BETHLEHEM - Jake Martinez knew Wayne Reilly was coming.

He could feel it.

If Martinez was going to leave the District 11 Cross Country Championships with a gold medal, the Palmerton junior needed to go.

He did.

With Reilly breathing down his neck, Martinez produced a sensational kick to hold off the defending class A champion from Tri-Valley, crossing the line in 17:19.48, just ahead of Reilly (17:20.91).

“That was honestly th hardest I’ve ever had to kick in my life,” Martinez said of the finish. “That was brutal.”

Martinez was well aware of what Reilly was capable of coming to the finish.

“It was really scary, honestly, because I know he has a really good kick, too,” said Martinez. “So it was just gut it all out there. I was out of gas, and it was just pure suffering there, and just working as hard as I could.”

The second half of the race is something Martinez has focused on throughout the season. It showed on Wednesday.

“It was phenomenal. It went right according to my race plan once again,” Martinez said. “I took a nice, easy first half, and just slowly reeled him (Reilly) in through the second half. He put together a stellar race, too, and I wouldn’t have run as good of a race if it wasn’t for him.”

Now, the Palmerton junior is a district champion.

“It feels phenomenal because I worked so hard this season,” said Martinez, who was fifth last year. “It’s been a really long season of training. I’ve worked so hard. And to payoff like this, a great day, is just phenomenal.”

Weatherly’s Scotty Zoscin wasn’t far behind Martinez and Reilly. Zoscin finished the race in 17:41.29 to punch his ticket to next week’s state meet.

“Coming out here today, I really thought I was gonna win it,” the freshman said. “But these guys are more experienced. There’s nothing more I can ask for. I’m going to states, so that’s still a wonderful feeling.”

After a runner-up finish at last week’s Schuylkill League championships, where Reilly was fifth, Zoscin had plenty of momentum. But he didn’t know about Martinez.

“Coming into the day, I knew how Reilly was; he’s an excellent runner,” Zoscin said. “I thought I’d have the upper-hand on him today. But Martinez is a really good runner. I never ran against him before, so I was asking people all around me how he was. And it turns out he’s a really good runner, too, same with Reilly.”

Now, Zoscin will know what to expect at the PIAA Cross Country Championships in Hershey.

“I’m going to try to get him at states, though,” he said with a smile.

Martinez and Zoscin highlighted a strong day for Times News area runners.

In the Class 2A race, a trio of area runners advanced to next week’s state meet. Northwestern’s Robert Leiser and Phillip Castrine, along with Jim Thorpe’s Sammy Hydro, will all be making the trip to Hershey.

Leiser qualified for the state meet for the third time with a fifth-place finish.

“It’s nice to go back again,” said Leiser. “I kind of know what I’m doing. It gets better every time. So this time, I hope I do a little better than last time. Just hoping to improve again.”

The senior was third at the district meet last year.

“I wasn’t really sure,” Leiser said of his expectations for this season. “I was hoping somewhere in the top-10. But the competition got so much better, I wasn’t exactly sure what was gonna happen. But I’m happy with fifth.”

Hydro’s sixth place was a solid improvement after finishing 20th at last year’s district meet, when he earned the 10th and final non-team state qualifying berth.

It might not have been as dramatic. But for Hydro, it was just as exciting.

“I was really looking forward to probably getting a top-10 this year,” the junior said. “So I was expecting to go (to states) again, but it’s still very exciting.”

After last year’s experience, Hydro has had a cool demeanor this season.

“Just from all these other races, I’ve been a lot more calm with the races,” he said. “I don’t get nervous, really, anymore. I just kind of try to stay at task, and know what I wanna get.”

Like Hydro, Castrine will be going to states for the second year in a row.

“I didn’t come out with a medal,” said Castrine, who was 12th. “But I’m always happy to qualify and have another week.”

Pleasant Valley’s Ryan Murphy (11th) and Luke Valdevit (13th) qualified for states out of the Class 3A race.

“I can’t even begin to describe it,” said Valdevit. “I was aiming for top-10. And I just couldn’t stop thinking, top-10, top-10. But at the end of the day, if you give 100 percent, you can’t really do any better than that.

“So I was happy with the effort. I couldn’t be more excited about going to states for the first time.”

ANOTHER ONE

... After winning the Colonial League meet last week, Southern Lehigh’s Colin Cramer added another gold medal to his collection Wednesday when he finished first in the Class 2A race.

