Moravian Academy distance runner Virginia Kraus won the Moravian Academy Lions Invitational Cross Country Meet for the second straight year, leading the girls varsity race of 118 competitors with a time of 18:54 on Aug. 25 at Moravian Academy Upper School.

Kraus’s goal was to beat last year’s time of 18:38, but the hot, humid afternoon affected most runners’ times.

“I try to tell myself before the race to dial it back on the first mile, but there’s also a lot of adrenaline and I’m nervous before the race, so I tend to go out faster than I want to, but then dial it up toward the end,” Kraus said, “so maybe that’s something I’ll keep in mind for next time- go out a little bit slower and then try to push myself more on the last mile.”

Kraus was favored to win this year’s race and ran alone for most of the time.

“Sometimes that’s a lot of pressure to be told it’s the expectation for me to go out in the front, but also, I think it’s good to have that and be able to use that to set further goals for myself,” she said. “In general, I try not to think about that too much and just focus on my own race, set a goal for myself, time wise, that I have to beat instead of focusing on racing against the other competitors.”

Freedom’s Ava Fihlman took second place with a time of 20:13.

About halfway through the race, Fihlman was in fourth place, and Freedom coach Bob Thear yelled for Fihlman to close the gap.

“Barely over two miles, I started taking bigger steps up the hill and worked my way in front of the third girl,” Fihlman said. “[The second girl] started to not maintain and I picked it up a little bit, and then once there was a gap and toward the last loop, I felt really good and thought I could move up more. Coach Bob wanted me to stick in fourth place and see how I felt. I don’t think he thought I would be where I was.”

Fihlman was injured this past spring and hadn’t put in much mileage until July. In fact, Coach Thear expressed cautious optimism about Fihlman’s recovery prior to the start of the season.

“I didn’t have solid summer training like last year. I had to work on getting on pavement and harder surfaces than grass,” Fihlman said. “I felt great in July and that’s when I started upping my mileage.”

Delaware Valley’s Ryan O’Connor placed third in 20:21, and Anna Pucilowski from Abington Heights placed fourth in 20:26.

Catasauqua’s Ava Smith came in 23rd place with a time of 23:01, and teammate Alivia Bear was 30th with a time of 23:32.

“I was excited for today. I felt ready. I’ve been preparing since track season,” said Smith. “I didn’t necessarily have a specific time goal, but my goal was to make sure I was pushing myself the whole time and didn’t get caught up in the competition and focus on being better than last year instead of everyone around me. I was pretty happy with it because my coach said I ran this course in 27 minutes last year.”

Freedom’s Amelia Holden finished right behind Bear with a time of 23:34.

Other runners in the Lehigh Valley Press coverage area were Moravian Academy’s Olivia Seymour, Luna Lopez, Lily Razavi, Ava Noel, and Jolie Eyvazzadeh; Freedom’s Molly Parkin; Lehigh Valley Academy’s Kinsley Walturz and Dilcrys Manuel-Terrero; and Bethlehem Christian’s Angelina Hernandez and Elyse Kachadorian.

“This is one of my favorite courses,” said Kraus. “I like that it’s all on grass. There’s not any pavement. There’s a lot of ups and downs, which is nice. It’s got some shade, some sun, so a lot of variety.”