CENTER VALLEY - Connor Hibell continues to surprise himself.

After dominating the regular season, the Palmerton sophomore was unsure if his success would carry over into the postseason.

Hibell was the class of the field at last week’s Colonial League meet.

And he was even better at Wednesday’s District 11 Cross Country Championships.

Hibell controlled the Class 2A race from the early going and never looked back, crossing the line in 16:47 and nearly 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Duke Ebert (17:16) of Allentown Central Catholic.

“It’s pretty special,” said Hibell. “I didn’t really expect to do that well today. It was hot out, I have a lot more competition, so it wasn’t really expected.”

The time was also an improvement of the 17:01 he ran on the same course last week at DeSales, and on an unseasonably warm late October day.

It’s another major achievement in a season that also included an unbeaten record (6-0) in league meets.

“I’m proud of myself,” said Hibell. “I didn’t expect to win leagues and districts. From the start of the season, if you asked from the first summer practice, I would have said, ‘Oh, there’s no way,’ But it’s quite nice.”

Hibell’s big day highlighted an event that saw both the Tamaqua girls and boys teams, as well as the Marian boys, and seven other individuals advance to next week’s PIAA Championships in Hershey.

The Blue Raiders boys and girls were both second in Class 2A competition to secure an automatic team berth, while the Colts had a runner-up finish in Class 1A to advance to states.

Lehighton’s Elijah Pagotto (fifth) and Owen Serfass (14th) qualified as individuals in Class 2A as top-10 finishers not of the teams that qualified.

In the Class 2A girls race, Northwestern’s Sophia Cornell (seventh) and Haley DuBois (ninth) advanced, as did Palmerton’s Emma Rex (12th) and Jim Thorpe’s Aubrey Bonner (13th).

Weatherly’s Carlos Otero qualified for states with a 14th-place finish in the Class 1A race.

On a roll

Hibell has been enjoying unprecedented success this season.

While his run at leagues was a confidence boost to begin the postseason, Hibell knew districts would present a bigger challenge.

“I wanted to get a decent start,” said Hibell, who was fourth at last year’s district meet. “I didn’t expect to take the lead that quickly before even the trail opens. After that first downhill I was with people, and then before the trail started I was first.

“I was a bit worried in the beginning when I took the lead. When you hear people cheering for other kids, they sound a lot closer than they are. So whenever I hear someone cheering for people behind me it’s a little nerve-racking. But by the corn field area I felt pretty confident that it was my race.”

And it was, as Hibell blazed to a fast time on a difficult day.

“I’m really happy with it,” Hibell said of his time. “My goal was just to get under 17:00. It was quite surprising to run that well.”

Now, Hibell will turn his attention to Hershey and his second trip to states, where he was 80th last year with the Blue Bombers qualifying as a team after winning the District 11 Class 2A title.

“I’ve pretty much peaked, so I don’t know if that’s going to affect my performance at states that much,” Hibell said. “Last time I ran there I didn’t do too well. I just hope that I can run better than I did last year at states,”

Running Raiders

Tamaqua’s boys were second in Class 2A with 94 points, while the girls’ runner-up finish came with 81 points.

Levi Kunkel was third with a time of 17:22, while Anthony Marchetti gave the Blue Raiders, who won the Schuylkill League Division 1 title in the regular season, two runners in the top 10 with a ninth-place finish in 17:43, while Jesse Gormley placed 15th (18:08).

“Big shout out to Frankie Carr (of Blue Mountain, who was fourth) who I ran with the whole time,” Kunkel said. “I knew I wasn’t going to have the best race overall, but I was able to stay with him and toward the end tried to break off and pick up as much as I could. After finishing ninth last year, it’s really big for me to move up all those places. I’m really happy about that.”

After a runner-up finish in the team standings at last week’s league meet, Tamaqua head coach Tom Kanger let the result fuel the boys team on Wednesday.

“Coming in, I think if we would have won last week we would have been one of the favorites,” said Kanger. “But not winning, we were actually the underdog and I kept telling them that.”

The depth that helped both squads shine during the regular season was on display Wednesday.

Unbeaten during the regular season in Division 1 and Schuylkill League meet champions, the Tamaqua girls had their top seven finish in the top 36 spots at districts, led by Bailey Pliska (22:51) in 15th and Lila Stegemerten (23:15) and Madelyn Schaefer (23:18) in 18th and 19th, respectively.