SWEEP

... Mahanoy Area (1A) and Easton (3A) won the boys and girls team titles in their respective classifications.

District 11 Cross Country

Championships

BOYS

Class 3A

Team scores and legend

1. Easton (E) 46*, 2. Parkland (P) 61*, 3. Stroudsburg (S) 95, 4. Emmaus (E) 138, 5. Pleasant Valley (PV) 141, 6. Liberty (L) 153, 7. Southern Lehigh (SL) 164, 8. Nazareth (N) 186, 9. Freedom (F) 204, 10. Bangor (B) 231, 11. Pocono Mountain East (PME) 323, 12. Northampton (No) 338. 13. Dieruff (D) 387, 14. East Stroudsburg South (ESS) 407, 15. Whitehall (W) 442, 16. Allen (A) 485, 17. Pocono Mountain West (PMW) 489.

Individual results

(Top-5 plus other locals)

1. Colin Cramer (SL) 16:30.53*, 2. Sean Guydish (E) 16:44.70*, 3. Nicholas Bower (P) 16:45.78*, 4. Riley Williamson (P) 16:50.03*, 5. Cosmo Cardone (E) 16:55.23*, 11. Ryan Murphy (PV) 17:20.24*, 13. Luke Valdevit (PV) 17:24.56*, 31. Leo Hoppe (PV) 18:03.73, 41. Keith Staats (PV) 18:18.58, 45. Louis DiFusco (PV) 18:23.92.

Class 2A

Team scores and legend

1. Notre Dame GP (NDGP) 51*, 2. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 87*, 3. Saucon Valley (SV) 118, 4. North Schuylkill (NS) 124, 5. Northwestern (NW) 160, 6. Blue Mountain (BM) 172, 7. Jim Thorpe (JT) 220, 8. Pen Argyl (PA) 250, 9. Tamaqua (T) 272, 10. Northern Lehigh (NL) 286, 11. Wilson (W) 301, 12. Palisades (Pal) 315, 13. Pine Grove (Pine) 334, 14. Lehighton (L) 347, 15. Salisbury (S) 354. 16. Bethlehem Catholic (BC) 392, 17. Catasauqua (C) 463.

Individual results

(Top-5 plus other locals in top 50)

1. John Koons (NDGP) 16:42.69*, 2. Ethan Bernstein (SV) 17:11.37*, 3. Sheamus Hammerstone (NDGP) 17:17.66*, 4. Matthew Chaikowsky (SV) 17:22.12*, 5. Robert Leiser (NW) 17:30.37*, 6. Samuel Hydro (JT) 17:33.61*, 12. Phillip Castrine (NW) 17:43.35*, 21. Brad Clemson (T) 18:16.37, 23. Preston Kemery (NL) 18:23.79, 33. Nujai Walcott (JT) 18:44.54, 41. Chris Valdez (JT) 19:03.03, 43. Joseph Pleban (NW) 19:09.43, 44. Anthony Tavella (L) 19:11.22, 45. Derian Stianche (T) 19:13.84, 48. Randal Zack (NW) 19:17.57.

Class 1A

Team scores and legend

1. Mahanoy Area (M) 47*, 2. Notre Dame East Stroudsburg (NDES) 68, 3. Moravian Academy (MA) 87, 4. Palmerton (P) 141, 5. Marian Catholic (MC) 142, 6. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 142, 7. Weatherly (W) 183, 8. Minersville (Min) 210, 9. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 217, 10. Tri-Valley (TV) 225.

Individual results

(Top-5 plus other locals in top 50)

1. Jake Martinez (P) 17:19.48*, 2. Wayne Reilly (TV) 17:20.91*, 3. Scotty Zoscin (W) 17:41.29*, 4. Andrew Beers (NDES) 18:01.15*, 5. Hunter Zahm (MA) 18:12.69*, 10. Brandon Stasulli (MC) 18:44.75, 22. Aaron Srinvasan (MC) 19:32.13, 28. Eddie Pulaski (MC) 20:03.23, 30. Joel Hinkle (W) 20:12.72, 31. Anthony Maguschak (W) 20:10.44, 32. Kory Marlatt (P) 20:16.08, 33. Trent Geist (P) 20:22.77, 34. Tim Maradeo (P) 20:25.42, 38. Zaccary Roberts (MC) 20:54.61, 41. Colby Moyer (P) 21:00.46, 44. Justen Arriaga (MC) 21:18.07, 47. Joseph Delash (MC) 21:38.79.

* - state qualifier.