In the middle of two dominant races from two non-local runners at the 39th DeSales Centaur Invitational over the weekend, a number of Salisbury runners took their shot at the difficult course in Center Valley.

While none may have been able to stage a finish such as Marian Catholic’s Tina Capparell or Owen J. Roberts’ Liam Conway, a number of Falcons had respectable finishes on Saturday afternoon. It was a pleasant change of pace after a seven-team Colonial League meet last Wednesday to open the regular season.

“It was definitely a slow, challenging course,” Capparell said, who won the girls race in 19:20.23, over a minute faster than the next finisher. “I was hoping for the 18s, but I’ll take it. I underestimated the hills and everything, but I felt pretty good.”

Conway won the boys’ race in 15:59.23. No other finisher came close to breaking the 16-minute mark, and the gap between Conway and second-place finisher Riley Williamson of Parkland was 37 seconds.

Salisbury was paced by sophomore Shane Artis on the boys’ side, placing 49th out of 162 competitors with a time of 18:34.68.

“I felt decent running on Saturday,” said Artis, who had hoped to run the course in 18:25 or less. “I hope to continue to improve my time since this is only the second race. It was a challenging course with lots of hills, so I was fairly pleased with my time.”

The biggest hurdle that Artis had to overcome on Saturday afternoon, however, wasn’t anything to do with the course itself.

“Physically I felt ready for the race, [but] mentally I wanted to come back to this course because this is where I injured myself last season,” Artis said. “I needed to come back to this course for redemption.”

Artis certainly passed the test, overcoming the mental aspect of returning to DeSales and attacking its course without fear. And he’ll be back near the end of the season to do it once again in the Colonial League Championships on October 18.

Most runners took the first downhill mile as an opportunity to jump out to a quick lead to the front of the pack. But once the hills started to appear, Artis cranked his running into another gear and passed a number of area runners.

“I started to pass other runners coming out of the woods and into the cornfield,” Artis said. “I took advantage of some of the runners who might have gone out a little too fast.

“I feel like the hills are where I can pass people. That is what I feel is one of my strengths.”

Junior Michael Sosnowski was Salisbury’s second finisher, placing 153rd in a time of 23:19.43.

On the girls’ side, Ruby Weiner led the way in 109th place, clocking a time of 27:01.39.

Results from Tuesday’s meet at Southern Lehigh were not available at time of press. Salisbury travels to Pen Argyl next Tuesday for a six-team meet scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

BOYS

1. Liam Conway (OJR) 15:59.23, 2. Riley Williamson (Park) 16:36.69, 3. Brendan O’Toole (NP) 16:45.19, 4. Nicholas Bower (Park) 16:53.19, 5. Matt Dodon (Str) 16:54.21, 49. Shane Artis (Sal) 18:34.68, 153. Michael Sosnowski (Sal) 23:19.43, 158. Tyler Sechler-Stone (Sal) 24:21.41, 161. Zachary Peace (Sal) 27:24.57, 162. Logan Vitalos (Sal) 27:24.57.

GIRLS

1. Tina Capparell (Mar) 19:20.93, 2. Autumn Sands (OJR) 20:29.94, 3. Martina Sell (B) 20:34.30, 4. Madeline Consuelos (NW) 20:46.94, 5. Brianna Kling (VJM) 20:47.73, 109. Ruby Weiner (Sal) 27:01.39, 124. Logan Woods (Sal) 33:17.13, 125. Jennah Zohir (Sal) 43:56.46.

LEGEND: Bangor (B), Marian (Mar), North Penn (NP), Northwestern (NW), Owen J. Roberts (OJR), Parkland (Park), Salisbury (Sal), Stroudsburg (Str), Vill Joseph Marie (VJM).