The Tamaqua girls finished tied with Allentown Central Catholic with 81 points, but the result of sixth-place runner Samantha Plasha was the difference for the Raiders.

Kanger had praise for each member of the squad, but especially Schaefer.

“My No. 7 girl I just decided to run in varsity because she’s a freshman trying to figure her way through. So we said OK, we’re going to move you up to seventh and move my sophomore back and she ran a JV race last Saturday; I could switch not for a league meet, but for this meet, but I didn’t,” Kanger said of his lineup. “I kept her in, and she was our third runner today. Of people that went crazy and stepped up, my top three girls were freshmen.”

Mighty Marian

The Marian boys were second in Class 1A with 83 points, and led by Albin Petschauer’s runner-up finish in 17:14, Minersville’s Kolin Long used a strong finish to win in 17:07.

“I’m definitely proud of my team,” said Petschauer. “Obviously a little disappointed with my individual placing, but I ran my hardest, gave it all I could. I can’t really get upset at myself over it. I just have to accept it. Hopefully I’ll have another chance at states.”

Petschauer led throughout much of the race but couldn’t shake Long, who went by in the final 50 meters.

“I kind of wanted to push off, get a gap somewhere in the middle of the race,” he said. “But he was just on me the whole time, and it came down to a really close finish and he caught me at the end.

“I wasn’t really thinking about strategy too much; I was just trying to run, stay with him and push.”

In addition to Petschauer, Alex Porambo also placed fifth with a time of 18:07.

The day marked another milestone for the program, which also captured the Schuylkill League Division 2 regular season title.

“Especially Albin and Alex, seeing them being a part of our first junior high program, and now coming to this point, it’s kind of fun to see the seeds that were planted being able to sprout,” said Marian head coach Justin Huegel, “And everybody else that’s come along, the level of improvement from everybody this year has just been unbelievable.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity for next week. This is the highest place for a team in school history. To be able to represent the Schuylkill League along with Minersville (which won the team title with 50 points) in Hershey is pretty exciting.”

Tribe pride

Pagotto continued his tremendous season with a fifth-place finish in 17:29 for the Indians in the 2A boys race.

“I’m really happy,” said Pagotto. “I improved, and I’m happy about that. I just want to keep doing that the next two years as a junior and senior.” The sophomore stayed poised on Wednesday, methodically moving his way into a top-five position.

“The first mile, I would say I was around 10th,” Pagotto said. “The second mile, I was in seventh.

“I try to break 18 (minutes) as much as I can. That’s the time that I like to beat. I like to get in the 17s, and I got that today, so I’m happy about that.”

Owen Serfass also punched his ticket to states with a 14th-place finish in 18:08.

Terrific Tigers

Sophia Cornell qualified for states with a seventh-place finish in 21:37 in the 2A girls race for Northwestern, while Haley DuBois (21:54) placed ninth to advance as the Tigers finished fourth in the team standings with 85 points.

“I’m very happy,” said Cornell. “I was hoping to do a little bit better, this wasn’t a great race for me. But I kind of got done what I wanted to get done. I’m lucky. I’m happy that I made it.”

Cornell did her best to stay in contention throughout the race to make sure she was in position to move on to Hershey. “I started off really quick,” she said. “I was up with Olivia Bortz (of Saucon Valley, who finished second), I was running third for a little bit. Then I dropped back, and then I worked my way back up a little bit again. So I’m glad I got to do that.”

DuBois, in her second year on the team, utilized her training on a difficult course to come away with a top-10 and a spot at the state meet.

“I feel really good today. I think that the hills that we work on during practice really help us,” she said. “And I’m just really happy because it’s my senior year, so I’m just happy I could place. I got 11th last year, so I was really close.”

Headed for Hershey

Rex and Bonner also qualified for states from the Class 2A girls race. Rex placed 12th with a time of 22:24, while Bonner was 13th in 22:33.

In the Class 1A boys race, Otero’s 14th-place result in 18:46 sent the sophomore to states.

“Coming into this race, I was like, ‘I’m just going to do what I can,’” Otero said. “It’s an amazing feeling, honestly. It hasn’t really hit me yet. I’m still letting it sink in.”

