With 15 medals up for grabs and Palisades’ Thomas Smigo claiming the first one early, time would tell where the rest of the pack would finish in the boys varsity race of the Lion Invitational last Friday at Moravian Academy.

Smigo crossed the finish line in 16:33.13, Northwestern Lehigh’s Matthew Santana came in second, followed by Abington Heights’ Tommy Walsh, who was third, and Freedom’s Dylan Boyle, who came in fourth.

“My goal was to beat my last year’s time, which I did, and then I was trying to get low 17s the whole time. That’s all I wanted,” said Boyle, a sophomore.

Boyle’s time was 17:31.20.

“The sun came out of nowhere, and up that hill was crazy; it was pretty hot. But then the breeze came, and it felt a lot better,” he said. “I was trying to stay with that top ten group the whole time, right behind them, on their tail, and then at the end, I just kicked it.”

Freedom coach Bob Thear said Boyle ran a smart race.

“He was with that pack, there were three of them, and eventually they broke up, but he sort of piggy-backed off of them for awhile, which was good. Around the tree line was the two-mile mark, and the kids in front, their cadence looked a little slower, whereas Dylan, with that pack, it looked like they were fast,” said Thear. “I’m thrilled with that.”

Freedom senior Joe Bauer also won a medal, placing 14th.

“This was my first race, I guess, since sophomore year because junior year I was injured then too. It felt good to get back. I was more conservative today, trying to feel how my legs are. They felt really good,” Bauer said. “The heat really got to me. That was the only thing. Other than that, I thought it was a good race, and I’m happy with my performance.”

Bauer’s time was 18:06.98.

“There was a pack in front of me, and I knew that was the pack I needed to get into to be top 15, so I stayed within striking distance. I think I paced it pretty good because a lot of those guys fell off,” said Bauer. “I kicked really hard because my coach said I needed one more spot [to medal]. It turned out I didn’t but...”

Coach Thear may have told Bauer a little white lie, but it was all for the greater good.

“I was afraid he would get complacent,” Thear smiled. “He was attacking and picking people off, so I wanted him to stay in that mindset.”

Others in the top 15 who received medals were Nazareth’s Sean Gorman, Connor Murphy, and Adam Kollgaard, Abington Heights’ Alex Duffy, Nick Booth, and Sean Rooney, Nazareth’s Giovanni Mastromon, Jim Thorpe’s Jordan Remmel, and Holy Ghost Prep’s Papakojo Danquah and Ciaran Chambers.

Also from Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley Academy’s Jared Bowen placed 20th with a time of 18:33.49, and Moravian Academy’s Krish Gupta came in 24th with a time of 18:54.71.

“It was a nice one-two punch up front,” said Thear, “so we’ll see how the rest goes.”