NEWVILLE — The girls and boys cross country teams for Chambersburg were able to qualify a total of four runners for the PIAA Championships, but fell short of qualifying for states as a team.
The Trojans competed in Class 3A at the District 3 Championships at Big Spring on Saturday morning.
Lilly Spohn
For the girls, who placed sixth in the team standings, Natalie Quinn captured third place and the other PIAA qualifier was Lilly Spohn, who placed 21st. Boston Vincenti placed seventh for the boys and Liam Coy, who was 39th, also made it to states.
The PIAA Championships are next Saturday, back at Big Spring.
Quinn’s time of 18:17.9 was nearly a full second better than when she raced the same course in an invitational at Big Spring last month. But she was still 35 seconds behind the winner, Julia Leady of Daniel Boone (17:42.8).
“Natalie continues to have one of the best individual seasons in program history, and her third-place finish today was beyond impressive,” Chambersburg coach Chris Monheim said. “She is as tough as they come!”
Spohn also shaved off about a minute from her previous run at Big Spring, finishing in 19:31.0 (earlier it was 20:18.9).
Monheim said, “Lilly had a great race today, just missing out on a district medal (top 20). I’m very proud of what she accomplished and qualifying for states as a sophomore is a big deal.”
Liam Coy
Also for Chambersburg, scorers included Bella Rife (78th, 20:50.3), Taliya Raber (79th, 20:50.5) and Atlea Pereschuk (103rd, 21:11.1), and Maggie Holtry (110th, 21:15.6) and Kaylie Savage (140th, 21:41.3) also competed.
“As a team, we had a good day, but at the district championships you definitely need more than a good day and we were a little off in spots,” Monheim said.
The Trojans scored 256 points. Dallastown won with 74 and the top 4 advanced to states.
Chambersburg’s boys came in ninth in the team chase (Manheim Township won with 103 points), scoring 303. The top five teams qualified for states.
Trojan coach Jim Boyer said, “We knew we could be a top-10 team, but we also knew the teams finishing 4-10 would be close and every place mattered. We just couldn’t get all 5-7 of our guys quite where they needed to be to do that.”
Vincenti crossed the line in a time of 15:54.6, which was just 20 seconds behind the winner, Benjamin Farbman of Dallastown (15:34.0).
Coy turned in a time of 16:37.0. He was followed by scorers Chase Goshorn (82nd, 17:10.9), Cole Lehman (95th, 17:19.6) and Tobias Willson (108th, 17:33.5), and also Aaron Goshorn (150th, 18:01.9) and Ben Lin (151st, 18:02.4).
Boyer said, “Boston has fought to overcome injury all season. He ran boldly from the start, leading the race early on, and then settling into fifth place for much of the race. His seventh-place medal finish, and his first time running a sub-16 race, was our highlight.
“Liam just snuck in as a state qualifier and freshman Chase Goshorn ran a big PR.”
Also in 3A girls, Waynesboro’s Morgan Jones posted a 19:14.6 to take 17th place and qualify for states. Greencastle-Antrim’s top girls were Avery Russell (53rd, 20:22.4) and Lillian Denlinger (130th, 21:34.0).
In boys 3A, Nate Snyder of Waynesboro took 94th in 17:16.4, Liam Feather of Shippensburg placed 117th in 17:40.9. For Greencastle, the top runners were Micah Barrett in 133rd (17:52.4) and Kelson Wenger in 144th (17:59.6).
CLASS A BOYS: Shalom Christian put all five scorers in the top 20 and rolled to a District 3 team championship. The Flames scored 62 points to defeat Anchor Christian with 92, and will compete as a team at states.
Shalom’s scorers included William Davis (10th, 17:44.5), Shay Kane (13th, 17:58.1), Owen Book (15th, 18:08.9), Matthew Davis (18th, 18:19.4) and Lee Metcalf (20th, 18:25.2).
CLASS 2A BOYS: Johnnie Martin of James Buchanan posted a time of 17:12.6 to place 16th and qualify for states. Teammate Isaac Diehl took 25th in 17:27.7. The Rockets were 13th in the team standings.
CLASS 2A GIRLS: James Buchanan had two runners in the top 100 — Gracyn Diehl was 56th (22:18.9) and Bella Helm was 97th (24:12.5).
CLASS A GIRLS: Shalom Christian placed third in the team standings and qualified two runners for states.
Kassidy Hubers was third in 20:32.9 and Ilivia Kearns took 16th in 22:22.1 to reach the PIAA event. Also scoring were Julianna Myers (22nd, 22:54.4), Eliana Rice (23rd, 22:56.8) and Madison Fisler (26th, 23:30.9).
