Emmaus has had a tradition of successful distance runners in recent years.

The current group of Hornets leading those distance events isn't new to the scene. During the William Allen Invitational on Saturday at J. Birney Crum Stadium, juniors Katie Bacher and Ryan Paradise continued their successful seasons on the track.

Bacher and Paradise each took second place in the girls and boys 1600-meter run, respectively, while also anchoring relay teams to appearances on the medal stand. Paradise cemented the boys' first-place finish in the 3200-meter relay, and Bacher helped the girls take second in the same event.

"I was feeling a little sore, so it wasn't my best time ever," Bacher said after finishing the 3200 in 5:14.73. "But it's one of my best times this season. So I'm happy with that, especially because I came off running a pretty hard 4x800 leg earlier today."

Northwestern edged Emmaus in the girls 3200-meter relay by over two seconds. Joining Bacher in the relay were senior Jaclyn Reinbold, sophomore Katrina Durrwachter and senior Kristen Bray.

A year ago, Bacher ran the 3200 and admitted it wasn't one of her better races. In the 1600, an event in which she placed third at districts last year, she put together a more impressive showing this year.

"I ran the two-mile [last year]," Bacher said. "It was a little bit of a tough race. It was pretty bad weather conditions, and it was raining at that time of the meet. This is definitely my best performance at this meet."

After watching North Penn's Ariana Gardizy race out to the front of the pack, Bacher (along with Pleasant Valley's Jen Mickens and Freedom's Shaina Palmer) passed her after that quick start. Mickens advanced to the front of the pack where she was able to separate herself by over a full second at the finish line.

"I think she [Mickens] was pretty much leading for the end of the race," Bacher said. "It was a close finish between me and third place, and I just passed her along this stretch coming down to the finish."

On the boys' side, Wilson's Joe Espinal separated himself from the rest of the pack in the 1600 and finished in a time of 4:27.44. But it was a close race for second place, and Paradise, who finished in 4:29.57, had enough in the tank to hold off Pleasant Valley's Khai Samuels for a silver finish.

Junior Greg Jaindl, junior Jacob Feiertag and senior Philip Houseknecht were also members of the 4x800 relay team that earned gold.

The Hornets also had a number of other impressive finishes in the mid-distance events. Reinbold finished in third and took home a medal in the girls 800-meter run. In the boys 800-meter run, Jaindl placed fourth behind Samuels, Espinal and Whitehall's Calvin Schneck.

And while the Hornets are without some of their top runners from a year ago, particularly district gold medalist Hanna Brosky, this group is certainly ready to peak as the postseason approaches.

"She [Brosky] was always really solid at those middle-distance events, and for the 4x800 she was always our anchor," Bacher said. "We've definitely all been working as a group to improve. I think our team as a whole is running faster than we were last year. Even though we don't have somebody that can drop a really fast time at the end, I think our team is still doing pretty well."

In the throwing events, Ashley Petre placed second in the discus, Katherine Lynch took third in the pole vault and Anna Cressman finished seventh in the javelin. On the boys side, Daniel Velasco (fourth) and Thomas Wagner (10th) placed in the top 10 in shot put, while Daniel Murphy took eighth in the discus.

Other top-10 finishers include: Brandon Acevedo-Pena (second in 300-meter hurdles), the boys' 4x400 relay team (third) and Alyssa Sopko (10th in 400-meter dash).