The Northwestern cross country teams faced a challenge in replacing several top runners this season.

Gone is two-time league runner-up Matt Santana and Samuel Bower, who placed fourth a year ago for a boys team that finished third in the Colonial League Championships. The Tiger girls lost Angelina Klein, who was 11th at leagues and helped the squad ultimately capture a district title. All three graduated last spring.

Both teams kept competing at a high level in 2023 as they both finished the regular season 19-5. They both finished fourth at last week’s Colonial League Championship meet.

The Tiger boys team was led by Xander Giandomenico, who earned a medal with a 9th-place finish last Wednesday at DeSales University.

“It started out a bit slow, but as we’ve gone on,” said Giandomenico. “We all push each other and we feed off of that. Everybody has the same goal, to be the best.

“We’ve lost a lot of big guys. That’s the whole thing. Everyone is talking about that. But throughout the season we’ve been right up there. Notre Dame was ranked at the top of the league for a while and we almost beat them. That was a big confidence booster.”

Giandomenico, a junior, is focused on getting faster each week of this year’s postseason, something he didn’t do last season when he finished 21st at the league meet.

“To not drop off,” he said when asked his goal for this week’s district meet. “Last year was really disappointing how I did.”

As a junior his times on the DeSales course got slower in his three trips there (the DeSales Invitational, leagues and districts). This year he’s already gotten faster between the first and second races in Center Valley. He’s looking for another drop in the district race.

Northwestern junior Greyson Welling placed 16th at his first league meet. A basketball player who joined the track team last spring for the first time, Wellings is in his first season of cross country.

“I’m really happy,” he said. “The plan was to get a feel for how we’re going to do as a team at districts. We started to feel good today. I was trying to focus on myself too to try and qualify for states.”

Rounding out the Northwestern boys team’s top five were Sean Kershner (20th), Brady Furman (23rd) and Jonathan Fornauf (33rd). Teammates Tyler Lehr (36th), Bryce Thrash (40th) and Lucas Heeps also ran in the league championship race.

Northwestern’s girls team was led by Sophia Cornell’s 9th-place finish. Cornell also earned a medal, which went to the top 10 finishers.

“I’m really happy,” said Cornell. “I was not expecting (a medal) at all. Last year I think I placed maybe 20th. It’s hard to run against these really good schools and I was a little nervous beforehand.

“Last year was a little tough mentally, and I had to really work this season to kind of get out of that. Just told myself that it’s a new season, and I think I’ve benefited from it a lot. Times are improving, my place is improving. Today is probably one of my biggest accomplishments. I wasn’t expecting that at all.”

The rest of the Tigers’ top five included Haley DuBois (18th), Kellcey Pedron (20th), Megan Fornwalt (31st) and Devon Heinley (38th). Teammates Katy Griffith (44th), Amber Carl (45th) and Ava Smedstad (47th) also ran in the league championship race.

Moravian Academy’s Virginia Kraus repeated as Colonial League girls champ. The defending Class A state champ finished in 18:05.27, nearly two minutes ahead of second-place Avery Errico (20:04.85) of Wilson. Notre Dame won the girls team title with 35 points, followed by Southern Lehigh (76), Saucon Valley (106) and Northwestern (108).

Palmerton’s Connor Hibell won the boys league title in 17:03.18 with Notre Dame’s Jordan Smith in second place at 17:35.13. Wilson won the boys team title with 44 points, followed by Notre Dame (54), Southern Lehigh (80) and Northwestern (100).