Pure joy.

That’s how Freedom senior harrier Dylan Boyle described a four-year long trek that culminated in clinching the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference boys cross country championship on Oct. 15 at DeSales University.

“Coming into the finish, it was just joy,” Boyle said. “The medal is really nice, but honestly, that end feeling is better than any medal. I never really expected this since freshman year. I remember watching my old teammate, (2021 EPC and District XI champ) Alex Heidemann, and I was like, I want to be like that. I’ve just been focused. Very focused.”

Freedom coach Bob Thear and assistant coach Devon Harris advised Boyle on a slightly more conservative start than that of his start in two prior meets.

“The first three-quarters of a mile is relatively flat, so I said, ‘Get yourself out in front, just by a little bit, come into the road, and then just work the hills,’ and that’s what he did,” said Thear. “You could see, by the time he got to the first hill, he had already put a couple seconds up, and then by the two mile, he had 12 or 13 seconds by then. It looked like he worked the hills really well.”

Boyle said he started sprinting as he hit the hills.

“I was so focused on today. I mean, I’ve been manifesting this moment for a long time now, and it’s very fulfilling,” said Boyle, who exchanged his game face for all smiles, well after crossing the finish line. “It was a great moment. Actually, the reason why I was smiling is because at every single checkpoint, I always saw one of my family members, and just to see them cheering and being there for me, that’s what made me smile.”

Boyle’s gold-medal time was 16:32.2.

Allentown Central Catholic’s Duke Ebert came in second with a time of 16:54.0, and Easton’s Evan Guydish placed third in 16:58.8.

Fourth place went to Parkland’s Luke McEvoy with a time of 17:00.6, Nazareth’s Jacob Casey was fifth with a time of 17:02.3, and Emmaus’s Conor Fisher was sixth in 17:02.5.

Freedom’s Brayden Boyle won the seventh-place medal with a time of 17:05.2.

“A good goal for him was to be in the top 10, and he ran a really good race,” said Coach Thear. “He should be very happy for himself.”

The Patriot sophomore embraced last Tuesday’s cool temperatures as well as the hills while staying with other front-runners.

“Those three guys were either with me or beat me in the regular season, so I was trying to stick with them and pass most of them if I could,” Boyle said. “There’s a hill going right up after the two-mile mark, so I like hills and I’m pretty good at them, so I pushed it to keep up with them, and some of them I actually passed. I was a little tired, but I felt good, and I felt like I had a strong race. I pushed it on the hills, and I think I can do even better next week, so I’m excited for that.”

Liberty’s Joshua Cazares placed 31st in 18:03.4, Freedom’s Ryan Haas was 35th in 18:09.5, Liberty’s Ethan Caine was 38th in 18:17.0, and Freedom’s Eric Wu placed 44th in 18:25.3.

Bethlehem Catholic’s Brandon Andrews placed 56th in 18:59.6, Liberty’s Carl Fair came in 62nd in 19:28.2, Bethlehem Catholic’s David Gomes-Acuna placed 63rd in 19:31.9, Freedom’s Webb Kurtz was 64th in 19:35.8, and Freedom’s Liam Kurtz was 69th in 19:43.4.

Liberty’s Jalen King was 80th in 20:07.8, Liberty’s Calvin Rittle placed 81st in 20:11.6, Freedom’s Dylan Chambers was 84th in 20:18.5, Freedom’s Mikey Messa was 88th in 20:27.8, Liberty’s Ezekiel Frack was 97th in 21:06.6, Becahi’s LJ Horvath placed 98th in 21:09.1, Liberty’s Sean Haas was 100th in 21:16.1, Freedom’s Kaden Frederickson was 105th in 21:38.4, Becahi’s Matthew Amrick was 118th in 22:34.9, Freedom’s Infinite Chu was 124th in 24:15.3, and Becahi’s Canon Morrow was 128th in 27:31.7.

In team results, Parkland’s boys placed first with 54 points, Freedom came in fifth with 137 points, Liberty was eighth with 248 points, and Becahi was 14th with 374 points out of a field of 15 teams.