Humidity is hardly a friend to cross country runners.

But watching Weatherly freshman Mikayla Pugh perform Wednesday, with temperatures soaring above 80 degrees, it hardly seemed to matter.

Pugh continued her impressive first high school season, leading the Wreckers to a sweep of Nativity, Shenandoah Valley and Tri-Valley in a Schuylkill League Division II meet.

Weatherly defeated Nativity 13-23, edged Shenandoah Valley 29-30 and topped Tri-Valley 25-30 to remain undefeated at 8-0 in the division.

Pugh led the way, winning the race in 22:09 and lowering her previous best on the course by 12 seconds.

“I was trying to get out to a big lead, because the girls from Tri-Valley are getting better than they did two weeks ago here,” Pugh said of her strategy, “and beat my own personal best here.”

She did just that.

Right behind Pugh were two other Weatherly freshmen, Mikayla Kuntz (23:05) and Emma Moyer (23:11), giving the Wreckers a sweep of the top three spots.

Tri-Valley junior Anna Cook finished fourth in 23:31.

The performance was even more impressive considering Weatherly competed with just four runners, including Riley Bachert, as injuries have taken a toll on the Wreckers’ roster.

Pugh was particularly concerned about Cook entering the race.

“She’s a junior, and I know she has more experience than me,” Pugh said.

Shenandoah Valley provided Weatherly’s biggest challenge in the team competition, with the Wreckers prevailing by just one point. The Blue Devils were led by Valeria Hernandez (25:27), Brooklyn Gradwell (25:47), Ruby Ruiz (26:04) and Vittoria Hernandez (26:25).

“Division II was big to get the three wins today,” said Ryan Kately, the architect of the Weatherly cross country program.

Kately said his team is pointing toward Schuylkill Haven as a major remaining challenge.

“Oh, we’re not overlooking Nativity or Gillingham (Charter) next week, but we get a bit of a breather before (Haven),” Kately said.

Pugh’s success has been built on plenty of offseason work.

“I trained all summer, six out of seven days a week,” she said.

Her goals extend beyond the regular season.

“I wanted to get a higher (seed) for the leagues and districts,” Pugh said. “I want to get ready for the higher competition.”

Kately has been impressed by the contributions of his young runners.

“Every meet they come to (run), I can’t tell (what they’re thinking), but every meet they’ve come up huge for us,” Kately said of his group of freshmen.

On the boys side, Nativity controlled the meet, defeating Weatherly 15-47, Shenandoah Valley 15-47 and Tri-Valley 15-50.

The Hilltoppers swept the first five places behind Wyatt Hylka (18:37), Shane Meyer (19:05), Nash Stehr (19:06), Kyle McCormick (19:11) and Jacob Bowman (19:22).

Weatherly’s Alex Best finished sixth in 19:35, while teammate Khrystian Rivera was 10th in 20:14.

The Wreckers fell to Shenandoah Valley 25-30, but defeated Tri-Valley 15-50 to finish the meet 1-2 and move to 3-6 in Division II.

COOL … Like most runners, Pugh would prefer cooler temperatures.

“I breathe better and I run faster,” she said.

FOCUSED … Kately knows another challenge is on the horizon.

“(Haven) is the big challenger (for our girls), but we beat them before, but we’re pretty battered with injuries,” he said.

BOUNCED BACK … Kately praised Kuntz, who suffered a deep knee gash at Mahanoy Area.

“She gutted it out to (help us) get the win,” Kately said.

EYING IT UP … It’s been 26 years since a Weatherly girls team won a division championship. Kately knows nothing is promised and is taking it week by week.

GIRLS

Weatherly 13, Nativity 23

Weatherly 29, Shenandoah Valley 30

Weatherly 25, Tri-Valley 30

Shenandoah Valley 21, Tri-Valley 40

Tri-Valley 19, Nativity 36

Shenandoah Valley 20, Nativity 43

1. Mikayla Pugh (W) 22:09, 2. Mikayla Kuntz (W) 23:05, 3. Emma Moyer (W) 23:11, 4. Anna Cook (TV) 23:31, 5. Catherine Marinchak (N) 24:29, 6. Valeria Hernandez (SV) 25:27, 7. Brooklyn Gradwell (SV) 25:47, 8. Ruby Ruiz (SV) 26:04, 9. Vittoria Hernandez (SV) 26:25, 10. Vivian Fetterolf (TV) 26:27, 11. Kimberly Olaya (SV) 26:32, 12. Litzy Salguero (SV) 26:55, 13. Brigette Carmen (SV) 26:56, 14. Tessa Wetzel (TV) 27:04, 15. Sigeris Nunez (SV) 27:58.

BOYS

Nativity 15, Weatherly 47

Shenandoah Valley 25, Weatherly 30

Weatherly 15, Tri-Valley 50

Shenandoah Valley 15, Tri-Valley 50

Nativity 15, Tri-Valley 50

Nativity 15, Shenandoah Valley 47

1. Wyatt Hylka (N) 18:37, 2. Shane Meyer (N) 19:05, 3. Nash Stehr (N) 19:06, 4. Kyle McCormick (N) 19:11, 5. Jacob Bowman (N) 19:22, 6. Alex Best (W) 19:35, 7. Gabriel Saba (SV) 19:44, 8. Daniel Kim (N) 19:48, 9. Angel Flores (SV) 19:59, 10. Khrystian Rivera (W) 20:14, 11. Brady Loftus (N) 20:51, 12. Cristo Kalikiewicz (N) 21:11, 13. Javier Arias Granados (SV) 21:12, 14. Jericho Pimentel (SV) 21:37, 15. Preston McCormick (N) 21:43.