Nazareth distance runner Gio Mastromonaco won the Moravian Academy Lions Invitational Cross Country Meet, leading the boys varsity race of 161 competitors with a time of 16:34 on Aug. 25 at Moravian Academy.

“I feel great. [The weather’s] perfect,” Mastromonaco said. “I was looking back to see if I had to push it or if I could slow it down. Sometimes I was slowing it down because it’s the beginning of the season, and I’m not going to push all the way.”

Mastromonaco suffered an injury at last year’s district meet and recovered just in time for the end of this past spring’s track and field season.

Owning a personal record of 16:03, Mastromonaco is planning on conference and district championships this fall.

Freedom’s Dylan Boyle also has his eye on championship meets and took second place with a time of 16:48.

“My motivation is always to be one of those top-placing guys, looking forward to districts, and always to improve,” Boyle said. “I felt pretty good. I like to let the kid sit, and then I’ll sit on him, and then make my move somewhere, and then just go and then go catch the first guy.”

Palmerton’s Connor Hibell placed third in 16:57.

Ten runners from the Lehigh Valley Press coverage area clocked in under 21:00. They were Moravian Academy’s AJ Sasso in 18:46 and Krish Gupta in 19:25; Freedom’s Ryan Parkin in 19:35, Braeden Boyle in 19:40, and Ryan Haas in 20:07; Lehigh Valley Academy’s Jared Bowen in 18:16, Gavin Varner in 18:56, Simon Hume in 20:49, and Charlie Gavlik in 20:50; and Bethlehem Christian’s Alex Mohler in 20:04.

Other runners from the Lehigh Valley Press coverage area who competed in the invitational included Moravian Academy’s Oliver Xia, Sebastian Chen, Harry Vicic, and Connor Walters; Freedom’s Luke Yeager and Liam Kurtz; Catasauqua’s Evan Reed, William Aguirre, Gavin Hacker, Jonathan Rizzo, Peter LaPointe, Mikhail Hartranft, and Jack Brubaker; Lehigh Valley Academy’s Casey Murphy and Brian Marino, and Bethlehem Christian’s Preston Rex, Kyle Homa, Darren Mohler, Noah Maura, Aiden Jeffers, and Jonathan Wieand.