Heading into the District 11 Class 2A Cross Country Championship race, neither Salisbury’s Shane Artis or any of his competitors knew exactly what place they needed to finish to secure a place in this weekend’s state meet.

The top 10 runners who are not part of state-qualifying teams make it Saturday’s PIAA Class 2A Championships in Hershey. But until the race is over no one knows how many runners from the top two teams, which earn automatic berths to states, will finish within the top 10, thereby allowing more runners from further down the results to make states.

Artis figured he didn’t want to be more than four or five places outside the top 10. But when the race was over, it didn’t matter.

The Falcon sophomore ran to eighth place overall and didn’t need to study the results to know he would be heading to Hershey this weekend.

Artis ran the Bethlehem Municipal Course in 17 minutes and 35.05 seconds.

“I was definitely just trying to go for states, so I’ll take that any day,” he said of his eighth-place finish. “I was figuring around 14th or 15th place would get me to states. I was just trying to go for place.”

Knowing districts was held on one of the more difficult courses he has ran this year, Artis paced himself early and then moved up over the last two miles of the race. While he sometimes goes out fast on flatter courses, he knew last Wednesday’s district race was one in which he needed to apply a strategy.

“In the first mile, I knew it was really hilly back there, so I took off in the middle of the pack,” said Artis. “Second or third mile when you’re running back and forth along the golf course I was picking people off and trying to gain my place.”

Artis, who ran in middle school at St. Ann’s of Emmaus, did not come into this season with intentions of reaching states. But as he was running among the top five or 10 at most regular season meets, it became a realistic goal.

“In the beginning of the year I wasn’t really expecting that,” he said. “In the middle of the season I started realizing I have a chance. I was running some 17s, now I’m consistently running 17s. I’m getting progressively faster.”

When he sets his foot on the starting line Saturday in Hershey, he’ll be looking to gain experience and enjoy putting a cap on a stellar sophomore season. Any success at states this year will be a bonus and something to build on in the future.

“Just have a good time and be glad I’m there,” Artis said when asked his goals for states. “As a sophomore I know it’s going to be hard to do something spectacular.”

Teammate Michael Sosnowski was the Falcons’ next finisher in the boys race. The junior ran the course in 18:34 for 28th place, followed by senior Cole Warmkessel (99th, 21:39), senior Tyler Sechler-Stone (114th, 23:46) and senior Logan Vitalos (116th, 24:30) rounding out the top five.Junior Zachary Peace (117th, 24:31) and senior Joseph Busolits (118th, 24:31) also ran at districts for Salisbury.

The Falcons finished 15th as a team, beating Bethlehem Catholic and Catasauqua.

The Salisbury girls team entered just three runners into districts.

Senior Ruby Wiener led the Salisbury girls team with a 91st-place finish in 26:55, followed by freshman Logan Woods (97th, 30:47) and Jennah Zohir (98th, 33:50).

John Koons of Notre Dame (Green Pond) won the boys Class 2A race in 16:42, well ahead of Saucon Valley’s Ethan Bernstein (17:11) in second place. Koons led Notre Dame to a first-place team finish, beating Central Catholic 51-87.

Central Catholic seniors Emily and Alyssa Deschler finished 1-2 in the girls Class 2A race with Emily winning in 19:20 and Alyssa second at 19:50. The Vikettes earned the team title over Northwestern, 49-70.