Bethlehem Catholic, Freedom, and Liberty’s cross country teams raced in the last regular-season meet against Easton, Nazareth, Northampton, and each other on Oct. 11 at Freedom.

In girls team results, Becahi beat Northampton, Freedom beat Northampton and Becahi, and Liberty beat Northampton, Becahi, Freedom, and Nazareth.

Freedom’s Ava Fihlman was the first to cross the finish line (20:08) followed by Liberty’s Maddie Mumma (20:10).

Liberty’s Mikailyn Matacavage also placed in the top 10, coming in ninth (21:23).

In boys team results, Freedom defeated Becahi and Northampton, and Liberty defeated Freedom, Becahi, and Northampton.

Liberty’s Emrick Leshko came in second (16:39), Freedom’s Dylan Boyle was fifth (16:46), and Freedom’s Joe Bauer was 11th (17:41).

“I felt all right, but my legs were pretty tight,” said Bauer. “It was nice to run on our course, though. I picked off maybe five guys at the end because I knew how to pace it better than them. We had to run all out if we wanted to beat Liberty or Easton. I think we fell short, but we gave it a shot.”

Liberty’s Cole Ruhf and Becahi’s Mekai Britt were shoulder-to-shoulder at the finish with Ruhf coming in 14th (17:50) and Britt 15th (17:50.4).

“We got out pretty fast, and I was pretty happy with my first mile,” said Ruhf, a four-year veteran. “We were pretty bunched up- me, Emrick, and Jack (Huie). All of our guys are just coming off some sickness, so as expected, my third mile was a little bit tough, and we kind of fell off, aerobically, but we’re getting back into the swing of things.”

This week will be the East Penn Conference Cross Country Championships ahead of the District XI meet the following week.

Becahi’s Britt, a first-year harrier, has been looking to improve each week leading up to the bigger meets.

“When there’s more footsteps, I run faster, and today, there were a lot of footsteps, and I was competing with some people that I know,” he said. “This course is very hilly, and I forgot my spikes, so when you run with the racing flats, it’s a lot slower. It’s not a very fast course, but I’m happy I was able to push through and get this result. This meet was tough mentally, because most of the time I was by myself, and I was chasing people in front of me the whole time.”