For the third straight season a member of the Emmaus girls cross country team earned a state medal.

Sophomore Mady McCartney ran to 25th place in a PIAA Class 3A Championship field of 227 runners Saturday at Hershey’s Parkview Course. She finished in 19:17, which was 1:26 faster than she ran the same course in the 2022 championships.

“She’s incredibly devoted to the sport of running,” said Emmaus head coach Kami Reinhard of McCartney. “She does the training. She trusts the training. She makes sure she takes all the little steps to keep herself healthy.

“She makes sacrifices to be at this level and she puts in the work and the time. She’s a really great leader as a sophomore. And Payton [Campbell] the same. Both of them together have really joined forces this year.”

McCartney, who finished 55th last year in her first trip to cross country states, had a goal of earning a state medal this season. She said all the hard work and sacrifices were the key to her success this season.

“I think the summer training and all of the hard work leading into the season,” said McCartney, who also won league and district individual titles this season. “And all the stuff we did during the season. We focus on a lot of hills and courses that were similar to the state course.”

McCartney follows in the footsteps of former teammate Hailey Reinhard, who medaled at states the past two seasons and is now running at Bucknell University.

The East Penn Conference and District 11 champion Hornets placed 14th as team at the state meet.

Sophomore Campbell (94th), senior Brooke Miller (159th), junior Addison Johnson (165th) and senior Sophia Kovalski (171st) made up the team’s top five, while senior Addison Kleinle (186th) and junior Isabella Scarlata (194th) were also part of the Hornets’ state team.

The meet ends another championship season for a team that has been league champion or co-champion the past six seasons and has won 88 straight dual meets. While those achievements are lofty, winning is just part of the student-athlete experience for members of the program.

“We don’t talk about [the winning streak[,” said Reinhard. “One of the main thing we tell our kids is your sports performance doesn’t define your worth.”

The Emmaus boys team had three runners qualify for the state meet.

Juniors Conor Fisher finished 189th after qualifying for his third state championship race in three years.

Junior Jared Petre. Sophomore Ryan Fach finished 197th in his first trip to states. Junior Jared Petre was 208th in his second trip to states.

“They’ve been very consistent too,” said coach Reinhard. “Consistency is a very important part of this sport. It’s always a balance of making sure they stay healthy and not overdoing it.”