The 2021 Emmaus boys cross country season ended last Thursday with a fourth-place finish at the District 11 3A cross country championships, held at DeSales University.

The boys finished with 101 points and a 17:52 time, about three seconds behind third place Parkland.

Leading the way for the Hornets was senior Ethan Strzempak, who finished in 17:19.49 - just .50 ahead of Nazareth’s Connor Murphy - good for eighth place. Next for Emmaus was freshman Conor Fisher, who raced to a 12th place finish in 17:32. Sam Dalton, Jared Petre and Oscar Felegy were the next to cross the finish line, while Ray Lursen and Nicholas Gilboy completed the Hornet cause.

“I went out way too fast,” said Strezempak of his performance. “Even if I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to today, it’s been one hell of a season.”

“He has been training really hard, but also is having some fun bringing the boys teams together,” said Emmaus head coach Kami Reinhard said of Strezempak earlier this season.

District 11 Cross Country Championships

at DeSales University

BOYS

Class 3A

Team Scores

(and legend)

1. Nazareth (Naz) 72*, 2. Liberty (Lib) 82*, 3. Parkland (Park) 86, 4. Emmaus (Emm) 101, 5. Southern Lehigh (SL) 123, 6. Northampton (Nor) 172, 7. Freedom (F) 180, 8. Stroudsburg (S) 191, 9. Easton (Eas) 204, 10. Pleasant Valley (PV) 315, 11. Pocono Mountain East (PME) 331, 12. Whitehall (W) 339, 13. Pocono Mountain West (PMW) 405.

Top 10 Individuals plus state qualifiers

1. Alex Heidemann (F) 16:28*, 2. Dominik Lisicky (SL) 16:35*, 3. Liam Davis (ES South) 17:06*, 4. Liam McLaughlin (S) 17:11*, 5. Cameron Koch (Naz) 17:12*, 6. Alexander Kane (SL) 17:14*, 7. Adam Kollgaard (Naz) 17:17*, 8. Ethan Strzempak (Emm) 17:19*, 9. Connor Murphy (Naz) 17:19*, 10. Andrew Huntsberger (S) 17:21*, 11. Emrick Leshko (Lib) 17:30*, 12. Conor Fisher (Emm) 17:32*, 13. Evan Dempsey (Nor 17:34*, 14. Jacob Rivera (Lib) 17:36*, 15. Paul Abeln (Park) 17:45*, 18. Owen Reilly (Lib) 17:49*, 19. Jacob Orrico (Lib) 17:49*, 25. Ben Pfefer (Lib) 18:01*, 27. Jack Hasker (Naz) 18:03*, 29. Robert Pitsko (Naz) 18:04*, 30. Ross Ellis (Naz) 18:06*, 34. Sean Gorman (Naz) 18:23*, 35. Cole Ruhf (Lib) 18:26*, 36. Jack Huie (Lib) 18:32*.