Whitehall’s cross country team competed in its second conference meet on Sept. 17 at Camp Olympic, Emmaus, where both the girls and boys teams recorded 15-50 wins over Bethlehem Catholic.

The Zephyr girls had a close meet with Freedom, won by the Patriots, 26-31.

“Today, we asked a couple of our middle-of-the-pack girls and middle-of-the-pack boys to pick it up and try and work together because they’ve been, especially on the boys side, running together,” said Whitehall coach Brandon Hampton. “Our girls are coming together, but the boys have been there, so now we’re trying to take that next step to get other groups of guys or singular guys because it’s a little more intimidating when you get passed by three Whitehall guys rather than one.”

On the girls side, Marli Jacobus was the first Whitehall girl to finish, coming in 24th in 23:42.

“The big hill is really difficult, but I like the back part, and I like the finish. It’s pretty short,” Jacobus said. “I was running really close to Liberty and sometimes Freedom. Up on the hill, I would pick some people off. That’s where a lot of people die out, so I take the chance.”

Teammates Ashley Mendoza placed 28th in 24:27, and Kathy Chen came in 42nd in 27:33.

“There were a lot of girls we were counting on coming into the season, some of our upper classmen, and they really stepped it up today. A couple of them ran some season bests,” Coach Hampton said. “And then on the boys side, I kind of challenged our top guys to go out a little harder and just see what happens. See if you can hang on, and they ran really well. They looked more confident. They looked stronger. Now the next step is just getting quicker and getting ready for the grind here in the middle of the season.”

Habib Leyos was the first Whitehall boy to finish, coming in 30th with a time of 19:46.

“[Aiden Borkenhagen and I] started together. Then, he went in front of me, I went in front of him, and it was going back and forth,” Leyos said. “I definitely think I could always improve on the hills, but it went by fast, faster than I expected. I’m happy about my finish. I feel like I finished strong.”

Borkenhagen finished one second behind Leyos and celebrated with a high kick at the finish line.

“That’s a TJ Watt celebration kick. I do that at track, too, when I do something good. I was happy that I beat Liberty,” Borkenhagen said. “First mile, [Habib and I] were pretty much even. Then he passed me and had the lead till mile 3. The last .1, I caught up because I was passing three Freedom people.”

Jackson Rozycki came in 36th for the Zephyrs with a time of 20:02.

The Zephyrs will compete at home on Oct. 1 at Whitehall Parkway.