Just one spot.

That's all Jim Thorpe's Dylan Bucior and the Tamaqua girls cross country team needed a year ago to capture Schuylkill League championships.The runner-up results provided both with ample motivation throughout the summer months and during the regular season to put in the time necessary to have a chance to win a title at the end-of-the-season all-league meet.The hard work paid off, as both Bucior and the Lady Raiders left Tuscarora State Park with the hardware they narrowly missed out on a year ago."It means a lot," said Bucior, whose victory gave the Olympians three consecutive individual champions after Johnathan Condly had won the previous two meets. "It's great. It's really exciting."Bucior didn't leave anything on the course, crossing the line with a time of 16:27, well ahead of North Schuylkill's Chris McCormick, who took second in 17:05."From the beginning of the season, this was one of my goals, to win a Schuylkill League championship," the senior said. "I was nervous coming in - I always expect competition, I certainly don't expect to just win right off the bat, so I was really nervous. But I was also really excited to run."Bucior, who joined the team almost a month into the season in 2014, has come a long way under head coach Drew Benyo."I didn't expect much," said Bucior. "I just really liked running so I came out and gave it a shot. I liked it and decided to stick with it. But I never thought I'd be here. I never thought I'd be where I am now at all."After watching Bucior taking 26th overall with a time of 20:10 in the Hurricane Invitational at Schuylkill Haven last September as Jim Thorpe's seventh runner, Benyo wasn't quite sure what to expect either."We'll take anybody, obviously," Benyo said. "But he's worked his rear-end off. He's worked and worked and worked and saw the potential. I saw the potential, and Dylan obviously knew what he could do."I don't know if he ever thought he would be up here where he is. But he's believed in himself and he's believed in the program and I can't thank him enough for that. It means the world to me."Lehighton's Michael Blacketter improved on his fourth-place finish from a year ago with a third place result (17:11) in his second Schuylkill League meet. Though the time was slightly slower than last year's 17:06, the junior was pleased with the progress he's made since that race."I'm pretty happy with how I did," he said. "I've run faster here, but I'm still really thrilled with how I did."Trent Frey gave the Indians two in the top five with a fourth-place finish (17:21).The team title for the Tamaqua girls, who topped Blue Mountain 43-76, provided some redemption for the Lady Raiders after last year's distant second place finish to the Lady Eagles (41-113)."At the beginning of the season we talked about just getting the opportunity to come up here and say we were in the running for this, because last year we kinda got stomped on," said Tamaqua head coach Tom Kanger. "It was nice to be able to come back and be able to perform today."The Lady Raiders were paced by sophomore Kailee Carroll's fourth-place finish (20:31), an improvement on last year's place (seventh) and time (20:58)."It feels amazing just to be fourth out of everyone here," said Carroll. "It's a great feeling. I just gave it all that I had."Blue Mountain took two of the top three spots, led by Caroline Rickard's victory (19:43) and Courtney Dukmen's third place (20:24). But Tamaqua was able to offset those results with Sarah Maue (seventh), Monika Shimko (eighth), Nicole Wasserleben (ninth) and Chelsea Frantz (15th) all coming in before the Lady Eagles' third runner, Shannon Henninger, who took 22nd."We have some really good front-runners, but they might not be right at the front of the pack," said Kanger. "So the importance of them actually having a pack and running as a group is very critical for them to be able to succeed as a team."They've really taken that to heart, and