Whitehall’s harriers competed in the District XI Class 3A Cross Country Championships on Oct. 23 at DeSales University.

“I thought the boys did look pretty strong, and Marli (Jacobus) ran really, really well,” said Whitehall coach Brandon Hampton. “We’ve been challenging her for a week-and-a-half now, especially after leagues, telling her where we’re at and where she’s at in terms of potentially qualifying for states. Pretty much everything shook out how we thought. In terms of where she needed to be, she just missed it, meaning 10 or 11 spots out, which is awesome.”

Jacobus placed 33rd out of 89 runners with a time of 22:54.8.

“Our coach told us to leave it all out there,” said Jacobus, who would have preferred a cooler day on which to race.

Also competing for the Zephyr girls were Holly Kotch (27:24.0), Kathy Chen (27:30.1), Marissa Gaudiuso (28:19.5), Emma Sargent (29:38.2), Grace Tsamatalis (30:01.5), and Isabelle Daigle (30:39.9).

Emmaus’s Madelyn McCartney won the girls race in 18:56.4.

In team results, Whitehall’s girls placed 10th of 11 teams. Emmaus placed first and Easton came in second.

Whitehall junior Habib Leyos was first to cross the finish line for the Zephyr boys, placing 59th in 19:50.3.

“Last week, I didn’t have a good race,” Leyos said. “My weakness was the hills and I kept slowing down on the hills and thinking about what was coming after, and I was losing pace. So this week, I just focused on what I had right now.”

Zephyr senior Jackson Rozycki placed 68th in 20:21.8, and senior teammate Aiden Borkenhagen came in 73rd with a time of 20:44.9 after a midcourse mishap.

“I was coming up the second hill, stepped in a hole, and I had to keep going, so I did the best I could. I tried opening it up with 400 to go, but pushing down on my foot felt horrible,” Borkenhagen said. “The way I look at it, I’m done now, but I’ve got to thank God, my coaches, new ones, Hampton and Konno, and the old ones, Lelko and Fabian, and then all my teammates, new and the older guys, especially the older guys. It’s gonna be good next year, and Habib and Marli are gonna be going places next year, doing things I wish I could do. But it’s their turn.”

Other competitors for the Zephyr boys were Zarius Sabater (21:28.9), Omar Omar (22:17.2), Kihan Resto (22:17.7), and Derek Jimenez (22:18.0).

In team results, Whitehall’s boys placed 13th of 16 teams.

Nazareth’s boys won the team trophy, and Emmaus came in second.

Freedom’s Dylan Boyle won the boys meet with a time of 16:39.1.

“One thing I said to the boys this year was, you look at our times last year, and we had three boys running low 20s or under 20. This year, we had almost 10 almost cracking 20, so that’s a huge improvement,” said Coach Hampton. “On the girls side, we had a little bit of a shaky start, but then they came around, and then we were battling injuries. We’re young on both sides, and I’m excited to see the progress the boys and the girls continue to make.”