DISTRICT 11 CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

AT DESALES UNIVERSITY

BOYS

CLASS 3A

(Top two teams plus 10 individuals not on those teams advance to states)

TEAM SCORES (AND LEGEND)

1. Parkland (P)* 40, 2. Easton (E)* 55, 3. Nazareth (N) 69, 4. Emmaus (Em) 99, 5. Southern Lehigh (SL) 165, 6. Freedom (F) 184, 7. Northampton (Nor) 224, 8. Stroudsburg (S) 227, 9. Liberty (L) 248, 10. PM East (PME) 282, 11. Pleasant Valley (PV) 298, 12. Bangor (B) 332, 13. PM West (PMW) 367, 14. Whitehall (W) 389, 15. ES South (ESS) 413.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(top-10 plus other locals in top-50 and all state qualifiers)

1. Giovanni Mastromona (N)* 16:00, 2. Paul Abeln (P)* 16:23, 3. Dylan Boyle (F)* 16:36, 4. Ethan Willard (P)* 16:48. 5. Colin McGuian (P)* 16:50. 6. Aaron Marcus (E)* 17:08, 7. James Viglianti (E)* 17:10, 8. Evan Guydish (E)* 17:10, 9. JT Cunningham (N)* 17:11. 10. Jacob Barnes (P)* 17:19, 11. Sean Goman (N)* 17:21, 12. Conor Fisher (Em)* 17:24, 13. Sawyer Shepherd (E)* 17:33, 14. Ryan Wack (N)* 17:35, 15. Ryan Fach (Em)* 17:42, 16. Jared Petre (Em)* 17:46. 17. Alden Twist (B)* 17:47, 18. Gregory Rubino (SL)* 17:51, 19. Jorge Rinker (P)* 17:56, 20. Brycen Smith (P)* 17:56, 21. Jayden Garrett (E)* 18:02, 22. Martin Green (PV) 18:03, 23. Jacob Brunetti (E)* 18:03, 24. Tyler Rothrock (P)* 18:07, 40. Xavier Richardson (E)* 18:55, 46. Jason Kays (PV) 19:26.

GIRLS

CLASS 3A

(Top two teams plus 10 individuals not on those teams advance to states)

TEAM SCORES (AND LEGEND)

1. Emmaus (Em)* 43, 2. Easton (E)* 46, 3. Parkland (P) 89, 4. Southern Lehigh (SL) 93, 5. Stroudsburg (S) 154, 6. Nazareth (N) 163, 7. Northampton (Nor) 173, 8. Liberty (L) 194, 9. Whitehall (W) 282.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(top-10 plus other locals in top-50 and all state qualifiers)

1. Madelyn McCartney (Em)* 19:13, 2. Avaline Fihlman (F)* 19:42, 3. Kaya Meier (PMW)* 19:51, 4. Payton Campbell (Em)* 20:22, 5. Lana Hurwitz (P)* 20:29, 6. Sidney Hutt (E)* 20:36, 7. Faith Belote (E)* 20:41, 8. Harshita Rajeshkuma (P)* 20:47, 9. Lama Mahmoud (E)* 20:59, 10. Liv Jusinski (Nor)* 21:01, 11. Lauren Miller (SL)* 21:03, 12. Sydney Curry (S)* 21:04, 13. Caelee Lenhart (SL)* 21:09, 14.Sophia Kovalski (Em)* 21:09, 15. Brooke Miller (Em)* 21:18, 16. Vivian Clark (E)* 21:20, 17. Addison Johnson (Em)* 21:21, 18. Temiloluwa Adebayo (E)* 21:25, 19. Lucy Tobia (P)* 21:37, 20. Kylie Karavitch (N)* 21:51, 22. Nishi Patel (E)* 22:03, 23. Elena Brunetti (E)* 22:06, 26. Isabella Scarlata (Em)* 22:19, 28. Addison Kleinle (Em)* 22:26, 47. Keeley Lawrence (PV) 24:21.

