Shane Artis wasn’t pleased with his first two regular season meets this cross country season. But the Salisbury senior and two-time state qualifier ran the kind of race he was looking for Saturday at the DeSales University Centaur Invitational.

Artis took fourth place out over 200 boys runners from more than 30 schools. He ran his best time of the season at 16:38.

“Overall performance felt pretty good,” he said. “The previous two meets I didn’t run so well. I did like 17 minutes. I got 16:38 (at DeSales), so that’s a big improvement.”

The finish was the same place he took last year, but he improved upon the 17:12.6 he ran at the same meet last season. This year’s DeSales meet had more teams than the past few seasons and a faster pace.

Artis trained by running triathlons during the offseason and worked on his closing speed.

“We did a little bit more speed because last year I didn’t have enough speed for the finish,” he said.

At DeSales, he put his training to use.

“I was in the top seven for most of the race,” Artis said. “Eventually I got into the top four and settled there and that’s where we stayed the whole race basically. I stayed back from the front group and kind of worked my way up there.”

The Falcon boys took 23rd out of 33 boys teams. Carver Moyer finished 136th, followed by Kyle Artis (140th), Tyson Utesch (156th) and Hunter Rothrock (225th) to round out the top five. Salisbury teammates Louis Mongilutz (226th) and Kevin Smith (235) also ran at DeSales.

Liberty’s Cole Frank won the DeSales Invitational boys varsity race in 16:11.4, followed by Southern Lehigh’s Alex Kane (16:26.8) and Noah Taylor (16:28.5) of Twin Valley.

Downingtown East won the boys team title with 62 points, followed by Twin Valley and Central Bucks South. The top Colonial League team was Southern Lehigh in fifth place.

In the girls varsity race, Blue Mountain’s Olivia Haas (18:28.5) finished almost half a minute clear of Northern Lehigh’s Reagan Pender (19:00) in second. Liberty’s Emily Jobes (19:21.0) took third place.

Emmaus earned first place in the girls team standings with 79 points, followed by Exeter (97) and Liberty (159). The top-finishing Colonial League team was Southern Lehigh (223) in fifth place, followed closely by Northwestern (234) in sixth.

DeSales Invitational Results

BOYS

Team (top five)

1. Downingtown East 62, 2. Twin Valley 102, 3. Central Bucks South 135, 4. Emmaus 148, 5. Southern Lehigh 148.

Individuals (top 10)

1. Cole Frank (Liberty) 16:11.4, 2. Alex Kane (Southern Lehigh) 16:26.8, 3. Noah Taylor (Twin Valley) 16:28.5, 4. Shane Artis (Salisbury) 16:38.4, 5. Brendan Flynn (Downingtown East) 16:42.1, 6. Kevin Haas (Blue Mountain) 16:49.3, 7. Luke Seymour (Schuylkill Valley) 16:51.5, 8. Sean McDonald (Downingtown East) 16:51.7, 9. Jared Fenessy (Central Bucks South) 16:57.0, 10. Caiden Leen (Downingtown East) 16:57.9.

GIRLS

Team (top five)

1. Emmaus 79, 2. Exeter 97, 3. Liberty 159, 4. Mount St. Joseph Academy 201, 5. Southern Lehigh 223.

Individuals (top 10)

1. Olivia Haas (Blue Mountain) 18:28.5, 2. Reagan Pender (Northern Lehigh) 19:00.5, 3. Emily Jobes (Liberty) 19:21.0, 4. Meredith Glunz (Villa Joseph Marie) 19:46.1, 5. Kat Kerchner (Exeter) 19:58.7, 6. Maggie Murphy (Mt. St. Joseph Academy) 20:01.1, 7. Brianna Jucewicz (Central Bucks South) 20:01.3, 8. Sara Smith (Exeter) 20:15.7, 9. Hailey Reinhard (Emmaus) 20:18.2, 10. Isabella Lees (Emmaus) 20:20.0, 12. Kirsten Augustin (Emmaus) 20:32.6.