn Pedron (M) 24:01, 7. Kaylene Raczka (M) 24:46, 8. Lindsay Capper (JT) 25:08, 9. Brittany Cory (M) 25:58, 10. Katie Glore (M) 26:02, 11. Amanda Conshue (M) 26:02, 12. Victoria Asbrock (JT) 26:13, 13. Mary Grace Collins (L) 26:54, 14. Corinne Ellis (M) 28:04, 15. Starcasia Himes (JT) 28:07, 16. Kara Pytko (M) 28:16, 17. Kristen Lowe (M) 28:19, 18. Kailee Roamnchik (JT) 28:22, 19. Kylee Gahman (JT) 28:30, 20. Jonique Pace (L) 28:51.* - Note: Panther Valley's Delana Nalesnik, running for Jim Thorpe, finished third overall in 22:17, but did not score.