Bethlehem Catholic, Freedom, and Liberty’s harriers closed out the regular cross country season with a meet on Oct. 10 at Nazareth, and for the first time since 2020, the Patriot boys beat Liberty, 16-39.

Freedom’s boys also defeated Becahi, 18-38, and Northampton, 20-35, ending the season with a record of 12-4.

Boyle brothers Dylan (16:07) and Brayden (17:10) were in the top 10, placing second and eighth, respectively, for the Patriots.

Nazareth’s Gio Mastromonaco won the boys race (15:42).

Runners under 18:00 were Easton’s Aaron Marcus in third place (16:44) and Evan Guydish, fourth (16:44), Nazareth’s Sean Gorman, fifth (16:48), Easton’s James Viglianti, sixth (16:59), and Sawyer Shepherd, seventh (17:09), Nazareth’s JT Cunningham, ninth (17:20), and Northampton’s Braeden Lower, 10th (17:25).

Easton’s Jacob Brunetti was 11th (17:33), and Jayden Garrett was 12th (17:37).

Ryan Haas placed 13th for Freedom (17:41), Nazareth’s Jacob Casey came in 14th (17:42), Bethlehem Catholic’s Mekhi Britt was 15th (17:49), Nazareth’s Ryan Wack placed 16th (17:56), and Freedom’s Ryan Parkin placed 17th (17:58).

“It was good to get a feel for running with some of those top guys in our area. I was keeping up with them, and I’m really proud of that,” said Becahi’s Britt. “[This course] is a little bit deceiving. They say it’s two laps...It doesn’t seem too bad, but when you get into the gist of it, you’re at 2 1/2 miles, and you have to go uphill for about .2 miles...just the fact that it’s a slow incline, it gives it to you on the legs, but the downhill finish is definitely nice.

“Usually I look for [Ryan Haas from Freedom], Spencer (Sabo), the top guy from Liberty, and the other top two guys from Freedom. I’m proud of the fact that I was able to dig deep at the end. I finished pretty fast, and I think it was just mentally challenging. Always that last .2 miles, your heart is racing, you feel like you don’t have anything left, and I was happy that I was able to give that little bit of extra speed. I can go home and be proud of that.”

Freedom coach Bob Thear has been keeping his eyes on Patriot junior Eric Wu, a transfer from Saucon Valley, who posted a time of sub 19:00, one of his goals since the start of the season.

“If anything, I thought Eric Wu (18:24) ran a really good race today. He was closer to the two Ryans, so he’s kind of closed that gap. I thought he ran excellent today,” Thear said. “This is the most training he’s done, better workouts, better people to run with, so I think all those things contributed to his success. He’s put the time and the effort in too, but I think having other people around him- he said it’s just a better environment. He’s been pushed more, not just by me but by his teammates, and that’s led to a big drop for him.”