Knowing there was little room for error, the Lehighton and Tamaqua cross country teams entered Wednesday's Schuylkill League Division I tri-meet with Pine Grove fully prepared for a close contest, where one place in the finishing order could make the difference.

That proved to be the case, as the Tamaqua girls went 2-0 on the strength of Kailee Carroll's narrow victory while the Lehighton boys also went 2-0 as Michael Blacketter earned a convincing win in that race.Carroll, who took first in 22:09 and led from start-to-finish, used a strong start to gain an early advantage in the girls' race.The freshman credited her ability to get out quickly to time she put in over the offseason."I've been working on it a lot since the summer," she noted, "and I know that I have to work harder to keep getting better and to give the team a chance to win."That quick start also proved to be critical in the end, as Lehighton's Jen Beers closed to within four seconds at the finish en route to a second place result in a time of 22:13 to help the Lady Indians go 1-1.The ability to hold off Beers impressed Tamaqua head coach Tom Kanger."If there was one thing she wasn't addressing (early in the season) it was her speed and what she had," the coach said. "And Jenny Beers is fast; she's a track runner. She's very good and she (Carroll) knows that. So for her to be able to get out like that at the start and finish like that against someone of that caliber really means a lot."She's starting to trust her speed, and that was the toughest part. Now she feels like she can go the distance and she's not going to stop at the end."While not quite in the same way, Blacketter also wasted little time getting to the front of the pack in the boys' race.The sophomore made his move once the leaders moved off the track, taking control of the race on the first hill just outside Tamaqua Stadium.Blacketter was never seriously challenged the rest of the way, cruising to the win in an impressive 18:38, 30 seconds ahead of second place Andrew Tite of Tamaqua.Despite the remarkable performance on a tough course, Blacketter was still hoping for more."I just didn't feel like myself today," he said. "Being able to make those passes (up the hill) was a confidence booster because I was trying to get ahead early."I'm happy that I finished first, but I'm not really happy with how I finished."The result was one that Lehighton head coach Erica Pagotto was more than pleased with in a race that could have gone either way after the top two finishers.But like so many other meets this season, the Indians' depth proved to be the difference as the team took six of the first nine positions."I was a little nervous at first with the boys and everything, but they pulled through so that was nice," she said. "We have better numbers this year compared to last year, so we're displacing (other runners) and that definitely helps."Kanger was especially pleased with the improvement Tite has made in recent weeks, despite trailing Blacketter by a substantial margin at the end of Wednesday's race."I was really happy with how Andy did today," Kanger said of Tite, whose runner-up finish helped the Tamaqua boys go 1-1. "He was 30 seconds behind the winner, but he's been running very well."At the DeSales Invitational, he didn't have a good race. So it was good to see him bounce back and run a good time (19:08) for this course. And to know that he's just outside the 18s is very encouraging."BOYSLehighton 24, Tamaqua 34Tamaqua 15, Pine Grove 50 *Lehighton 15, Pine Grove 50 *1. Michael Blacketter (L) 18:38, 2. Andrew Tite (T) 19:08, 3. Luke Fisher (L) 19:10, 4. Joe Nortavage (T) 19:11, 5. Trent Frey (L) 19:13, 6. Adam Melnick (T) 19:49, 7. Joshua Johnson (L) 20:09, 8. Anthony Tavella (L) 20:35, 9. Christopher Martino (L) 20:44, 10. Raymond Kinder (T) 20:57, 11. Devin Steigerwalt (L) 21:35, 12. Alec Roseland (T) 21:54, 13. Pengcheng Zhang (L) 22:29, 14. Troy Frey (L) 22:34, 15. Isaac Miller (T) 22:56.* - Note: Pine Grove did not have enough boys to be eligible for team scoring.GIRLSTamaqua 24, Lehighton 34Tamaqua 15, Pine Grove 49Lehighton 17, Pine Grove 411. Kailee Carroll (T) 22:09, 2. Jenifer Beers (L) 22:13, 3. Nicole Wasserleben (T) 23:19, 4. Cassie Rehnert (L) 23:25, 5. Cera Gaston (L) 23:43, 6. Chelsea Frantz (T) 23:59, 7. Victoria LaBar (T) 24:23, 8. Janette Kabana (T) 25:05, 9. Melanie Kostecky (T) 25:10, 10. Elisa Seip (PG) 25:45, 11. Arianna Ryan (T) 25:48, 12. Genny Beck (T) 27:32, 13. Mary Grace Collins (L) 27:35, 14. Jonique Pace (L) 28:09, 15. Abby Fiorilla (T) 28:42.