Who would have thought that, at the beginning of cross country season, when Freedom had just three girls on its team, one of them would emerge as a state qualifier?

“Ava (Fihlman) ran fantastic,” said Coach Bob Thear.

Fihlman, a sophomore in her first cross country season, took 51st place at the PIAA State Cross Country Class 3A Championships on Saturday morning at Hershey.

Thear maintained that a good race for Fihlman would be to finish in the top 100; that is, out of 238 runners, and that a time of 20:20 would be a good goal.

“She was nervous going in, and she was with another 100 people she hadn’t seen before, but one thing that helped her was familiar faces,” Thear said. “A girl from Pocono Mountain West was near her, and the Emmaus team was right next to her at the start, so I told her to let them set the pace.”

Around the halfway point, Fihlman was in 70th place, then, moved up to the low 60s, and from there, the mid 50s.

“Ava was running really great and looked good too,” said Thear. “She exceeded my expectations. She was really excited and rightfully so.”

Fihlman’s time was 20:12.90, and the only competitor from District XI ahead of her was Emmaus’s Hailey Reinhard, who placed 20th in 19:16.90.

Liberty junior Maddie Mumma, coached by Kelly Bracetty, also ran her first state race, finishing with a time of 20:53.80, placing in 105th.

Liberty’s boys team, in order of finish, of Jacob Orrico, Owen Reilly, Jacob Rivera, Ben Pfefer, Emrick Leshko, Cole Ruhf, and Jack Huie, coached by Adam Syty, placed 21st in the state.