Knowing they didn't have the firepower to compete with the state's top cross country teams, the only goal for the Emmaus girls team at last weekend's state meet was to run its best.

The Lady Hornets did that as all seven runners showed improvement from the last time they ran the course. They placed 17th out of 18 teams in Class AAA at Saturday's PIAA Championship race in Hershey.

"The biggest goal we had was to get here," said head coach Dan Wessner. "Anything after that was a bonus. They weren't going to pick up a whole lot more positions if they ran the best race of their life. They all ran well [at states].

"We were out [in Hershey] for the invitational in September and everybody ran faster [Saturday] than they did then."

Emmaus was led by junior Hanna Brosky, who finished in 133rd place at 20:58. She ran nearly a minute faster than her time at the invitational in Hershey.

"I was really happy about that," she said. "You know going into this race it's going to be hard to PR with the weather and all the hills. But I'm extremely happy with how I raced, but I'm extremely happy with my team. We all ran really, really well."

Brosky, a state qualifier in last spring's track season, was competing in her first cross country state meet. She can build on this year's performance if she qualifies next year.

"I definitely think this is all a learning experience," she said. "You learn from everything you meet. This is probably one of the hardest courses we run all season.

"I love learning things from people. I got to learn different things for track, different things for cross country. It was just exciting."

Emmaus senior Lindsey Bray finished 151st in 21:11. One of three seniors that ran for the Hornets on Saturday, Bray finished the season with strong performances at leagues, districts and states.

"I knew these were my last couple races and I wanted to do my best," said Bray. "I knew if we wanted to make it as a team we all needed to step up a little bit."

"Lindsey has really put together a nice season," said Wessner. "I have four seniors on the squad up [in Hershey]. From where they were as freshmen to where they are now has been a huge progression. You've got to be happy when the kids can do that."

The rest of Emmaus' state meet runners were junior Katie Carney (174th, 21:45), sophomore Sophi Trowbridge (177th, 21:49), senior Melanie Hanover (193rd, 22:18), freshman Cassidy Leight (194th, 22:22) and senior Amber Csrenko (207th, 23:04).