BOYS

CLASS 1A

(Top two teams plus 10 individuals not on those teams advance to states)

TEAM SCORES (AND LEGEND)

1. Minersville (Min)* 50, 2. Marian Catholic (MC)* 83, 3. Lehigh Valley Academy (LV) 101, 4. Nativity (N) 111, 5. Tri-Valley (TV) 121, 6. Bethlehem Christian School (BCS), 7. Moravian (M) 186, 8. Palisades (P) 214, 9. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 228, 10. Salisbury (S) 242, 11. Mahanoy (Mah) 243, 12. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 270, 13. Catasauqua (C)) 285.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(top-10 plus other locals in top-50 and all state qualifiers)

1. Kolin Long (Min)* 17:07, 2. Albin Petschauer (MC)* 17:14, 3. Jared Bowen (LV)* 17:43, 4. Carter Daniel (SH)* 17:54, 5. Alex Porambo (MC)* 18:07, 6. Gavin Varner (LV)* 18:14, 7. Ayden Kurtek (Min)* 18:15, 8. Wyatt Leitzel (TV)* 18:16, 9. Keegan Dube (Min)* 18:23, 10. Joseph Rossi (N)* 18:26, 11. Ayden Zamudio (SV)* 18:38, 12. Matteo Antonucci (Notre Dame ES)* 18:40, 13. William Mayberry (Mah)* 18:45, 14. Carlos Otero (Weatherly)* 18:46, 15. Logan Perzel (Min)* 19:05, 16. Krish Gupta (M)* 19:08, 17. Sebastian Williams (Weatherly) 19:11, 20. Wade Eroh (MC)* 19:24, 23. Johnny Burgess (Min)* 19:51, 27. Raymond Montz (Weatherly) 20:09, 28. Achilles Fitzpatrick (MC)* 20:11, 39. Chase Grier (MC)* 20:34, 46. Jameson Heffron (Min)* 21:01, 55. James Gelatko (MC)* 21:47, 59. Daniel Koury-Schult (Min)* 22:17, 88. Lachlan Segedy (MC)* 24:50.

GIRLS

CLASS 1A

(Top two teams plus 10 individuals not on those teams advance to states)

TEAM SCORES (AND LEGEND)

1. Notre Dame Green Pond (NDGP)* 20, 2. Moravian (M)* 61, 3. Catasauqua (C)) 99, 4. Palisades (P) 106, 5. Marian Catholic (MC) 114, 6. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 123.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(top-10 plus other locals in top-50 and all state qualifiers)

1. Virginia Kraus (M)* 18:10, 2. Katherine Koons (NDGP)* 20:17, 3. Olivia Schweitzer (NDGP)* 20:35, 4. Brenna Hammerstone (NDGP)* 20:59, 5. Ella Schweitzer (NDGP)* 21:04, 6. Anna Schaeffer (Schuylkill Haven) 21:12, 7. Samantha Karwacki (NDGP)* 21:34, 8. Alivia Bear (C))* 21:40, 9. Lauren Bower (NDGP)* 21:48, 10. Emily Batten (Salisbury)* 21:57, 11. Ava Smith (C))* 21:58, 12. Giada Smith (P)* 22:27, 13. Isabella Hughes (Schuylkill Haven)* 22:29, 14. Kylee Senglar (Mahanoy) 22:34, 15. Julia Burgess (Minersville)* 22:38, 16. Alyssa Cook (Minersville)* 22:46, 17. Luna Lopez (M)* 22:52, 18. Felicia Bro (Mahanoy)* 22:58, 19. Delaney Szwast (Northern Lehigh) 23:17, 20. Emma Ashfield (MC) 23:21, 21. Alivia Rieland (NDGP)* 23:29, 24. Emily Gad (Northern Lehigh) 24:47, 28. Ava Noel (M)* 25:55, 29. Olivia Serfass (MC) 26:00, 31. Razavi Lily (M)* 26:14, Jolie Eyvazzadeh (M)* 26:19, 33. Haylie Fenstermaker (Northern Lehigh) 26:40, 36. Kendall Gerhart (Weatherly) 27:22, 39. Leann Villa (M)* 27:57, 45. Ava Fritz (MC) 28:34, 46. Leah Grabosky (MC) 28:53.