you can see that's pretty much the way it is. They're always with each other; working with each other. If you move the pack up far enough, good things happen."Marian freshman Nicole Capparell split Rickard and Dukmen to earn an impressive second place finish (20:17) with a late surge on a course she was somewhat familiar with having competed in the annual Truskey Run, also held at Tuscarora."I felt pretty good," she said. "It was definitely pretty hot, and the hill at the beginning was hard, but it was good."It was good knowing where a lot of the hills were and where to push it, which really helped."Capparell's sister, Tina, the defending champion, took fifth (20:41), while Jim Thorpe's Delana Nalesnik took sixth (20:45).BUT FIRST. ... Lehighton and Tamaqua enjoyed a great deal of success prior to the start of the varsity races. The Indians' Gavin Sherer won the JV race in 19:17, while Alec Roseland took third (19:42) for the Raiders and Jason Montemuro placed fifth for the Olympians. The Tamaqua girls captured the junior high team title with 22 points to North Schuylkill's 43 and were led by Brianna Dumond (third) and Francine Kabana (fourth).NOT MEANT TO BE. ... No course records were broken on what proved to be an unseasonably warm day, with temperatures hovering in the mid-70s. The course record for the boys is 15:17, set by North Schuylkill's Brandon Shearn in 2012. Paige Stoner of Pottsville holds the girls' mark at 17:53, set in 2013.BOYSTEAM1. North Schuylkill (NS) 54, 2. Lehighton (L) 62, 3. Blue Mountain (BM) 92, 4. Jim Thorpe (JT) 92, 5. Tamaqua (T) 92, 6. Mahanoy Area (MA) 156, 7. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 209, 8. Marian Catholic (MC) 224, 9. Weatherly (W) 248, 10. Minersville (M) 257, 11. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 261, 12. Columbia Montour Vo-Tech (CMVT) 363.INDIVIDUAL(Top five plus locals)1. Dylan Bucior (JT) 16:27, 2. Chris McCormick (NS), 3. Michael Blacketter (L), 4. Trent Frey (L), 5. Thomas Levkulic (BM), 6. Adam Melnick (T), 7. Joe Nortavage (T), 8. Brad Clemson (T), 9. Jared Hinkle (W), 12. Anthony Tavella (L), 14. Ben Saxon (JT), 15. Jian Gentile (JT), 20. Luke Fisher (L), 23. Blade McCabe (L), 24. Aaron Srinivasan (MC), 26. Andrew Tite (T), 27. Chris Valdez (JT), 30. Eddie Pulaski (MC), 34. Alex Schwab (L), 36. Sam Hydro (JT), 43. Pengcheng Zhang (L), 47. Raymond Kinder (T), 49. Zaccary Roberts (MC), 52. Joel Hinkle (W), 54. Nick Berger (W), 56. Blake Kilmer (JT), 58. Noah Rodgers (JT), 59. Derian Stianche (T), 60. Anthony Micholik (Panther Valley), 63. Isaac Miller (T), 65. Henry Kreisl (MC), 66. Joseph Delash (MC), 69. Tharon Brewer (W), 72. Michael Witczak (MC), 77. Derek Houser (W), 83. Anthony Maguschak (W).GIRLSTEAM1. Tamaqua (T) 43, 2. Blue Mountain (BM) 76, 3. Jim Thorpe (JT) 135, 4. Lehighton (L) 141, 5. Minersville (M) 147, 6. Marian Catholic (MC) 155, 7. Pine Grove (PG) 167, 8. North Schuylkill (NS) 193, 9. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 211, 10. Mahanoy Area (MA) 213, 11. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 251, 12. Weatherly (W) 293.INDIVIDUAL(Top five plus locals)1. Caroline Rickard (BM) 19:43, 2. Nicole Capparell (MC), 3. Courtney Dukmen (BM), 4. Kailee Carroll (T), 5. Tina Caparell (MC), 6. Delana Nalesnik (JT), 7. Sarah Maue (T), 8. Monika Shimko (T), 9. Nicole Wasserleben (T), 13. Piper Dematte (L), 14. Cera Gaston (L), 15. Chelsea Frantz (T), 16. Melanie Shimko (T), 17. Kayley Kovac (JT), 24. Victoria Labar (T), 33. Jonique Pace (L), 34. Alyssa Smith (L), 35. Kylee Gahman (JT), 38. Payton Kovac (JT), 42. Natalia Konitzer (MC), 46. Kailee Romanchik (JT), 48. Emily Pulaski (MC), 50. Abigail Hernandez (W), 51. Sophie Monbussin (JT), 55. Sarah Laible (L), 61. Kimberly Harrison (W), 62. Cheyenne Meckes (JT), 71. Mary Grace Collins (L), 72. Kristina Matunis (MC), 73. Megan Peifer (W), 78. Deanna Stolpe (W), 81. Emily Reinoehl (MC), 83. Cheyenne Jacobs (L), Morgan Gower (W).