Connor Hibell could look to the rafters at Palmerton’s gymnasium to see the cross country program’s run of success.

He’s also experienced it first-hand, along with his brother.

Hibell has followed in the footsteps of those that have come before him. But he’s also carved his own path.

The sophomore left an indelible impression on the program - and his competition - this past season.

Hibell was dominant in the Colonial League with a string of success that carried over into the postseason where he won two titles and had a stellar run at the state meet in Hershey.

Those accolades earned Hibell the Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year award.

After helping the Blue Bombers win their first District 11 title in 35 years as a freshman, Hibell became the first Palmerton boy to win a Colonial League title since Zach Svetik in 2015, and the first to capture a district crown since Jake Martinez in 2017.

Hibell leaned on the team’s talented upperclassmen, including his brother, Owen, as a freshman.

“It was pretty nice, because I didn’t go into freshman blind I guess because I had the assistance of all those seniors on the team, like Owen, Dylan (Hartranft), Aaron (Simpson), Jordan (Mann),” said Connor. “And just having them around was kind of like a guide; it made me more prepared for sophomore year.”

And it showed.

Hibell hit the ground running, posting a third-place finish at Moravian’s season-opening Lions Invitational with a 16:57. He followed that performance with a personal best 16:19.3 at Northampton’s Invite the following week.

Those early returns were just the beginning, as Hibell blitzed through the regular season, going 6-0 in Colonial League meets, while recording a third-place result (17:11.7) at the Centaur Invitational, and a ninth-place result (16:31.3) at the Paul Short Invite at Lehigh University.

“You can never count him out,” said Palmerton head coach Mike Horvath, in his second year leading the program after taking over for Bill Zeky. “It seemed like he was an untouchable this year. We went to a couple of invites where he was facing the elite competition, but he’s always prepared. I always try to coach them with the mindset that there’s somebody training harder, working harder and doing better than us. And obviously, in the state there is. So we’re trying to prepare him that we are in a little pond and the competition is a big ocean. And we’re trying to get him ready to go swim out in that ocean.”

Hibell made waves in the postseason. His run to the Colonial League title came in a victory where Hibell crossed the line over 30 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

His time of 17:01.18 was also a significant improvement on the 17:18.39 he clocked at the meet as a freshman. Hibell also joined his dad Jamie as a Colonial League champion. Jamie won both league titles in both 1988 and 1989.

At districts, Connor returned to the course at DeSales University with an even more dominant performance, winning the Class 2A race with a time of 16:47, and again finished nearly 30 seconds ahead of the next runner.

Hibell placed 32nd - just outside a top-25 medal position - at states with a time of 17:09. The performance was an improvement on the 80th-place result from his first trip to Hershey as a freshman.

Despite his success during the regular season and knowing he was a favorite entering the postseason, Hibell never took anything for granted, and entered the meets with the same humble mindset he did for any other competition.

“If you do something that makes you have a lot of success and act kind of boastful about it, then if you fail at something it looks really bad,” said Hibell, who was fourth at districts and fifth at leagues as a freshman. “It’s also not really respectful to be boastful about your accomplishments.

“I didn’t expect to be in the position that I am as a sophomore. I’m not the most vocal leader on the team.”

But Hibell has led by example, setting a model for the underclassmen to follow and a standard for them to strive for. Hibell, along with fellow sophomore and two-time state qualifier Emma Rex, have been a driving force for a program that is continuing to trend upward.

“The thing that impresses me is him being a teammate,” Horvath said of Hibell. “I really think he has positively affected kids that come out for cross country or are just getting into it, to see what he does and they’re kind of like, ‘Wow. This is what you have to be like if you want to be the best. This is what it takes.’

“I think it’s an eye-opener for maybe the younger kids coming on board, and it sets a standard for us, which hopefully we’ve instilled in the program and that we’ve created over the last few years that we can maintain.”

It doesn’t look like Hibell - or Horvath’s Blue Bombers - are going to slow down anytime soon.