With three runners missing from the varsity line up, the Northwestern girls cross country team had to readjust its goals heading into the annual early-season DeSales Invitational.

Most years the Lady Tigers are looking to win it. This year, with two seniors taking SATs the day of the race and another senior resting an injury, the goal was a top-five finish Saturday in Center Valley.And that's just where they came in. Led by Molly Tarvin (14th place) and Madeline Consuelos (17th), Northwestern took fifth place at DeSales and saw both of its top runners earn medals, which went to the top 25 boys and girls."We still got fifth as a team and we'll bring home a trophy," said Northwestern head coach Chris Stitzel. "If we can go top five here missing three girls, that's a good race. That was our goal."When we get healthy we should make a run at states again. They have us ranked in the top three right now."The Tigers' state ranking comes from the PennTrack web site. After four years of going undefeated in dual meets and earning league titles, the team finally earned some preseason recognition this season.Northwestern finished fourth as a team at last year's state championships, but two runners from last year's top five graduated.The Tigers seem to have no trouble making up for those losses. They opened the season with the overall team title at the Moravian Invitational and followed it with a strong showing at DeSales."We're missing our two seniors from last year, who were in our top five," said Tarvin. "We regrouped and dealt with the loss and used it to our advantage and now we're all really close."Behind Tarvin and Consuelos were teammates Hannah Herzon (36th), Rachel Mikols (41st) and Brooke Devers (41st) to round out the top five.Marian Catholic's Nicole Capparell took 29th place at the meet. Lehighton's Cera Gaston led the Tribe's girls runners in 44th place. And Northern Lehigh's Sara Hunsicker (96th) was her team's top girls runner.In the boys race at DeSales, it was the Bulldogs' Gavin Kemery that led the way with a 28th-place finish."I was trying to medal," said Kemery, a senior who began running the DeSales Meet as a seventh grader in the middle school division. "That was the goal but I knew there was great competition here. I was really just expecting a good work out."Kemery set a goal of making a return trip to the state meet in his final high school season. Last season he finished in the top 100 at states.He likes the early-season DeSales Meet because it broadens his horizons as he heads into the dual-meet season in which he will run alongside many of the same competitors for six straight weeks. At the invitational, he enjoys seeing a new variety of competition."It opens you up to different strategies and runs that you can take on for your own or work off of," he said. "It makes you look at the course differently."Northwestern's Phillip Castrine (57th), Lehighton's Michael Blacketter (60th) and Marian's Aaron Srinivasan (74th) were all their team's top finisher in the boys race.Liam Conway of Owen J. Roberts won the boys meet in a time of 16:24, while Parkland's boys earned the team title. Lehighton finished 14th. Northwestern was 17th. Marian finished 20th out of 22 teams, but the Colts had only five runners while most teams entered seven.The girls varsity race was won by Allana Powletter of Stroudsburg, who finished in 19:46. Downingtown East won the girls team title.BOYSTeam1. Parkland 67, 2. Owen J. Roberts 74, 3. Holy Ghost Pres 104, 4. William Tennent 114, 5. Twin Valley 159, 14. Lehighton (Leh) 428, 17. Northwestern Lehigh (NW) 453, 20. Marian Catholic (Mar) 527. (22 boys teams).Individuals1. Liam Conway (Owen J. Roberts) 16:24.14, 2. Hailemichael Geiger (Parkland), 3. Sean Rahill (William Tennent), 4. Dan Kyvelos (Parkland), 5. Callahan Lennon (Holy Ghost Prep), 6. Josh Faber (Twin Valley), 7. Patrick Donahue (Holy Ghost Pres), 8. Abe Van Helmond (Owen J. Roberts), 9. Hudson Delisle (Quakertown), 10. Noah Falasco (Upper Merion).Other local finishers28. Gavin Kemery (Northern Lehigh), 57. Phillip Castrine (NW), 60. Michael Blacketter (Leh), 74. Aaron Srinivasan (Mar), 75. TJ Dooley (No. Lehigh), 83. Trent Frey (Leh), 86. Anthony Vennera (NW), 87. Eddie Pulaski (Mar), 92. Luke Fisher (Leh), 94. Anthony Tavella (Leh), 104. Matthew Grim (NW), 106. Isaiah Jones (NW), 107. Gage Christ (No. Lehigh), 109. Blade McCabe (Leh), 110. Dalton Keba (NW), 111. Kavan Fitzpatrick (NW), 112. Robert Leiser (NW), 120. Zaccary Roberts (Mar), 125. Henry Kreisl (Mar), 127. Pengcheng Zhang (Leh), 133. Mike Witcczak (Mar), 136. Alex Schwab (Leh), 144. Joseph Delash (Mar).GIRLSTeam1. Downingtown East 61, 2. Owen J. Roberst 90, 3. Twin Valley 108, 4. Pennridge 135, 5. Northwestern Lehigh 157, 14. Lehighton 371.Individuals1. Allana Powletter (Stroudsburg) 19:46.28, 2. Maddy VanBlunk (Downingtown East), 3. Sophie Doman (Palisades), 4. Lexi VanBlunk (Downingtown East), 5. Meghan Bernotas (Owen J. Roberts), 7. Sydney DelVecchio (Parkland), 8. Joyce Michelle (Stoudsburg), 9. Tierra Graham (Twin Valley), 10. Allison Brunton (Owen J. Roberts).Other locals finishers14. Molly Tarvin (NW) 20:52, 17. Madeline Consuelos (NW) 21:04, 29. Nicole Capparell (Mar.) 21:29, 36. Hannah Herzon (NW) 21:46, 41. Rachel Mikols (NW), 44. Cera Gaston (Leh), 68. Brooke Devers (NW), 76. Piper DeMatte (Leh), 84. Elizabeth Fornaug (NW), 94. Paige Stitzel (NW), 96. Sara Hunsicker (NL), 99. Alyssa Smith (Leh), 101. Jonique Pace (Leh), 107. Emily Pulaski (Mar), 114. Maddie Ligenza (NL), 118. Natalia Koniter (Mar), 121. Sarah Laible (Leh), 122. Cheyenne Jacobs (Leh), 124. Mary Grace Collins (Leh).