All things must come to an end. For the Salisbury boys and girls cross country teams, their 2015 season came to a close last week.

For the first season in quite some time, head coach Doug Hensinger won’t be making the trip to Hershey to watch any Falcons compete in the annual PIAA Cross Country Championships. But despite that void, the Falcons endured a successful season which ended with last Wednesday’s district meet.

Joseph Fainor led all Salisbury finishers with a 32nd-place finish in the Class AA boys’ race, finishing Bethlehem Municipal Golf Club’s course in 18:43.80. Brooke Rogers paced the girls’ AA race in last week’s District 11 Cross Country Championships in 46th place in a time of 23:54.76.

For Rogers, she wasn’t too focused on earning a medal or qualifying for states. Instead, she wanted to improve on herself before anything else.

“My goal for this race was just to run my race and not focus on other girls and what they run,” Rogers said. “I just wanted to improve myself. I was really happy with how the whole season went for me. I felt good with every race. Next year I have some goals I really want to reach.”

Perhaps next season is when Rogers sets a goal that would warrant a trip back to Hershey for Hensinger and a Falcon runner.

“I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t extremely happy,” Rogers said. “Like I said, I had good races during the season going into the last two meets expecting more from myself. Some of me got psyched out with the two big races coming up, but it is what it is. Now next season I just have to make a bigger mark and work harder so I get the results I want to see.”

Following a strong first mile in which Rogers benefited from the early hills at Bethlehem, the Falcon junior hung near the top of the runners early on.

“I really like the hills that are in the beginning somewhat,” Rogers said. “Then after you finish the hills it is all flat, that is when you really open up and let it out. The hills of this course were my favorite. I felt really strong going up them. I believe I passed four or five girls on the hills.”

Rogers’ finish in the last mile was just as impressive as her start. She was able to speed by a number of runners with the final turnaround and trek up the finish line coming into sight.

“I thought that I ran the first mile really well,” Rogers said. “I kept with my pace, trying to mark off the girls I wanted to stay with. My first mile was really strong. During the second mile I noticed that my stride wasn’t long and it was starting to shorten up. I kept having to tell myself to push it a little harder because it was my last race. When I hit the second-mile mark going into the third, I started to pick back up in the race, passing the girls that were in front of me.”

Saucon Valley’s Kiele Riefenstahl won the Class AA girls’ race in 19:55.10, with Central Catholic edging Northwestern for the girls’ team title by 11 points. In AAA, Stroudsburg’s Allana Powlette narrowly passed Liberty’s Raisa Kochmaruk at the finish line to capture the individual title. The Easton girls won the team championship.

Ruby Weiner (71), Casey Laudadio (82) and Meghan Raub (88) rounded out the Falcon girl finishers.

“I felt as though I could’ve pushed a little harder throughout the second mile,” Rogers said. “I wasn’t upset with the race, just was hoping for a faster time.”

After Fainor, six other Falcon boys put together solid showings on the district stage: Cole Warmkessel (90), Josh Oswald (96), Joe Busolits (98), Ryan Fainor (100), Pete DuBois (102) and Matthew Fainor (112).

Wilson’s Joseph Espinal won the Class AA boys’ race in the narrowest of margins, edging Jim Thorpe’s Dylan Bucior by .28 seconds. Easton’s Kevin Lapsanksy won AAA in 16:16.20. Central Catholic (AA) and Parkland (AAA) won the team titles.