Liberty cross country newcomers, Katie Drabouski and Elizabeth McClarin captured the silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Girls Cross Country Championships on Oct. 15 at DeSales University.

“We did a lot of strategy as far as this race,” said Liberty coach Kevin Bush. “We kept to the game plan, stayed nice and warm, they were relaxed, and they had fun out there. Hopefully, this is just the start of their postseason. They’re only going to get better, and they have clear goals in sight to make it through the rest of the year, so hopefully, they’ll hit all those.”

Emmaus’s Madelyn McCartney won the girls meet with a time of 18:52.5, followed by Drabouski with a time of 19:03.5 and McClarin whose time was 19:36.5.

“I told myself that anything was possible,” said Drabouski. “I was seeded third, and that’s kind of what I expected, so to get second, I was really excited. At first, I was in fourth or third, and then I broke off and tried to chase Madelyn the whole time and was in second probably the second half of the race.”

McClarin also finished higher than seeded.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “I tried to stay with the lead pack and do what feels best and push myself.

I would say the last mile, I was really tired. After we passed the second mile, it was kind of just me out there, trying not to get passed and working up and looking forward to keep an eye on the people in front.”

Freedom’s Taylor Vidumsky took the 25th spot out of 100 racers with a time of 21:48.1, and teammate Amelia Holden was 40th with a time of 22:29.2.

Liberty’s Emma Haas came in 46th in 22:51.9, Bethlehem Catholic’s Rio Stoudt was 49th in 22:59.0, Freedom’s Teagan Frederickson was 50th in 23:07.2, and Liberty’s Kendall Terefinko placed 54th in 23:32.0.

Also from Liberty, Sierra Schmoyer came in 59th in 24:02.2, and Zoey Sobrinski was 60th in 24:11.7.

Becahi’s Remiah Rivera placed 62nd in 24:19.9, Freedom’s Ivy Johns was 64th in 24:23.6, Liberty’s Emily Orrico came in 68th in 24:38.0, Freedom’s Molly Parkin was 81st in 25:44.4, Freedom’s Laney Stewart was 85th in 26:17.9, Becahi’s Skylar Husser placed 87th in 26:26.5, and Becahi’s Latoya Philantrope was 99th in 29:40.0.

In team scores, Easton’s girls placed first with 43 points, Liberty came in fifth with 138 points, and Freedom was eighth with 217 points out of a field of 12 teams.