For the Catasauqua cross county, it will be about improving each week.

“We had another great week of competing,” said head coach Kyle Rusnock. “The kids have been working hard to lower their times, and you can see the progress. Our boys have been making strides, and our girls have been consistent.

“We are working to have a good finish.”

At Salisbury, Alivia Bear crossed the line in 11th place, and Ava Smith followed with a 14th-place finish. Other teams that competed were Moravian Academy, Southern Lehigh, Notre Dame, Saucon Valley and Palisades.

Jonathan Rizzo paced the boys along with William Aguirre and Mikhail Hartranft.

A few days later in the Roughies’ home meet, Bear was eighth and Smith was 10th. Rusnock noted that Aguirre, Hartranft, and Rizzo all dropped significant minutes off their times. Other teams that competed were Southern Lehigh, Northwestern, Palmerton, Northern Lehigh, and Salisbury (See results on next page).

Bear, a state qualifier last season as a junior, has been pleased with her start.

“I am very happy with the way things are going so far,” she said. “I’m ahead of where I was last year, and I already beat two of my personal records. We have a great schedule this year with a lot of courses that I love to run, so I am excited for that.

“I feel that I am right on track to accomplish my goals for the season. With the heat in the first week of September, our meets were changed. So, we ended up running two meets in three days.”

Smith is putting her priorities in order.

“The goal is to peak at the right time, which would be districts and states,” she added. “I feel confident that I’m on track for that. Coach Rusnock has been very helpful through all of it, and I know he is preparing me to tap into more of my potential as we go through the season.

“We have a good group of runners who are around the same times, which makes practices way better for all of us.”