HERSHEY - For the second consecutive year, the Northwestern boys cross country team earned a trip to the PIAA Championships after claiming the District 11 Class AA title.

That performance certainly set the bar high for a squad that was also coming off a second consecutive 24-2 season and a runner-up finish in the Colonial League meet. But for coach Chris Stitzel, the real accomplishment was just making a return trip to Hershey after losing a number of key runners to graduation.

"When the season began, we didn't know what we had after losing so many guys last year," Stitzel said. "A number of these guys are new to the sport and we only had two or three guys returning (with experience), so we didn't know what to expect.

"There were a lot of things that were up in the air because we didn't know how they were going to respond to the system. But they worked hard and earned the trip [to states]."

That hard work paid off as the Tigers placed 14th as a team and were paced by senior captain Ryan Cerrone, who finished 98th with a time of 17:58.

Following Cerrone were juniors Alec Consuelos (108th, 18:05) and Brayden Heller (156th, 18:39). Captain Collin Furchner capped his senior year with a 162nd-place finish in 18:41 while sophomore Jarrett White (168th, 18:45), junior Joshua Kromer (191st, 19:09) and freshman Matthew Grim (203rd, 19:31) rounded out the Northwestern contingent.

While the overall result may not have been what he was hoping for, Stitzel was still pleased with the effort that he got from his squad, at the state meet and throughout the season.

"We were hoping for a finish between fifth and 10th based on how they performed at districts," Stitzel said. "But we're proud no matter what. They're still (District 11) champions and no one can take that away from them.

"They ran well and they deserved to be out here. Knowing that they're among the top-20 teams in the state and just getting the chance to be out here means a lot."