BETHLEHEM - Pleasant Valley junior Seth Slavin took plenty from last year's inaugural Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) Cross Country Meet, particularly the final stretch at Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course that has given him some trouble.

After spending plenty of time back on the course last Friday, Slavin and the rest of the Pleasant Valley cross country team worked on various aspects of the terrain. It certainly showed that workout paid off.Slavin (16:22.42) finished as runner-up in Tuesday's EPC cross country championships behind champion Kevin Lapsanky of Easton. Fredom's William Alpaugh came in third place, while Slavin's teammate, Gabe Sullivan, came in fifth place with a time of 17:03.07."The last two years that I've run this course, I've fallen apart and I'm not afraid to admit it," Slavin said. "I know where it happened, coming into the straightaway coming into the big tree here before we came to the finish. Every year I'd fall apart there. When we came here to do the workout, I made sure to do a bunch of quick stuff on there."During that workout not even a week ago, Slavin focused on five different areas of the course, from the opening hill to the big stretches midway through the course. But for Slavin, that final stretch is the most mentally tested phase of them all."As we started off in the race, I told myself this was just like the workout we did here," Slavin said. "I started imagining myself as I was doing the workout where we had to go twice through all these different parts of the course."While Slavin finished as the top Bear, Sullivan's finish may have been the most surprising of them all. For a runner that placed 40th a year ago, Sullivan had his eyes set on perhaps cracking the top 10."I was not expecting to come in fifth place. I wanted to finish in the top 10," Sullivan said. "It turned out pretty well. I pushed it. My coach was cheering me on and all of my teammates were too."With a strong field in front of him, Sullivan knew that it would take a quick start. His first two miles were as good as anyone's, which led to Sullivan passing a number of runners in the final three-quarter mile."I knew I had to hit at the two-mile mark below 11:00," Sullivan said. "And I did that, I was at like a 10:47. At that point, I knew that I was going to do pretty well. I was just keeping my head up and trying to close some gaps that were ahead of me."Jen Mickens paced the Pleasant Valley girls with a time of 20:24.46, good enough for an 18th-place finish. Lizz Eberhardt, who finished 10th in last year's league meet, came in two places behind Mickens in 20:34.59.Liberty's Raisa Kochmaruk repeated as EPC champion in a time of 18:52.94, the only sub-19:00 finish in the girls' field. Easton's Diana Hammerstone and Stroudsburg's Allana Powlette rounded out the top three finishers.CONSISTENCY IS KEY: After winning the final Mountain Valley Conference championship meet as a freshman, Slavin placed fourth in last season's inaugural EPC Meet. His second-place finish on Tuesday marks his third league medal in as many seasons.LEAPING TO THE FRONT OF THE PACK: Sullivan's medal day was 35 places ahead of last year's finish. Mickens also made a big leap, jumping to 18th place after finishing outside the top 40 in 2014.MAKE IT FOUR STRAIGHT: Lapsanky's first-place finish was the fourth straight season an Easton runner has won the league meet. Colin Abert won the previous three conference meets, including the final two Lehigh Valley Conference (LVC) titles.BOYSTEAM1. Parkland (Park) 42, 2. Easton (Eas) 51, 3. Emmaus (Emm) 118, 4. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 147, 5. Pleasant Valley (PV) 154, 6. Freedom (F) 169, 7. Stroudsburg (Str) 171, 8. Liberty (Lib) 197, 9. Nazareth (Naz) 300, 10. East Stroudsburg South (ESS) 307, 11. Bethlehem Catholic (BC) 309, 12. Northampton (Nor) 357, 13. Whitehall (W) 387, 14. Dieruff (D) 418, 15. East Stroudsburg North (ESN) 420, 16. Pocono Mountain East (PME) 475, 17. Pocono Mountain West (PMW) 498, 18. Allen (A) 523.INDIVIDUAL(Top five plus locals)1. Kevin Lapsanky (Eas) 16:09.52, 2. Seth Slavin (PV), 3. William Alpaugh (F), 4. Daniel Kyvelos (Park), 5. Gabe Sullivan (PV), 31. Billy Milburn (PV), 63. Bryan Iadisernia (PV), 67. Keith Staats (PV), 80. Angelo Mesce (PV), 84. Luke Valdevit (PV), 92 Seth Kron (PV).GIRLSTEAM1. Easton (Eas) 52, 2. Stroudsburg (Str) 84, 3. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 116, 4. Emmaus (Emm) 117, 5. Parkland (Park) 147, 6. Liberty (Lib) 156, 7. Pleasant Valley (PV) 192, 8. Northampton (Nor) 207, 9. Bethlehem Catholic (BC) 221, 10. Freedom (F) 260, 11. Whitehall (W) 265, 12. Nazareth (Naz) 314, 13. Pocono Mountain East (PME) 377, 14. East Stroudsburg South (ESS) 417, 15. Pocono Mountain West (PMW) 465, 16. Allen (A) 478, 17. Dieruff (D), 18. East Stroudsburg North (ESN).INDIVIDUAL(Top five plus locals)1. Raisa Kochmaruk (Lib) 18:52.64, 2. Diana Hammerston (Eas), 3. Allana Powlette (Str), 4. Rachel Davalos (PM), 5. Katie Bacher (Emm), 18. Jen Mickens (PV), 20. Lizz Eberhardt (PV), 34. Megan Braddock (PV), 67. Savannah Bauman (PV), 71. Tierney Belanger (PV), 83. Shelbi Jones (PV), 96. Sarah Larkin (PV).