NEWVILLE — Chambersburg entered Saturday afternoon’s District 3 Class 3A girls cross country race ranked No. 3 in the state.

Camryn Kiser

But the Trojans won’t even get to compete in the PIAA meet as a team because they ended up fifth in a crowded field, just one spot below qualifying.

“Initially, I was almost in shock that we didn’t make it,” Chambersburg coach Chris Monheim said. “I didn’t think we won, but I thought we’d be a close second or third. Getting 173 points almost always gets you in.”

Only 21 points separated the top five teams — Carlisle won with 152, followed by Mechanicsburg (157), Dallastown (163), Hershey (168) and the Trojans (173). None of the three teams ranked in the top 10 in the state going in — Chambersburg, Northeastern and Wilson — made it to states.

“I kept saying if we were a little off, we might not make it,” Monheim said. “We did not have a disastrous race, but some girls were just a little off their best.”

Camryn Kiser raced to a ninth-place finish, crossing the line in 18:52.8, 52 seconds behind the winner, Sophia Toti of Carlisle. The Trojans’ Olivia Rieck placed 22nd in 19:29.6, and she and Kiser qualified for states as individuals.

Keira Whitehead (31st, 19:46.9) and Maddie Kinton (32nd, 19:48.0) just missed qualifying for states — they were the first two runners out.

Also for Chambersburg, Anna DeGrange was 80th in 20:44.0, Abigail Bricker was 88th in 20:57.7 and Emma Armstrong was 102nd in 21:15.0.

“Six of our top seven are back next year, so this should be something they will remember,” Monheim said.

In the boys 3A race, Chambersburg placed eighth as a team and also put two runners into the PIAA meet — Brayden Boyd and Zack Yourkavitch.

Brayden Boyd

“I thought we did as well as we could do,” Trojan coach John Ambrosio said. “We had two seniors, a junior and four sophomores, and two underclassmen will run at states. That’s pretty good considering we lost two of our top three runners by injury.”

Boyd finished ninth in 16:17.7 and Yourkavitch was 29th in 16:42.9.

“Zack was 31st coming down the stretch and he passed a couple of guys with his kick,” Ambrosio said. “He made it by about 2 seconds. And I was really happy with Brayden — it’s been a long time since we had a junior finish that high.”

Also for the Trojans, Justin Maxwell took 52nd (17:01.8), Karter Reath was 87th (17:22.6) and Ian Brechbiel was 109th (17:35.9).

Shippensburg had a good day in the boys race, placing sixth in the team standings.

For the Hounds, Hayden Hunt placed fourth in 16:12.0 and Elias Spence was right behind in fifth in 16:13.8, and both qualified for states.

Also for Ship, Elijah Shively (72nd, 17:12.9), Todd Melisauskas (93rd, 17:27.1) and Kyle Buchheister (96th, 17:29.7) were in the top 100.