Freedom’s girls’ cross country team had three runners finish in the top five last Tuesday in the Patriots’ 26-33 loss to Easton at Freedom.

“I thought Aubrey ran good, I thought Eliza ran good. Lauren’s been running by herself, and it’s been a tough season for her because of that. She may not get anyone till Liberty, unfortunately,” said Freedom coach Bob Thear.

Freedom’s Lauren Charboneau won the race with a time of 20:29, almost a full minute ahead of Easton’s Devyn Dumpel and Harvest Gill.

Freedom’s Aubrey Yeager placed fourth in 21:49.

“I was trying to keep the top five placing, so I was trying to keep Lauren in our sights and I kept her for most of the time, but then two girls had passed me, and I tried to keep them in my sights, and it went on like that,” Yeager said.

“The first meet was my very first meet I’ve ever run. I had never run a 5K before that, or run at all, so I stayed with Eliza and Julia and eventually found my pace and was able to keep it.”

Freedom’s Eliza Fihlman placed fifth in 21:58.

“My strategy was to try and break up the packs. Since they have so many people, they run in groups, so if you can get in between them, you can break them up a little and try to take them one at a time,” said Fihlman. “The third mile is when I started to pick it up and then I could see Aubrey, and once I saw her, I started sprinting because I knew we were closing in on the top five places.”

Fihlman beat sixth place finisher, Easton’s Claudia Sales, by two seconds.

“It had been so long since I raced because of quarantine, so I felt like I had to get the rust off. You really have to go out and feel what your race is,” Fihlman said. “It’s hard to go right in, back to where you were before, so I feel like once you run a race, you understand, like, this is the point where I need to be at this pace, and figure out what works best for me.”

Also last Tuesday, Liberty’s girls defeated Northampton, 26-29.

Liberty’s Emily Jobes won the race with a time of 19:50.

Northampton’s Georgia Wiswesser came in second in 20:22, Liberty’s Madison Drager was third in 20:28, Northampton’s Amber Poniktera was fourth in 20:31, and Liberty’s Ella Scott was fifth in 20:59.