The Parkland cross country teams opened their 2022 seasons with strong performances last Saturday at the Northampton Cross Country Invitational.

The girls squad finished fifth out of 14 Class 3A schools with an average 20:26 time, while the boys finished tops with a superlative 53 points, 18 ahead of second-place Penncrest.

Lana Hurwitz, a junior, was awesome finishing first on the Trojan roster and second overall with an 18:23 time. Senior Elena Wenger was next to cross the finish stripe in 20:06, good for 23rd. Junior Gracie Trexler was the third Parkland finisher, while Lucy Tobia, a sophomore, was fourth.

Two freshman for coach Stephen Ott’s team - Marley Boyle and Juliana Varano - finished respectively fifth and sixth, a sign of the Trojans’ depth and talent. Junior Abbey Bender was seventh for Parkland and 79th in the 218 girl field.

“Our returning girl runners are prepared to work hard through the challenges of the season,” Ott said. “We hope to stay healthy and see times drop as we build toward the championship races.”

Meanwhile, the Parkland boys were a lean, mean running machine. The top Parkland finisher was speedy Liam McGuigan, who ran a 16:14 race, good overall for third. Jake Barnes and Ethan Willard were a dynamic duo as they took second and third on the team and sixth and seventh overall. Barnes ran a 16:15 race, while Willard was just one second behind. Paul Abeln was fourth on the Parkland roster in 16:18.

The next Trojan finisher was Brady Hoffman, who overall was 27th, while junior Tyler Rothrock was sixth for the scarlet and gray in 16:53. Praveen Sureshkumar was the final Parkland finisher, good for 62nd in the boys field of 263 runners.

“Our expectation is for our boys to be in contention for league and district team titles again this year,” Ott said. “We lost two key seniors in Cameron Price and Avi Hochauser, but the younger runners have put the training in during the summer.”