BOYS

CLASS 2A

(Top two teams plus 10 individuals not on those teams advance to states)

TEAM SCORES (AND LEGEND)

1. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC)* 74, 2. Tamaqua (T)* 94, 3. Wilson (W) 103, 4. Notre Dame Green Pond (NDGP) 109, 5. Lehighton (L) 143, 6. ES North (ESN) 149, 7. Blue Mountain (BM) 152, 8. Northwestern (NW) 178, 9. Pottsville (P) 239, 10. Jim Thorpe (JT) 282, 11. Palmerton (P) 285, 12. North Schuylkill (NS) 308, 13. Saucon Valley (SV) 333.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(top-10 plus other locals in top-50 and all state qualifiers)

1. Connor Hibell (P)* 16:47, 2. Duke Ebert (ACC)* 17:16, 3. Levi Kunkel (T)* 17:22, 4. Francesco Carr (BM)* 17:25, 5. Elijah Pagotto (L)* 17:29, 6. Gavin Mahon (ACC)* 17:41, 7. Jude Scheidel (BM)* 17:42, 8. Isaiah Sorge (ESN)* 17:42, 9. Anthony Marchetti (T)* 17:43, 10. Jordan Smith (NDGP)* 17:44, 11. Jeffrey Sunderlin (W)* 12. Oliver Galicki (ESN)* 18:01, 13. Gustavo Mora (ESN)* 18:02, 14. Owen Serfass (L)* 18:08, 15. Jesse Gormley (T)* 18:08, 16. Greyson Wellings (NW) 18:09, 17. Thomas Grubb (ACC) 18:10, 20. Xander Giandomenico (NW) 18:18, 22. Pat McMurtrie (ACC)* 18:21, 25. Sean Kershner (NW) 18:34, 27. Thomas Scheidel (ACC)* 18:41, 30. Stephen Kieffer (T)* 18:46, 32. Will Haring (ACC)* 18:51, 34. Ben Keenan (ACC)* 18:56, 35. Kyle Kuznicki (L) 18:57, 36. Bradley Yenser (L) 18:59, 37. Jathan Krall (T)* 19:06, 38. Adam Schock (T)* 19:09, 41. Bowden Chicarelli (JT) 19:18, 49. Gabriel Wirth (JT) 19:34, 50. Brody Boyce (T)* 19:36.

GIRLS

CLASS 2A

(Top two teams plus 10 individuals not on those teams advance to states)

TEAM SCORES (AND LEGEND)

1. Saucon Valley (SV)* 59, 2. Tamaqua (T)* 81, 3. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 81, 4. Northwestern (NW) 85, 5. Pottsville (P) 148, 6. Wilson (W) 148, 7. Bangor (B) 153, 8. Blue Mountain (BM) 157, 9. ES North (ESN) 264, 10. Pen Argyl (PA) 266.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

(top-10 plus other locals in top-50 and all state qualifiers)

1. Avery Errico (W)* 20:24, 2. Olivia Bortz (SV)* 20:52, 3. Addison Priestaf (B)* 21:15, 4. Lucy Scheidel (BM)* 21:26, 5. Cate Haring (ACC)* 21:31, 6. Madison Eroh (P)* 21:35, 7. Sophia Cornell (NW)* 21:37, 8. Isabella Johnstone (SV)* 21:46, 9. Haley DuBois (NW)* 21:54, 10. Bridget Steidle (SV)* 22:02, 11. ClaraRose Deisher (ACC)* 22:19, 12. Emma Rex (Palmerton)* 22:24, 13. Aubrey Bonner (JT)* 22:33, 14. Stacy Bos (JT) 22:38, 15. Bailey Pliska (T)* 22:51, 16. Fiona Stern (SV)* 22:53, 18. Lila Stegemerten (T)* 23:15, 19. Madelyn Schaefer (T)* 23:18, 20. Devon Heinly (NW) 23:19, 22. Cali Frantz (T) 23:23, 23. Kellcey Pedron (NW) 23:24, 26. Mollie Walker (T)* 23:34, 30. Janiah Welsh (SV)* 23:47, 35. Samantha Plasha (T)* 24:10, 36. Isabella Jones (T)* 24:13, 37. Ruth Sterner (SV)* 24:23, 38. Cora Wentz (Palmerton) 24:24, 39. Fabienne McCullagh (SV)* 24:24, 40. Katie Griffith (NW) 24:38, 45. Ava Smedstad (NW) 24:58.

* - State qualifier