A season ago, the Emmaus girls' cross country team rode a wave of success to a second-place finish in the District XI Class AAA Cross Country Championships.

And while one of the Hornets' top runners has graduated in Hanna Brosky, four of last year's top five runners return in 2014. That group has picked up right where it left off.

Junior Katie Bacher, last year's fifth-place finisher at districts, finished as Emmaus' top girls runner in leading the Lady Hornets to a top-ten finish at Saturday's 8th Annual PIAA Foundation Cross Country Invitational in Hershey.

Bacher came in ninth place out of 219 runners with a time of 19:38. Freshman Abigail Dalton placed 43rd (20:56) and senior Jaclyn Reinbold came in 73rd (21:43).

"We had finished 10th last year, and there were a few more teams," head coach Dan Wessner said. "I felt that the field was a little bit better quality than last year was. We set the goal of being in the top 10, and I was very happy with how the girls ran."

Two weeks prior, the Lady Hornets finished eighth as a team at the Penn Track Cross Country 6 presented by New Balance at Kutztown University.

Bacher again was among the top of the pack. She finished in sixth place with a time of 20:09.05, less than eight seconds off second-place finisher Lindsey Oremus of Dallas.

Wessner believes that Bahcer, who ran a personal best of 19:14 last week, has tremendous potential.

"She had a really good, strong summer of training," Wessner said. "She has continued it through the season so far. I'm not quite sure what the top of her potential is, but to finish ninth in that race, you're talking about some state medalists that were around her."

Dalton finished in 23rd place (21:09.28) at the PTXC 6, and senior Kristen Bray took 66th (22:30.04) out of 147 participants.

The girls are currently 8-0 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

"They're about what I expected," Wessner said. "They're in pretty good shape, so I'm happy with how they've been so far."

Sophomore Todd Moxey has been among the top Hornet boys runners this season. He came in 86th (18:43.14) at the PTXC 6 and 110th (18:42) at the PIAA Foundation Invitational.

Sophomore Del Vierling, who finished 114th (18:45) at the PIAA Foundation Invitational and 116th (19:13.99) at the PTXC 6, has been a consistent threat for the boys, too. Seniors Darren Labenberg (108th, 19:04.26) and Mason Trinkle (115th, 19:12.31) rounded out the boys' top finishers at PTXC 6.

As a team, the boys are 5-3 in EPC action.

"The boys lost a little bit more than the girls did from last year," Wessner said. "I've been happy with the way they've progressed. We don't have really a true top runner yet. We kind of go back and forth and have a nice little pack.

"I'm certainly happy with how the front of my pack is running so far. They've all made progressions from last year."

Results from Tuesday's race against East Stroudsburg South and East Stroudsburg North were not available at time of press.