The Parkland cross country teams ended the regular season with strong performances last Tuesday at the final regular season meet of the East Penn Conference season, featuring Emmaus, Parkland, Central Catholic and Whitehall.

The girls team took second behind Emmaus. Leading the way for the Trojans was Lana Hurwitz with a 20:08 time. Hurwitz, a junior, has been a consistent performer this year and continues to improve. Three other Parkland runners - Elena Wenger, Gracie Trexler and Talia Zurinskas - finished in a pack in the eighth, ninth and 10th positions. Parkland’s depth has been an asset for the Trojans all season and once again in this race it paid dividends.

Lucy Tobia, Homare Yamashita, Marley Boyle and Abbey Bender all finished in the top 20. Tobia ran a 22:47 race for a 13th place finish, while Yamshita took 15th. Boyle and Bender finished within six seconds of one another for 18th and 19th places.

The boys ran an outstanding race, claiming first place with a 17:57 average time and earning the top three finishes. Ethan Willard led the way with a superlative 17:34 race, 13 seconds ahead of teammate Liam McGuigan. Finishing third was junior Jake Barnes at 17:57. While the victory was a team effort, these three runners stood out.

Parkland’s dominance was there for all to see, as seven of the race’s top 11 finishers were Trojans. Seniors Brady Hoffman and Paul Abeln respectively took sixth and eighth places in 18:11 and 18:18. Tyler Rothrock and Samuel Tomko claimed respectively 10th and 11th places with 18:28 and 18:41 finishes. Parkland was so dominant it owned the 16th through 20th place finishers out of the 101-person field. Jorge Rinker, Praveen Sureshkumar, Marcelo Castilla, Brady Roy and Christian Fragassi all crossed the line within 16 seconds of one another, with Rinker finishing in 19:07 and Fragassi earning a 19:23 mark.

A total of six other Parkland runners claimed six of the seven positions between 26th and 32nd places. Logan McEvoy, Brady Phillip, Finnegan Jenkins-Ford, Ethan Vandecasteele, Ian Wilson and Nathan Parisi took times ranging from 19:49 through 20:04.

Coach Stephen Ott’s team prepares now for postseason racing with the EPC Championships scheduled for Oct. 18, followed by District 11 Championships on Oct. 26. Both races will be held at DeSales University.