HERSHEY - It didn’t take long for Mike Horvath to realize the 2022 season could bring something special for the Palmerton cross country program.

“Our first practice was the Fourth of July, and we had a lot of kids show up,” recalled Horvath, who was hired in July. “I thought, ‘All right, we’ve got a good turnout. They’re into this.’”

It was a good start for the Bombers’ first-year head coach. And it only got better.

Palmerton’s boys enjoyed a run of historic success, capturing the team’s first district title in 35 years, while the girls sent three runners to the state meet.

Having a full boys team and three girls competing at the PIAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday was an accomplishment not lost on Horvath or his runners.

“It’s cool. Once in a while you get a group of kids like this, and everyone’s motivated and has the same end in mind,” said Horvath. “They got here today, and that’s what I was telling them, just have fun. Three quarters of the battle was getting here, and we did it. This was like a celebratory run. If we can get some medals today that’d be great. We didn’t, but that’s OK. We want to get back here again one day as a team and we want to limit that 35-year gap and hopefully make that a smaller gap. And I think that’s the biggest thing, we want to make a program out of this, not a year-by-year thing. We want to make a system.

“I think Palmerton as a whole, if you look at all of our sports, has been doing that in all of our programs.”

Palmerton’s boys placed 16th out of 21 teams in the Class 2A standings Saturday.

The Bombers were led by senior Owen Hibell, who finished 44th.

It’s a special connection for the upperclassmen and his teammates, which includes his brother and freshman Connor Hibell, along with Dylan Hartranft, Jeremy Salvaggio, Jordan Mann, Aaron Simpson and Alex Saas.

“I knew that this year was going to be a good year,” said Owen, who was 87th at states a year ago. “I was injury free pretty much; nothing bad during the summer training. And then Connor started running really well early, and just kept it up and kept getting better with everyone else. We definitely saw at districts that we could win it, and then we went out and did it. We knew there was a chance, but we didn’t know how good that chance was.”

Palmerton freshman Emma Rex, along with senior Natalie Mosier and junior Cora Wentz all competed in the Class 2A girls race.

It was the fourth-straight year for Mosier running at the state meet, while Wentz qualified for the second year in a row.

“We had three girls this year, and they all went to states,” said Horvath. “Next year, we want to get a team, because it was just a sacrilege, a shame that we weren’t able to score this year as a team. It’s frustrating, because I know we would have done really well in some races for sure.

“And I think having Natalie being a senior, she set a level of expectation and is a good role model for an up-and-coming runner like Emma Rex, and Cora is the same way as Natalie, so she’ll be a senior next year, and then when Cora leaves, I have no doubt in my mind that Emma will become that leader as well. If we can just get them some followers, that’s our next step for our girls team. The boys accomplished great things this year, but hopefully next year and the years to come we can do that with the girls program as well.”

The Bomber boys were second at the Colonial League meet, seven points behind Northwestern and finished the regular season with a record of 19-5.

At districts, Palmerton placed five runners in the top 35, Owen and Connor Hibell finishing second and fourth, respectively, followed by Hartranft in 17th, Simpson in 28th and Salvaggio in 31st. The Bombers won their first team title since 1987 with 82 points to top Blue Mountain (94).

“We were coming the entire year, you could tell,” said Owen. “We started winning more and more meets, beating teams we never beat before. We had a close one against Notre Dame the first meet of the year (a 27-28 victory), and then the next time we beat them by a lot (23-32), and that’s something that gave us a lot of confidence. We got fifth at DeSales and beat a lot of big schools. That’s the first time we ever beat Southern Lehigh. That’s what gave us the most confidence I feel like, just getting that trophy was big.”

Connor gained confidence running at the varsity level early on this season.

“I was surprised with my runs at the DeSales Invite, and Bicentennial and Paul Short,” Connor said. “I really surprised myself, because at my first race at Bicentennial, I didn’t think I was going to do that well, and I got a sub 17-minute time for my first race. I didn’t expect that at all.”

The Hibell brothers have progressed steadily throughout their running careers.

“I started youth track in first grade because my grandfather was the coach for the CYO program,” said Owen, a runner-up at this year’s district meet after placing eighth last fall. “And then when he (Connor) got to kindergarten or first grade, he started doing it with me. I did cross country in second grade, too. I never really took it that seriously until sixth grade, that’s when I actually started to figure things out and got a bit better and medaling in races, and that gave me a lot of motivation.

“But I always felt like Connor had that natural talent. From the start, when he was in like second grade, he was medaling in races, and it took me five years more to do that.”

Maybe more than any of his times or results, Connor is just happy to get the chance to run with his brother.

“There’s not too much of a rivalry, because he’s usually pretty far ahead of me most of the time,” smiled Connor. “Owen is a really good brother and someone who sets a good example for me.”

There have been many great role models for Palmerton runners over the years, something that Owen has tried to become for all of his younger teammates.

“I’m thankful for how the program has happened,” said Owen. “When I was in junior high, we had Jake Martinez as a mentor for me, and that really helped. That really showed me what it was like, not to be just a great athlete, but a great student as well as a great person. I couldn’t have done some of the stuff I did without him.

“And just having my family supporting me. We come from a running family. I’m just happy and thankful for all the opportunities I’ve gotten here.”

While it might be Horvath’s first year as the head coach, he knows the program inside and out.

“I was in the first batch of middle school runners at Palmerton,” said Horvath, a 2012 Palmerton graduate. “So I was in the first batch of six-year runners. My uncle Dave Horvath was kind of a Palmerton legend, and then my dad was also a runner as well, so I’ve grown up around it my whole life. I had talent, but I wasn’t like these guys. But I feel like I have a tough mindset; I played basketball, I played baseball, I’m a big sports guy. So I try to teach that tough mindset to them, and I think they’ve really bought in and are invested in it.”

It’s an attitude and approach that has put Palmerton on a path for sustained success.

“No matter what sport, everyone can have a bad day, and that’s why we play the game, that’s why we run, that’s why we do it,” said Horvath. “But hopefully we have a good day. And we did this year. We had a lot of good days.

“Now the mindset with the people returning next year is, ‘We made it to states this year, why can’t we do it again next year?’ We’ll see if we can do it again as a team. We want to continue building up. But there are definitely individuals we expect to be back here next year again, and hopefully the next time we can bring a team, it’s a lot sooner than that 35 years.”